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Christmas In July (film)
''Christmas in July'' is a 1940 comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges based on his 1931 play '' A Cup of Coffee''. It was Sturges' second film as writer-director, after ''The Great McGinty'', and stars Dick Powell and Ellen Drew. Plot Dr. Maxford is thoroughly exasperated; he is supposed to announce on national radio the winners of a slogan contest for his Maxford House Coffee, where the first prize is $25,000. Maxford's jury is deadlocked by the stubborn Mr. Bildocker. As a result, the program ends without an announcement. Office worker Jimmy MacDonald dreams of winning, hoping to validate himself, provide some luxuries for his mother, and marry his girlfriend, Betty Casey. Betty does not understand his slogan: "If you can't sleep at night, it's not the coffee, it's the bunk." As a joke, three of his co-workers place a fake telegram on Jimmy's desk informing him that he has won. Jimmy's boss, J. B. Baxter, is so impressed that he promotes Jimmy on the spot to adve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges (; born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. In 1941, he won the Academy Awards, Oscar for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay for the film ''The Great McGinty'' (1940), his first of three nominations in the category. Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations. It is not uncommon for a Sturges character to deliver an exquisitely turned phrase and take an elaborate pratfall within the same scene. Prior to Sturges, other figures in Hollywood (such as Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and Frank Capra) had directed films from their own scripts; however, Sturges is often regarded as the first Hollywood figure to establish success as a screenwriter and then move into directing his own scripts, at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrian Morris (actor)
Adrian Michael Morris (January 12, 1907 – November 30, 1941) was an American actor of stage and film, and a younger brother of Chester Morris. As a child, Morris performed with his family in a vaudeville act. In his short career as a Hollywood character actor, he appeared in over 70 films, including ''Dirigible'' (1931), ''Me and My Gal'' (1932), ''Bureau of Missing Persons'' (1933), ''The Big Shakedown'' (1934), '' The Fighting Marines'' (1935), ''The Petrified Forest'' (1936), '' There Goes the Groom'' (1937), ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), ''Gone With the Wind'' (1939), ''The Grapes of Wrath'' (1940), and '' Blood and Sand'' (1941). Early life and family Adrian Morris was born in Mount Vernon, New York, one of four surviving children of Broadway stage actor William Morris and stage comedic actress Etta Hawkins. His siblings were screenwriter-actor Gordon Morris (1898–1940), actor Chester Morris (1901–1970), and actress Wilhelmina Morris (1902–1971 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Moran
Francis Charles Moran (18 March 1887 – 14 December 1967) was an American boxer and film actor who fought twice for the Heavyweight Championship of the World, and appeared in over 135 movies in a 25-year film career. Sports career Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Martin Moran and Mary Moran née McNally, immigrants from County Mayo, Ireland. Moran studied dentistry at the University of Pittsburgh where he also played football. He played professional football for the Pittsburgh Lyceums and Akron Pros as a guard and center. While Moran was serving in the U.S. Navy in 1908, he knocked out fighter Fred Cooley in the second round. While serving on the U.S.S. Mayflower, he served as a spar partner for President Theodore Roosevelt. He began his career as a prize-fighter that same year with a match against Fred Broad. Soon, Moran, who had a hard right hand punch which he called "Mary Ann", became known as the "White Hope" of the teens. In 1914 he fought Jack Johnson for the Heavy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles R
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "free man". The Old English descendant of this word was '' Ċearl'' or ''Ċeorl'', as the name of King Cearl of Mercia, that disappeared after the Norman conquest of England. The name was notably borne by Charlemagne (Charles the Great), and was at the time Latinized as ''Karolus'' (as in ''Vita Karoli Magni''), later also as '' Carolus''. Some Germanic languages, for example Dutch and German, have retained the word in two separate senses. In the particular case of Dutch, ''Karel'' refers to the given name, whereas the noun ''kerel'' means "a bloke, fellow, man". Etymology The name's etymology is a Common Germanic noun ''*karilaz'' meaning "free man", which survives in English as churl (< Old English ''ċeorl''), which developed its depr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Hoyt
Arthur Hoyt (March 19, 1874 – January 4, 1953) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34-year film career, about a third of them silent films. Career Born in Georgetown, Colorado, in 1874, Hoyt made his Broadway debut in 1905 in ''The Prince Consort''. He also appeared in Ferenc Molnár's ''The Devil'' in 1908, and made his final Broadway appearance in ''The Great Name'' in 1911. Hoyt made the silent comedy short ''The Scrub Lady'' in 1914, but his film acting career did not begin in earnest until 1916 when he appeared in another short, ''The Heart of a Show Girl''. From that time until 1944, each year a film was released in which Hoyt had acted – and frequently up to a dozen or so. Hoyt had large roles in such silent films as '' The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'' (1921), '' Souls for Sale'' (1923), and '' The Lost World'' (1925). He also directed two silent features, '' Station Content'' starring Gloria Swanson and ''Hig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Conlin
Jimmy Conlin (October 14, 1884 – May 7, 1962) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films in his 32-year career. Career Conlin was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1884, and his acting career started out in vaudeville, where he and his wife Myrtle Glass played the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuits billed as "Conlin & Glass," a song-and-dance team.Erickson, HaBiography (Allmovie)/ref> They also starred together in two short films, ''Sharps and Flats'' (1928) and ''Zip! Boom! Bang!'' (1929) for Vitaphone. These early shorts display Conlin's musical talents, including his impressive skills at the piano. In later years Conlin became strictly a character comedian, with little opportunity to show his vaudeville skills. Jimmy Conlin made another comedy short without Glass in 1930 (''A Tight Squeeze''), but his film career started in earnest in 1933, and for the next 27 years, with the single exception of 1951, every year saw the release of at least one film in whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Anderson (actor)
George Anderson (March 6, 1886 – August 26, 1948) was an American stage and film actor who appeared in 74 films and 25 Broadway productions in his 34-year career. Career Born in New York City in 1886, Anderson made his Broadway debut on August 5, 1907, as the star of an original musical called ''The Time, the Place and the Girl.'' For the next ten years he continued to perform on the Great White Way in both musicals and plays – including Victor Herbert's '' The Duchess'' – until the end of November 1917. During about this same period, he also appeared in six movies, from 1915 to 1918, at a time when the nascent film industry was largely located in the New York City area. From 1922 to 1924 and from 1927 to 1936, Anderson again appeared on Broadway in musicals, comedies and melodramas, including ''The Strawberry Blonde'', which he also directed, frequently with about a year between each production, time during which it would be the normal procedure of the period ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Potel
Victor Potel (October 12, 1889 – March 8, 1947) was an American film character actor who began in the silent era and appeared in more than 430 films in his 38-year career. Career Victor Potel was born in Lafayette, Indiana in 1889, and his acting career goes back almost to the beginning of the commercial film industry in the United States. He made his first silent film in 1910, a comedy short filmed in Chicago by Essanay Film Manufacturing Company called ''A Dog on Business''. Potel continued to make films for Essanay, appearing in dozens of films every year, including most of the Broncho Billy series, and played a character called "Slippery Slim" in 80 movies. He also appeared in Universal Pictures' "Snakeville" series.Erickson, HaBiography (Allmovie)/ref> Potel's first talking picture was ''Melody of Love'', starring Walter Pidgeon, made for Universal in 1928, and in the sound era he continued to work continuously and constantly, playing small parts and sometimes uncre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucille Ward
Lucille Ward (February 25, 1880 – August 8, 1952) was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 140 films between 1915 and 1944. She was born and died in Dayton, Ohio. Ward's career began in 1907 when she acted in a production of ''Monte Cristo'' in New York. After a dozen years of performing in musical comedies, stock theater, and vaudeville, Ward began acting in films. Ward was married to Chauncey Smith, who died in 1949. Selected filmography * ''The Quest'' (1915) - Mrs. Chalmers - the Hostess * ''The Lonesome Heart'' (1915) - Sarah Prue * ''The Girl from His Town'' (1915) - Minor Role * ''Infatuation'' (1915) - Mrs. Fenshaw * ''The Miracle of Life'' (1915) - Mrs. Gerald Fels-Martine * '' The House of Lies'' (1916) - Mrs. Coleman * ''Her Father's Son'' (1916) - Mammy Chloe * ''The Road to Love'' (1916) - Lella Sadiya * ''My Fighting Gentleman'' (1917) * '' How Could You, Jean?'' (1918) * ''Beauty and the Rogue'' (1918) * ''The Amateur Adventuress'' (1919 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Bridge
Alfred Morton Bridge (February 26, 1891 – December 27, 1957) was an American character actor who played mostly small roles in over 270 films between 1931 and 1954. Bridge's persona was an unpleasant, gravel-voiced man with an untidy moustache. Sometimes credited as Alan Bridge, and frequently not credited onscreen at all, he appeared in many westerns, especially in the Hopalong Cassidy series, where he played crooked sheriffs and henchmen. Life and career Bridge and his sister, who became actress Loie Bridge, were raised by their mother and stepfather, a Philadelphia butcher. Bridge went into vaudeville with relatives when he was still a teenager Bridge served in the American infantry during World War I. Rejoining relatives in a theatrical troupe, Bridge toured the U.S. as an actor and wrote a few scripts. He broke into movies with a pair of minor screenplays (the comedy short ''Her Hired Husband'' in 1930 and a Western, ''God's Country and the Man'' (1931), in which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julius Tannen
Julius Tannen (May 16, 1880 – January 3, 1965) was a monologist in vaudeville. He was known to stage audiences for his witty improvisations and creative word games. He had a successful career as a character actor in films, appearing in over 50 films in his 25-year film career. He is probably best known to film audiences from the musical ''Singin' in the Rain'', in which he appears as the man demonstrating a talking picture early in the film. Early years After the deaths of his parents, Tannen was placed in an orphanage in Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was seven years old, and he lived there until he was 13. He worked as a private secretary until he was 21. Career Tannen never intended to become a performer. As a young man, he was a salesman whose pitch was so good that he began to get offers to entertain at parties. He made his professional vaudeville debut at the age of 21, and soon developed into a monologist, the predecessor to today's stand up comic. He would frequent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torben Meyer
Torben Emil Meyer (1 December 1884 – 22 May 1975) was a Danish-American character actor who appeared in more than 190 films in a 55-year career. He began his acting career in Europe before moving to the United States. Early life Meyer was born in either CopenhagenAllan R. Ellenberger, ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'', page 27, McFarland Publishing, 2001 or Aarhus, Denmark and began his career as a stage actor.Mette Hjort, Ursula Lindqvist, ''A Companion to Nordic Cinema'', page 408, Wiley, 2016 Starting in 1912 Meyer acted in 20 European silent movies, culminating with ''Don Quixote'' in 1926. He emigrated to the United States in 1927.Diane Kachar, David Goudsward, ''The Fly at 50: The Creation and Legacy of a Classic Science Fiction Film'' (Kindle), BearManor Media, 2015 Hollywood acting career Danish friends Benjamin Christensen and Jean Hersholt may have helped Meyer obtain his first roles in Hollywood films. For decades Meyer found roles playing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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