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Douglas Croft
Douglas Croft (born Douglas Malcolm Wheatcroft, August 12, 1926 – October 24, 1963) was an American child actor and a soldier who is best remembered for being the first person to portray the DC Comics character Robin, the Boy Wonder, as well as his secret identity Dick Grayson, in the 1943 serial ''Batman'' when he was 16 years old. Early life Croft was born Douglas Malcolm Wheatcroft on August 12, 1926, in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. His mother, Beatrice Hayden, married the silent film actor Stanhope Nelson Wheatcroft. They divorced in 1922, and his mother relocated to San Francisco. His parents' divorce was a bitter one, and about the time he was born in August 1926, Stanhope Wheatcroft attempted to have Beatrice declared dead so that he could stop paying alimony. Acting career Croft was living with his mother in Los Angeles, California, in 1941. Fascinated by movie stars, a talent agent spotted him loitering near a studio and signed him up. About Septembe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the U.S. state, state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The Seattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the List of metropolitan statistical areas, 15th-largest in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 makes it one of the nation's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound (an inlet of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington. It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about south of the Canada–United States border, Canadian border. A major gateway for trade with East Asia, Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling . The Seattle area was inhabited by Nat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kings Row
''Kings Row'' is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan and Betty Field that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century. The picture was directed by Sam Wood. The film was adapted by Casey Robinson from a best-selling 1940 novel of the same name by Henry Bellamann. The musical score was composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and the cinematographer was James Wong Howe. The supporting cast features Charles Coburn, Claude Rains, Judith Anderson and Maria Ouspenskaya. Plot In the small midwestern town of Kings Row, in 1890, five children know, and play with, each other: Parris Mitchell, a polite, clever little boy who lives with his grandmother; pretty blonde Cassandra Tower, daughter of the secretive Dr. Alexander Tower and a mother that is seen only through the upstairs window; the orphaned but wealthy and fun-loving Drake McHugh who is best friends with Parris; Louise Gordon, daughter of the town ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bit Part
In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British television, or a walk-on part with no dialogue. A bit part is higher than that of an extra and lower than that of a supporting actor. An actor who regularly performs in bit roles, either as a hobby or to earn a living, is referred to as a bit player, a term also used to describe an aspiring actor who has not yet broken into supporting or leading roles. Unlike extras, who do not typically interact with principals, actors in bit parts are sometimes listed in the credits. An exception to this practice is the cameo appearance, wherein a well-known actor or other celebrity appears in a bit part; it is common for such appearances to be uncredited. In MGM's 1951 screen version of the musical ''Show Boat'', the role of the cook Queenie ( Frances E. Will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and forms military policy with the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), both federal executive departments, acting as the principal organs by which military policy is carried out. All six armed services are among the eight uniformed services of the United States. From their inception during the American Revolutionary War, the U.S. Armed Forces have played a decisive role in the history of the United States. They helped forge a sense of national unity and identity through victories in the First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War. They played a critical role in the American Civil War, keeping the Confederacy from seceding from the republic and preserving the uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Movie Serial
A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, generally advancing weekly, until the series is completed. Generally, each serial involves a single set of characters, protagonistic and antagonistic, involved in a single story, which has been edited into chapters after the fashion of serial fiction and the episodes cannot be shown out of order or as a single or a random collection of short subjects. Each chapter was screened at a movie theater for one week, and ended with a cliffhanger, in which characters found themselves in perilous situations with little apparent chance of escape. Viewers had to return each week to see the cliffhangers resolved and to follow the continuing story. Movie serials were especially popular with children, and for many youths in the first half of the 20th centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin (character)
Robin is the alias of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson, to serve as a junior counterpart and the sidekick to the superhero Batman. As a team, Batman and Robin have commonly been referred to as the ''Caped Crusaders'' and the ''Dynamic Duo''. The character's first incarnation, Dick Grayson, debuted in '' Detective Comics'' #38 (April 1940). Conceived as a way to attract young readership, Robin garnered overwhelmingly positive critical reception, doubling the sales of the Batman titles. Robin's early adventures included ''Star Spangled Comics'' #65–130 (1947–1952), the character's first solo feature. He made regular appearances in Batman-related comic books and other DC Comics publications from 1940 through the early 1980s, until the character set aside the Robin identity and became the independent superhero Nightwing. The character's second inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presenting Lily Mars
''Presenting Lily Mars'' is a 1943 American musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog, produced by Joe Pasternak, starring Judy Garland and Van Heflin, and based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. The film is often cited as Garland's first film playing an adult type role (although '' For Me and My Gal'', released the previous year, is also often credited thus). Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby appear with their orchestras in this Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production. __TOC__ Plot Lily Mars (Judy Garland) is a small-town girl with big-city ambitions. She contrives to audition for a Broadway producer whose father was the local physician and whose family piano her father also happened to tune. However, the producer wants nothing to do with her. She then heads to Broadway hoping to convince him to cast her, but after a series of disappointments, the best she can manage is an understudy job. Cast * Judy Garland as Lily Mars * Van Heflin as John Thornway * Fay Bainter as Mrs. Thornway * Ric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harrigan's Kid
''Harrigan's Kid'' is a 1943 American drama film directed by Charles Reisner and written by Martin Berkeley, Henry Blankfort and Alan Friedman. The film stars Bobby Readick, Frank Craven, William Gargan, J. Carrol Naish and Jay Ward. The film was released on March 17, 1943, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Plot Tom Harrigan raises orphaned Benny McNeil to be a first-rate jockey, but fails to bridle the lad's healthy ego. When Benny receives too many rebukes for unsportsmanlike conduct from the racing commission, Tom decides to sell his contract to Garnet before he, too, is censured. Tom also reasons that, by having Benny with a top outfit, he can manipulate his races and make a fortune on the betting. But Benny, thanks to the humanizing influence of Mr. Garnet, has a different idea.... Cast * Bobby Readick as Benny McNeil *Frank Craven as Walter Garnet *William Gargan as Tom Harrigan *J. Carrol Naish as Jed Jerrett *Jay Ward as McNamara *Douglas Croft as Skip *Bill Cartledge as Joe *I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Washington Slept Here
''George Washington Slept Here'' is a 1942 comedy film starring Jack Benny, Ann Sheridan, Charles Coburn, Percy Kilbride, and Hattie McDaniel. It was based on the 1940 play of the same name by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, adapted by Everett Freeman, and was directed by William Keighley. Warner Archives released the film on DVD in November 2013. ''George Washington Slept Here'' was cited in the John Wayne film ''Operation Pacific'' (1951) when two American submarines traded films at sea. Plot Manhattanite Connie Fuller (Ann Sheridan) secretly acquires a dilapidated house in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania, without her husband Bill's (Jack Benny) knowledge. The couple were forced out of their New York City apartment after their dog damaged the carpets. The house Connie buys is believed to have served as George Washington's temporary home during the Revolutionary War. Connie takes Bill on a tour of the countryside including the house, hoping that Bill will fall in love with i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pride Of The Yankees
''The Pride of the Yankees'' is a 1942 American film produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by Sam Wood, and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. It is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before its release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which later became known to the lay public as "Lou Gehrig's disease". Though subtitled ''The Life of Lou Gehrig'', the film is less a sports biography than an homage to a heroic and widely loved sports figure whose tragic and premature death touched the entire nation. It emphasizes Gehrig's relationship with his parents (particularly his strong-willed mother), his friendships with players and journalists, and his storybook romance with the woman who became his "companion for life," Eleanor Twitchell. Details of his baseball career—which were still fresh in most fans' minds in 1942—are limited to montages of ballparks, pennants, and Cooper swinging bats ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yankee Doodle Dandy
''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George Tobias, Rosemary DeCamp, Jeanne Cagney, and Vera Lewis. Joan Leslie's singing voice was partially dubbed by Sally Sweetland. The film was written by Robert Buckner and Edmund Joseph, and directed by Michael Curtiz. According to the special edition DVD, significant and uncredited improvements were made to the script by the twin brothers Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein. The film was a major hit for Warner Brothers, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture, winning three. In 1993, ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and in 1998, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
