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Deanna Durbin
Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With the technical skill and vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano, she performed many styles from popular standards to operatic arias. Durbin was a child actress who made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in '' Every Sunday'' (1936), and subsequently signed a contract with Universal Studios. She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as ''Three Smart Girls'' (1936), ''One Hundred Men and a Girl'' (1937), and ''It Started with Eve'' (1941). Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy, and led to Durbin being awarded the Academy Juvenile Award in 1938. As she matured, Durbin grew dissatisfied with the girl-next-door roles assigned to her and attempted to move into sophisticated non-musical ro ...
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Can't Help Singing
''Can't Help Singing'' is a 1944 American musical Western film directed by Frank Ryan and starring Deanna Durbin, Robert Paige, and Akim Tamiroff. Based on a story by John D. Klorer and Leo Townsend, the film is about a senator's daughter who follows her boyfriend West in the days of the California gold rush. Durbin's only Technicolor film, ''Can't Help Singing'' was produced by Felix Jackson and scored by Jerome Kern with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg. The movie was one of the most expensive in Universal's history. Plot Set during the early years of the California Gold Rush, the film tells of the adventures of Caroline Frost, the wilful and spoilt daughter of a US Senator. He does not approve of her beau, Lt Robert Latham, of the US cavalry, and persuades President James K. Polk to post Latham to guard gold shipments from the California mines owned by Jake Carstair. Caroline travels by train and steamboat and manages to join a wagon-train about to trek overland to the West. She sha ...
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Whodunit
A ''whodunit'' or ''whodunnit'' (a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with the clues to the case, from which the identity of the perpetrator may be deduced before the story provides the revelation itself at its climax. The investigation is usually conducted by an eccentric, amateur, or semi-professional detective. Concept A whodunit follows the paradigm of the classical detective story in the sense that it presents crime as a puzzle to be solved through a chain of questions that the detective poses. In a whodunit, however, the audience is given the opportunity to engage in the same process of deduction as the protagonist throughout the investigation of a crime. This engages the readers so that they strive to compete with or outguess the expert investigator. A defining feature of the whodunit narrative is the so-c ...
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Henry Koster
Henry Koster (born Hermann Kosterlitz, May 1, 1905 – September 21, 1988) was a German-born film director. He was the husband of actress Peggy Moran. Early life Koster was born to Jewish parents in Berlin, Germany. He was introduced to cinema about 1910 when his uncle opened a movie theater in Berlin. Koster's mother played the piano to accompany the films, leaving the young boy to occupy himself by watching the films. After working initially as a short story writer, Kosterlitz was hired by a Berlin movie company as scenarist, becoming an assistant to director Curtis Bernhardt. Bernhardt became sick one day and asked Kosterlitz to take over as director. Career In 1932, Koster directed his first film in Berlin, the comedy ''Thea Roland''. Koster, who was in the midst of directing his second film ''Das häßliche Mädchen'', had been the subject of antisemitism, and knew he had to leave. He lost his temper at an SA officer at his bank during lunch hour and knocked the office ...
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First Love (1939 Film)
''First Love'' is a 1939 American musical film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin. Based on the fairy tale ''Cinderella'', the film is about an orphan who is sent to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. Her life is made difficult by her snobby cousin who arranges that she stay home while the rest of the family attends a major social ball. With the help of her uncle, she makes it to the ball, where she meets and falls in love with her cousin's boyfriend. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Music. Plot Constance Harding is an unhappy orphan who will soon graduate from Miss Wiggins' school for girls. Her only real relatives are members from the James Clinton family, but they show little interest in the teenager. She is brought to New York by one of their butlers, where she moves in with a bunch of snobs. The upperclass people are not impressed with her, but Connie is a ...
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Three Smart Girls Grow Up
''Three Smart Girls Grow Up'' is a 1939 American musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster, written by Felix Jackson and Bruce Manning, and starring Deanna Durbin, Nan Grey, and Helen Parrish. Durbin and Grey reprise their roles from ''Three Smart Girls'', and Parrish replaces Barbara Read in the role of the middle sister. Durbin would reprise her role once more in ''Hers to Hold''. Plot Three sisters believe life is going to be easy now that their parents are back together, until one sister falls in love with another's fiancé, and the youngest sister plays matchmaker. Cast * Deanna Durbin as Penelope 'Penny' Craig * Nan Grey as Joan Craig * Helen Parrish as Katherine 'Kay' Craig * Charles Winninger as Judson Craig * Nella Walker as Mrs. Craig * Robert Cummings as Harry Loren * William Lundigan as Richard Watkins * Ernest Cossart as Binns, the butler * Felix Bressart Felix Bressart (March 2, 1892 – March 17, 1949) was a German-American actor of stage and screen. Life an ...
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That Certain Age
''That Certain Age'' is a 1938 American musical film directed by Edward Ludwig and starring Deanna Durbin and Melvyn Douglas. Based on a story by Aleen Leslie (Wetstein) that was adapted by F. Hugh Herbert, the film is about a dashing reporter who returns from covering the Spanish Civil War and is invited to spend time at his publisher's home, where his adolescent daughter develops a crush on him. The family does their best to sway the young girl's feelings away from the reporter, but it is a challenge, as she is at "that certain age". Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film received Academy Award nominations for Best Music and Best Sound Recording. Plot Alice Fullerton is the 15-year-old daughter of newspaper publisher Bill. She becomes involved with a group of boy scouts, who is led by Ken Warren. Ken wants to put on a show to raise money in order to go to scout camp. Alice helps him out with giving him permission to use the family home to rehearse. She is very helpful to the ...
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Mad About Music
''Mad About Music'' is a 1938 American musical film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Deanna Durbin, Herbert Marshall, and Gail Patrick. Based on a story by Marcella Burke and Frederick Kohner, the film is about a girl at an exclusive boarding school who invents an exciting father. When her schoolmates doubt his existence, she has to produce him. ''Mad About Music'' received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Music, and Best Original Story. Plot Gwen Taylor (Gail Patrick) is a famous Hollywood film star and about to become more famous. On her manager's advice, she has concealed from the press the fact that she's a widow with a fourteen-year-old daughter, Gloria (Deanna Durbin). Gloria lives in a girls-only boarding school in Switzerland. Gloria never sees her mother and never knew her father, who died when she was just a baby; he was a navy pilot during wartime. She has invented a fictitious 'father', from who she receives letters, w ...
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Joe Pasternak
Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at MGM Studios, producing many successful musicals with female singing stars like Deanna Durbin, Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell, as well as swimmer/bathing beauty Esther Williams' films. He produced Judy Garland's final MGM film, ''Summer Stock'', which was released in 1950, and some of Gene Kelly’s early breakthrough roles. Pasternak worked in the film industry for 45 years, from the later silent era until shortly past the end of the classical Hollywood cinema in the early 1960s. Biography Early life He was born to a Jewish family in Szilágysomlyó, Austria-Hungary (now Șimleu Silvaniei, Romania). His father was a town clerk and Pasternak was one of eleven children. In 1920, he emigrated to the US as a teenager and stayed with an uncle in Philadelphia. He worked in a fa ...
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Louis B
Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (other) * Louie (other) * Luis (other) * Louise (other) * Louisville (other) * Louis Cruise Lines * Louis dressing, for salad * Louis Quinze, design style Associated names * * Chlodwig, the origin of the name Ludwig, which is translated to English as "Louis" * Ladislav and László - names sometimes erroneously associated with "Louis" * Ludovic, Ludwig, Ludwick Ludwick is a surname of German origin, and may refer to: * Andrew K. Ludwick (born 1946), American businessman *Christopher Ludwick (1720–1801), American baker * Eric Ludwick (born 1971), American baseball player * Robert Ludwick-Forster (born 19 ..., Ludwik, names sometimes translated to English as "Louis" {{disambiguation ...
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Ernestine Schumann-Heink
Ernestine Schumann-Heink (15 June 186117 November 1936) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American operatic dramatic contralto of German Bohemian descent. She was noted for the flexibility and wide range of her voice. Early life She was born Ernestine Amalie Pauline Rössler on 15 June 1861 to a German language, German-speaking family at Libeň (german: Lieben), Bohemia, Austrian Empire, which is now part of the city of Prague, Czech Republic. She was baptized Catholic Church, Catholic five days later. Her father, who called his daughter "Tini", was Hans Rössler. Before working as a Shoemaking, shoe maker, he served as an Austrian Empire, Austrian cavalry officer. He had been stationed in northern Italy (then an Austrian protectorate), where he met and married Charlotte Goldman (Rössler), with whom he returned to Libeň. Her maternal grandmother, Leah Kohn, was of Hungarian Jewish''Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary'', Volume 3, Harvard University Press ...
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 and based in Beverly Hills, California. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Productions, Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious film studio, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of ''Ben-Hur (1959 film), Ben Hur''. After that, it divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain, and, in the 1960s, diversified ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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