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Eric Campbell (actor)
Alfred Eric Campbell (26 April 1879 – 20 December 1917) was a Scottish actor. He was a key member of Charlie Chaplin's film ensemble, invariably playing an intimidating bully, and appeared in eleven of Chaplin's films before he was killed in a car crash at the age of 38. He is the subject of a documentary by filmmaker Kevin Macdonald. Early life Campbell was previously believed to have been born in Scotland in Dunoon, traditional Clan Campbell country, but he is now thought to have been born in Cheshire. Most sources give his year of birth as 1879, but online birth records show that the birth of an Alfred Eric Campbell was registered in Altrincham in April–June 1880; no birth with this name was registered in Cheshire in 1879. Career Campbell began acting in "fit-ups" (local theatres) in Scotland and Wales, playing melodramatic roles. In this setting he was discovered by Fred Karno, the English impresario who was impressed by Campbell's size and baritone voice and took him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Altrincham
Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 52,419. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, Altrincham was established as a market town in 1290, a time when the economy of most communities was based on agriculture rather than trade, and there is still a market in the town. Further socioeconomic development came with the extension of the Bridgewater Canal to Altrincham in 1765 and the arrival of the railway in 1849, stimulating industrial activity in the town. Outlying villages were absorbed by Altrincham's subsequent growth, along with the grounds of Dunham Massey Hall, formerly the home of the Earl of Stamford, and now a tourist attraction with three Grade I Listed Buildings and a deer park. Altrincham has good transport links to Manchester, Sale, Stretford, W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hollywood, Los Angeles
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a metonymy, shorthand reference for the Cinema of the United States, U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and Universal Pictures, are located near or in Hollywood. Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was Merger (politics), consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910. Soon thereafter a prominent film industry emerged, having developed first on the East Coast. Eventually it became the most recognizable in the world. History Initial development H.J. Whitley, a real estate developer, arranged to buy the E.C. Hurd ranch. They agreed on a price and shook hands on the deal. Whitley shared his plans for the new town with General Harrison Gray Otis (publisher), Harrison Gray Otis, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Ellis Corey
William Ellis Corey (May 4, 1866 – May 11, 1934) was president of the Carnegie Steel Company from 1901 to 1903, and was president of U.S. Steel from 1903 to 1911. Biography He was born in Braddock, Pennsylvania in 1866. In 1883 he married Laura Cook, whom he met when she worked for his family, and they had one son, Allan Corey. In 1906, Laura filed for divorce in Reno, Nevada, charging that William had deserted her in May 1905. Laura was awarded custody of Allan and a settlement of $3,000,000 (approximately $ today). After the divorce, William married an actress, Mabelle Gilman on May 14, 1907, and in 1914 Laura married Lenn A. Duckworth. In 1911, Corey resigned his position as president of U.S. Steel. In 1923, Mabelle and William were divorced. He died in Manhattan, New York City on May 11, 1934. City of Corey, Alabama The city of Fairfield, Alabama was originally named for Corey in 1910 by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company The Tennessee Coal, Iron an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amarilly Of Clothes-Line Alley
''Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley'' is a 1918 American silent romantic comedy film starring Mary Pickford that was directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Frances Marion based upon a novel by Belle K. Maniates. Plot Set in San Francisco during the early 1900s, the film revolves around Amarilly (Mary Pickford), the daughter of a widowed scrubwoman. Amarilly is proud of her hard-working Irish family, and takes care of her five roughhouse brothers. She is engaged to bartender Terry McGowan ( William Scott), who gets her a job as a cigarette girl in his cafe after a fire unfairly causes her to lose her job as a theater scrubwoman. While working as a cigarette girl, she meets Gordon Phillips (Norman Kerry), a handsome and wealthy but frivolous young man, who is a society sculptor. Terry becomes jealous when Amarilly starts hanging out with Gordon, and he breaks off the engagement. Gordon offers Amarilly a job with his wealthy and snobbish aunt, Mrs. Phillips (Ida Waterman). When t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Pickford
Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founded Pickford–Fairbanks Studios and United Artists, and was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Pickford is considered to be one of the most recognisable women in history. Cited as "America's Sweetheart" during the silent film era, she is named on the list of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars as the 24th top female stars from the Classical Hollywood Cinema era and the "girl with the curls", Pickford was one of the Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood and a significant figure in the development of film acting. She was one of the earliest stars to be billed under her own name, and was one of the most popular actresses of the 1910s and 1920s, earning the nickname "Queen of the Movies". She is credited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First National Pictures
First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the country's largest theater chain. Expanding from exhibiting movies to distributing them, the company reincorporated in 1919 as Associated First National Theatres, Inc., and Associated First National Pictures, Inc. In 1924 it expanded to become a motion picture production company as First National Pictures, Inc., and became an important studio in the film industry. In September 1928, control of First National passed to Warner Bros., into which it was completely absorbed on November 4, 1929. A number of Warner Bros. films were thereafter branded First National Pictures until July 1936, when First National Pictures, Inc., was dissolved. Early history The First National Exhibitors' Circuit was founded in 1917 by the merger of 26 of the biggest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy West (silent Film Actor)
Billy West (September 22, 1892 – July 21, 1975) was a film actor, producer, and director. Active during the silent film era, he is best known as a semi-successful Charlie Chaplin impersonator. Beyond acting, he also directed shorts in the 1910s and 20s, as well as produced films. West ultimately retired in 1935. Early career Born Roy B. Weisberg (or ''Weissberg'') in the Russian Empire to a Jewish family, West emigrated to Chicago with his family in 1896. He appeared in many short films, first in ''Apartment No. 13'' in 1912. Chaplin impersonation In 1917 movie theaters could not get enough Charlie Chaplin comedies, and an enterprising producer hired West, who had been doing comic pantomimes on the vaudeville stage, to make imitation-Chaplin subjects to meet the demand. West, wearing the identical "tramp" costume and makeup, copied Chaplin's movements and gestures so accurately that he is often mistaken for the genuine performer. Reportedly, Chaplin himself saw the Billy W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Banana
A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases for the artists' entire careers. Double acts perform on the stage, television and film. The format is particularly popular in the UK where successful acts have included Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (Cook’s deadpan delivery contrasted with Moore’s buffoonery), Morecambe and Wise and ''The Two Ronnies''. The tradition is also present in the US with acts like Wheeler and Woolsey, Abbott and Costello, Gallagher and Shean, Burns and Allen, and Lyons and Yosco. The British-American comedy double act Laurel and Hardy has been described as the most popular in the world. Format Humor is often derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin, and profession but drastically different in terms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. He was credited with his first film, ''Outwitting Dad'', in 1914. In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as Babe Hardy. Early life and education Oliver Hardy was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia. His father, Oliver, was a Confederate States Army veteran of the American Civil War who had been wounded at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, and was a recruiting officer for Company K, 16th Georgia Regiment. The elder Oliver Hardy assisted his father in running the remnants of the family's cotton plantation. He then bought a share in a retail business and was elected full-time Tax Collector for Columbia Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mikado
''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, the second-longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time.The longest-running piece of musical theatre was the operetta ''Les Cloches de Corneville'', which held the title until ''Dorothy (opera), Dorothy'' opened in 1886, which pushed ''The Mikado'' down to third place. By the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera.H. L. Mencken, Mencken, H. L.]Article on ''The Mikado'', ''Baltimore Evening Sun'', 29 November 1910 ''The Mikado'' is the most internationally successful Savoy opera and has been especially popular with amateur and school productions. The work has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Easy Street (1917 Film)
''Easy Street'' is a 1917 short action-comedy film starring and directed by Charlie Chaplin. Plot In a slum area called Easy Street, the police are failing to maintain law and order. The Little Tramp, a down-and-out derelict, is sleeping rough outside the Hope Mission near the streets of a lawless slum. The sounds of a service in progress draws him wearily inside. After the sermon from the preacher, he is entranced by a beautiful mission worker and organist and he stays after the service. Holding his hand, she pleads him to join the mission, inspiring his religious "awakening". He vows to reform, returning the collection box that he slipped into capacious pants. Spotting a help-wanted ad for a job at the police station, the Tramp accepts and is assigned the rough-and-tumble Easy Street as his beat. Upon entering the street he finds a bully roughing up the locals and pilfering their money. The Tramp gets on the wrong side of the bully and after a brief chase, the Tramp finds him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fireman (1916 Film)
''The Fireman'' is the second film Charlie Chaplin distributed by the Mutual Film, Mutual Film Corporation in 1916. Released on June 12, it starred Chaplin as the fireman and Edna Purviance as the daughter to Lloyd Bacon. Plot A group of firemen, led by their foreman (Eric Campbell (actor), Eric Campbell), practice in the fire station, but one is missing ... Charlie. He is still sleeping. The bell eventually wakes him and he slides down the pole to join the others. He reverses the pair of horses onto the fire engine and drives off, but without the others. He reverses the horses back again. Their first task is to polish the engine, but a lot of butt-kicking ensues. During their meal break Charlie uses the engine as a giant water urn and serves an unappetising soup to the others. A young woman comes to the station with her aristocratic father, and the foreman sends Charlie away so he can talk with the father. Charlie and the girl flirt on one side of the station while the girl's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
