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Ellen Hall
Ellen Hall (born Ellen Joanna Johnson, April 18, 1923 – March 24, 1999) was an American actress. Hall achieved fame as an American B-movie actress of the 1940s and early 1950s. Early in her career, her attractiveness opened doors to becoming one of the members of the famed Goldwyn Girls in 1943. Later on, she played mostly supporting roles in the popular Westerns of the period. She also acted in several family-oriented Comedy, comedies and Musical film, musicals. She retired from movies and television in 1952. Life and career Early Years Hall's mother was silent film actress Ella Hall. Her father was actor turned director Emory Johnson. She spent most of her life in Los Angeles. By 1924, Ellen's mother had filed for divorce. Her parents reconciled in late 1925; then tragedy struck in March 1926. While Ella and the kids were crossing a busy street in Hollywood, Ellen's 5-year-old brother Alfred was struck and killed by a truck. The accident fueled another reconciliation. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits , Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to it's east. It covers about , and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald. He was one of the first "crossover" stars, a superstar appealing both to shrieking bobby soxers and opera purists, and in his heyday, he was the highest paid singer in the world. During his 40-year career, he earned three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one each for film, recording, and radio), left his footprints in the wet concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theater, earned three gold records, and was invited to sing at the third inauguration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical caree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Leslie
Joan Leslie (born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel; January 26, 1925 – October 12, 2015) was an American actress and vaudevillian, who during the Hollywood Golden Age, appeared in such films as '' High Sierra'' (1941), ''Sergeant York'' (1941), and ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942). Early life Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel was born on January 26, 1925, in Highland Park, Michigan, the youngest child of John and Agnes Brodel. John was a bank clerk and Agnes was a pianist. Joan's two older sisters, Betty (born 1919) and Mary Brodel (1916–2015), shared their mother's musical interest and started to learn how to play instruments, such as the saxophone and the banjo, at an early age. They began performing in front of audiences in acts that included singing and dancing. Leslie joined the duo at two and a half years of age. She was soon able to play the accordion. With her father losing his job in the mid-1930s, the Great Depression caused financial difficulties for the family. As a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Alda
Robert Alda (born Alfonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo; February 26, 1914 – May 3, 1986) was an Italian-American theatrical and film actor, a singer, and a dancer. He was the father of actors Alan and Antony Alda. Alda was featured in a number of Broadway productions, then moved to Italy during the early 1960s. He appeared in many European films over the next two decades, occasionally returning to the U.S. for film appearances such as '' The Girl Who Knew Too Much'' (1969). Early life Alda, an American of Italian descent, was born Alfonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo in New York City, the son of Frances (née Tumillo) and Antonio D'Abruzzo, a barber born in Sant'Agata de' Goti, Benevento, Campania, Italy. (D'Abruzzo is a toponymic surname.) He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York in 1930. Career He began his performing career as a singer and dancer in vaudeville after winning a talent contest, and moved on to burlesque. Alda is known for portraying ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinderella Jones
''Cinderella Jones'' is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Busby Berkeley and written by Charles Hoffman. The film stars Joan Leslie, Robert Alda, Julie Bishop, William Prince, S. Z. Sakall, and Edward Everett Horton. The film was released by Warner Bros. on March 9, 1946. Plot Struggling singer Judy Jones (Leslie) discovers she's entitled to a multimillion-dollar fortune, as long as she can live up to the terms of her late uncle's will. To collect her inheritance, Jones must marry an intellectual genius. Jones ditches her boyfriend, bandleader Tommy Coles (Alda), and matriculates at an elite university for the super-intelligent. On campus, Jones struggles to win the heart of a dashing professor, Bartholomew Williams (Prince). Cast * Joan Leslie as Judy Jones * Robert Alda as Tommy Coles * Julie Bishop as Camille * William Prince as Bart Williams * S. Z. Sakall as Gabriel Popik * Edward Everett Horton as Keating * Charles Dingle as Minland * Ruth Donne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berkeley's works used large numbers of showgirls and props as fantasy elements in kaleidoscopic on-screen performances. Early life Berkeley was born in Los Angeles, California, to Francis Enos (who died when Busby was eight) and stage actress Gertrude Berkeley (1864–1946). Among Gertrude's friends, and a performer in Tim Frawly's Stock company run by Busby Berkeley's father, were actress Amy Busby from whom Berkeley gained the appellation "Buzz" or "Busby" and actor William Gillette, then only four years away from playing Sherlock Holmes. Whether he was actually christened Busby Berkeley William Enos,Spivak, Jeffrey, ''Buzz, The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2010), pp. 6–7. or Berkeley William Enos, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo (born Virginia Clara Jones; November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She was in a series of comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Brothers' biggest box-office money-maker in the late 1940s. She also co-starred in the 1946 Oscar-winning movie ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' and ''White Heat'' (1949). Biography Early life Born in St. Louis, Missouri; Mayo was the daughter of newspaper reporter Luke and his wife, Martha Henrietta (née Rautenstrauch) Jones. Her family had roots back to the earliest days of St Louis, including great-great-great grandfather Captain James Piggott, who founded East St. Louis, Illinois, in 1797. Young Virginia's aunt operated an acting school in the St. Louis area, which Virginia began attending at age six. She also had a series of dancing instructors engaged by her aunt. Vaudeville Following her graduation from Soldan High School in 1937, she landed her first professional acting and dancing jobs a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wonder Man (film)
''Wonder Man'' is a 1945 musical film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo. It is based on a short story by Arthur Sheekman, adapted for the screen by a staff of writers led by Jack Jevne and Eddie Moran, and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes. Plot Danny Kaye plays a double role as a pair of estranged "super-identical twins". Despite their almost indistinguishable looks, the two have very different personalities. Buster Dingle, who goes by the stage name "Buzzy Bellew", is a loud and goofy performer at the Pelican Club, while Edwin Dingle is a studious, quiet bookworm writing a history book. The two brothers have not seen each other for years. Buster becomes the witness to a murder committed by mob boss "Ten Grand" Jackson and is promptly murdered himself. He comes back as a ghost, calling on his long-lost brother for help to bring the killer to justice. As a result, the shy Edwin must take his brother's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Here Come The Waves
''Here Come the Waves'' is a 1944 American romantic comedy musical film directed by Mark Sandrich. It stars Bing Crosby and Betty Hutton. Plot The film opens with naval scenes and a chorus of WAVES singing ‘The Navy Song’ on stage, and continues with a sister act, the Allison Twins (both played by Betty Hutton), singing the same song in a night club. Identical, except that one is blonde the other brunette, they are temperamentally very different. Susie, the blonde, is brash and scatter-brained, while Rosemary is serious and reliable. They leave their night club job to join the WAVES although Susie is extremely reluctant to do so. She is infatuated with popular singer Johnny Cabot (played by Bing Crosby) and fears that by joining the service she will never be able to meet him. Taking her collection of his records with her, however, she locks herself in the barracks washroom and plays Johnny’s record of ‘Moonlight Becomes You’. The twins attend a show in which Johnny is st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 11, 2007) was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. Early life and education Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg on February 26, 1921, in Battle Creek, Michigan. While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for another woman. They did not hear of him again until they received a telegram in 1937, informing them of his suicide. Betty and her older sister, Marion, were raised by her alcoholic mother, who took the surname Hutton. Marion was later billed as the actress Sissy Jones. The three started singing in the family's speakeasy when Betty was 3 years old. Troubles with the police kept the family on the move. They eventually landed in Detroit, where she attended Foch Intermediate School. On one occasion, when Betty, preceded by a police escort, arrived at the premiere of '' Let's Dance'' (1950), her mother, arriving with her, quipped, "At least this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1926 to 1977. He made over 70 feature films and recorded more than 1,600 songs. His early career coincided with recording innovations that allowed him to develop an intimate singing style that influenced many male singers who followed, such as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Dick Haymes, Elvis Presley, and John Lennon. ''Yank'' magazine said that he was "the person who had done the most for the morale of overseas servicemen" during World War II. In 1948, American polls declared him the "most admired man alive", ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. In 1948, ''Music Digest'' estimated that his recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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