|
Diplomaniacs
''Diplomaniacs'' is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film starring Wheeler and Woolsey. The film in noted for its absurdist political satire, somewhat in the manner of '' Million Dollar Legs'' or '' Duck Soup'', both of which were released within a year of ''Diplomaniacs''. Plot The film concerns the adventures of two men who have set up a failing business as barbers on an Indian reservation. When they are sent by the tribe as representatives to a peace conference in Europe, unbeknownst to them, they face constant threats from other attendees. In particular, several armaments manufacturers want to ensure that the peace conference is a failure, and do everything they can to sabotage it. Cast * Bert Wheeler as Willy Nilly * Robert Woolsey as Hercules Glub * Marjorie White as Dolores * Phyllis Barry as Fifi * Louis Calhern as Winklereid * Hugh Herbert as Chow-Chow, the China Man * Edgar Kennedy as Chairman of the Peace Conference * Richard Carle as Ship's Captain * William Irvin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wheeler And Woolsey
Wheeler & Woolsey were an American vaudeville comedy double act who performed together in comedy films from the late 1920s. The team comprised Bert Wheeler (1895–1968) of New Jersey and Robert Woolsey (1888–1938) of Illinois. Collaboration and background The Broadway theatre performers were initially teamed as the comedy relief for the 1927 Broadway musical '' Rio Rita'', and came to Hollywood to reprise these roles for the film version. The film's success convinced them to become a permanent team, and they continued to make very popular comedy feature films from 1930 until 1937, all for RKO Radio Pictures—except the 1933 Columbia Pictures release '' So This Is Africa'' (which was made during a contract dispute with RKO). Curly-haired Bert Wheeler played an ever-smiling innocent, who was easily led and not very bright, but who would also sometimes display a stubborn streak of conscience. Bespectacled Robert Woolsey played a genially leering, cigar-smoking, fast-talking i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marjorie White
Marjorie White (born Marjorie Ann Guthrie, July 22, 1904 – August 21, 1935) was a Canadian-born actress of stage and film. Career Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, she was the first-born child of a grain merchant, Robert Guthrie, and his wife, born in Simcoe, Ontario. She entered show business at age 8 or age 10, as one of the Winnipeg Kiddies, a troupe of child performers who toured Canada and the United States. She danced and sang with the troupe until too old to continue; then at age 17, in December 1921, she went to San Francisco and joined Thelma Wolpa in amateur vaudeville comedy. Teamed for a time with Thelma Wolpa as Wolpa and Guthrie, Little Bits of Everything, the duo act became "The White Sisters" in New York City. Both women kept the name White after the act broke up. White married Eddie Tierney on August 10, 1924, in Greenwich, Connecticut. She appeared on Broadway in several musicals between 1926 and 1929, when her husband and she moved to Hollywood. In accorda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edgar Kennedy
Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to portray characters whose anger slowly rose in frustrating situations. In many of his roles, he used exasperated facial expressions and performed very deliberately to convey his rising anger or "burn", often rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face in an effort to control his temper. One memorable example of his comedy technique can be seen in the 1933 Marx Brothers' film '' Duck Soup'', where he plays a sidewalk lemonade vendor who is harassed and increasingly provoked by Harpo and Chico. Early years Kennedy was born April 26, 1890, in Monterey County, California, to Canadians Neil Kennedy and Annie Quinn. He attended San Rafael High School before taking up boxing. He was a light-heavyweight and once went 14 rounds with J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Carle
Richard Carle (born Charles Nicholas Carleton, July 7, 1871 – June 28, 1941) was an American stage and film actor as well as a playwright and stage director. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1915 and 1941. Carle was born in Somerville, Massachusetts. He was on the stage for many years, appearing in important roles in London, New York and Chicago including as J. Offenbach Gaggs in '' The Casino Girl'' (1900)'The Polite Lunatic at Close Quarters' - ''The Sketch'' 12 September 1900, pg. 327 and Algy Cuffs in '' The Belle of Bohemia'' in London in 1901 before making his screen debut. In 1941 he died in North Hollywood, California from a heart attack. Selected filmography * ''Mary's Lamb'' (1915) - Leander Lamb * '' The Mad Marriage'' (1925) * ''Zander the Great'' (1925) - Mr. Pepper * '' The Coming of Amos'' (1925) - David Fontenay * ''Eve's Leaves'' (1926) - Richard Stanley * '' The Understanding Heart'' (1927) - Sheriff Bentley * '' Soft Cushions'' (1927) - The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Bletcher
William Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor. He was known for voice roles for various classic animated characters, most notably Pete in Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse short films and the Big Bad Wolf in Disney's '' Three Little Pigs''. Early life William Bletcher was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on on September 24, 1894, to Huber and Dora Bletcher. Career Bletcher appeared on-screen in films and later television from the 1910s to the 1970s, including appearances in several '' Our Gang'' and ''The Three Stooges'' comedies. He was most active as a voice actor. His voice was a deep, strong and booming baritone. Bletcher provided the voices of various characters for Walt Disney Animation Studios ( Black Pete, Short Ghost and the Big Bad Wolf in '' Three Little Pigs''). He auditioned to play one of the dwarfs in Disney's '' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937). However, Walt Disney disapproved for fear that people would recognize Bletcher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bert Wheeler
Albert Jerome Wheeler (April 7, 1895 – January 18, 1968) was an American comedian who performed in Broadway theatre, American comedy feature films, and vaudeville acts. He was the comedy partner of Robert Woolsey, and together they formed a successful double act called Wheeler & Woolsey. Biography Wheeler was born in Paterson, New Jersey on April 7, 1895. He worked with Robert Woolsey on Broadway until their film debut in 1929, '' Rio Rita'', established them in the Hollywood film industry. In the early 1940s, after Robert Woolsey had died, Bert Wheeler struggled to restart his career. Their friend and former film costar Dorothy Lee agreed to tour with him in a vaudeville act. He also worked on radio on programs starring Frank Sinatra. He continued to work off and on through the 1960s. In 1950 he appeared with Jackie Gleason on the early TV variety hour ''Cavalcade of Stars''. His last theatrical films were two slapstick short films for Columbia Pictures, filmed in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Woolsey
Robert Rollie Woolsey (August 14, 1888 – October 31, 1938) was an American stage and screen comedian and half of the 1930s comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey. Early life Robert Rollie (sometimes spelled Rolla or even Raleigh) was born on August 14, 1888, in Carbondale, Illinois to James Monroe Woolsey and Sarah Eunice Woolsey (née Noble), both also born in Illinois. Woolsey, who had brown eyes and hair with a slight and slender build tried to capitalize on his size, as a young adult, by becoming a jockey. After he fell from a horse and sustained a fractured leg, he quit racing and turned instead to the vaudeville stage. In 1925 he was featured as "Mortimer Pottle" in W. C. Fields's Broadway hit '' Poppy''. Wheeler and Woolsey Woolsey was teamed with comedy star Bert Wheeler in 1928, for the Broadway musical '' Rio Rita''. RKO Radio Pictures filmed the play in 1929, launching Wheeler and Woolsey as movie personalities. Twenty-one of the twenty-two films Woolsey made were wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phyllis Barry
Phyllis Barry (born Gertrude Phyllis Hillyard; 7 December 1908 – 1 July 1954) was an English film actress. Born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to Seth Henry and Bertha (née Giles) Hillyard, Barry appeared in over 40 films between 1925 and 1947. Career Barry trained as a dancer in a John Tiller troupe. In August 1923, when she was 12, her mother brought her to Australia, where she was known as Phyllis du Barry.All the Australian events are documented in contemporary newspapers published in digital form by the National Library of Australi/ref> By September, she was the lead dancer in a cabaret troupe at the Wentworth Cafe, until May 1925, when she made her first film, '' Painted Daughters''. Engagements followed with the Frances Scully Pony Ballet and as a dancer at the Ambassadors' Club. In July 1926, she joined the Fuller Brothers, touring with Chefalo and Palmer, the Moon and Morris Revue Company and the Zig Zag Revue Company. Her second film, '' Sunri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Calhern
Carl Henry Vogt (February 19, 1895 – May 12, 1956), known professionally as Louis Calhern, was an American stage and screen actor. Well known to film noir fans for his role as the pivotal villain in 1950's '' The Asphalt Jungle'', he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for portraying Oliver Wendell Holmes in the film '' The Magnificent Yankee'' later that year. Early life Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt in Brooklyn, New York, in 1895, the son of German immigrants Eugene Adolf Vogt and Hubertina Friese Vogt. He had one known sibling, a sister. His father was a tobacco dealer. His family left New York while he was in elementary school and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was raised. While playing high school football, a stage manager from a touring theatrical stock company noticed the tall, handsome youth and hired him as a bit player. Another source states " Grace George hired his entire high school football team as supers for a Shakespearean ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Herbert
Hugh Herbert (August 10, 1885 – March 12, 1952) was an American motion picture comedian. He began his career in vaudeville and wrote more than 150 plays and sketches. Career Born in Binghamton, New York, Herbert attended Cornell University. As an actor, he "had many serious roles, and for years was seen on major vaudeville circuits as a pathetic old Hebrew." The advent of talking pictures brought stage-trained actors to Hollywood, and Hugh Herbert soon became a popular movie comedian. His screen character was usually absent-minded and flustered. He would flutter his fingers together and talk to himself, repeating the same phrases: "hoo-hoo-hoo, wonderful, wonderful, hoo hoo hoo!" So many imitators (including Curly Howard of The Three Stooges, Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy and Etta Candy in the Wonder Woman comic book series) copied the catchphrase as "woo woo" that Herbert himself began to use "woo woo" rather than "hoo hoo" in the 1940s. Herbert's earliest movies, like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Irving (actor)
William Irving (17 May 1893 – 25 December 1943) was a German-born American film actor. Biography The burly character actor appeared in more than 220 films between 1916 and 1941, often as a "comic heavy" in the comedies of Our Gang or The Three Stooges. Irving also appeared as a cowardly German army cook in '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930). He played mostly supporting roles in the silent era, but after the introduction of sound films his appearances got noticeably smaller and he was often uncredited. On Christmas Day, 1943, Irving was crossing the street at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, California, when he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver. His remains were cremated at Pierce Brothers Hollywood. Irving was divorced from his wife, Mildred, at the time of his death. He was survived by a brother. Selected filmography * ''Whose Baby?'' (1917, Short) - Harold Scull - the Rival * '' Till I Come Back to You'' (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neely Edwards
Neely Edwards (born Cornelius Limbach; September 16, 1883 – July 10, 1965) was an American vaudeville performer and film actor. Biography Edwards appeared in 174 films between 1915 and 1959. The first was as an unbilled player in a Harold Lloyd short. In the early 1920s Edwards and his vaudeville partner Edward Flanagan appeared as the "Hall Room Boys" in some of the earliest short films produced by Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales, which would develop into Columbia Pictures. Of his credited film appearances, about 140 are comedy short subjects, notably the "Nervy Ned" one-reelers made for Universal Pictures from 1922-24, in which he and Bert Roach played a couple of hoboes who typically get into slapstick trouble. His later career is marked by bit parts and character work. Edwards was married to actress Marguerite Snow. He was born in Delphos, Ohio, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Vaudeville farces and skits *"Off and On" - skit of stage life 1917The Indepe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
