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Flight Command
''Flight Command'' is a 1940 American U.S. Navy film from MGM, produced by Frank Borzage and directed by J. Walter Ruben and Frank Borzage (uncredited), starring Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. It has the distinction of often being credited as the first Hollywood film glorifying the American military to be released after the outbreak of World War II in Europe, a year before the U.S. entered the conflict. Plot Hotshot ensign Alan Drake, fresh from flight school at Pensacola, Florida, gets off to a bad start with the pilots of an elite Fighting 8 squadron (VF-8), nicknamed the "Hellcats", to which he has been posted in San Diego. Making a nearly disastrous landing attempt in heavy fog against orders and disqualifying the squadron during a competitive shooting exercise by colliding with the target drogue does not endear him to his fellow pilots. He also asks out a woman he has met, Lorna, not knowing that she is the squadron commander Billy Gary's wife. However, Dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Borzage
Frank Borzage ( né Borzaga; April 23, 1894 – June 19, 1962) was an American film director and actor. He was the first person to win the Academy Awards, Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Director, Best Director for his film ''7th Heaven (1927 film), 7th Heaven'' (1927) at the 1st Academy Awards. Born to Italian and Swiss immigrant parents in Salt Lake City, Borzage began his career as a teenager performing with traveling theater groups throughout the western United States He found employment in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood in 1912, where he began directing and acting in short films before transitioning to feature films. Borzage's other directorial feature credits include ''Street Angel (1928 film), Street Angel'' (1928), ''Bad Girl (1931 film), Bad Girl'' (1931), ''A Farewell to Arms (1932 film), A Farewell to Arms'' (1932), ''Man's Castle'' (1933), ''History Is Made at Night (1937 film), History Is Made at Night'' (1937), ''The Mortal Storm'' (1940), and Moonrise (f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Skelton
Richard Bernard Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national old-time radio, radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program ''The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, and also appeared in burlesque, vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist. Skelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10, when he became part of a traveling medicine show. He then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, and then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The "Doughnut Dunkers" pantomime sketch, which he wrote together with his wife, launched a career for him in vaudeville, radio, and films. His radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on ''The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour'', which led to his becoming the host of ''Avalon Time'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grumman F3F
The Grumman F3F is a biplane fighter aircraft produced by the Grumman aircraft for the United States Navy during the mid-1930s. Designed as an improvement on the F2F, it entered service in 1936 as the last biplane to be delivered to any American military air arm. It was retired from front line squadrons at the end of 1941 before it could serve in World War II, and replaced by the Brewster F2A Buffalo. The F3F, which inherited the Leroy Grumman-designed retractable main landing gear configuration first used on the Grumman FF, served as the basis for a biplane design ultimately developed into the much more successful F4F Wildcat that succeeded the subpar Buffalo. Design and development The Navy's experience with the F2F revealed issues with stability and unfavorable spin characteristics, prompting the 15 October 1934 contract for the improved XF3F-1, placed before F2F deliveries began. The contract also required a capability for ground attack, in addition to the design's fighter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VFA-31
VFA-31 or Strike Fighter Squadron 31 is known as the ''Tomcatters'', callsign "Felix", a United States Navy strike fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana flying the F/A-18E Super Hornet. The Tomcatters are the second-oldest Navy Fighter Attack squadron operating today. Squadron insignia and nickname The squadron was originally known as the ''Shooting Stars''. The original "Felix the Cat" squadron was VF-3. After the Battle of Midway, VF-3 and VF-6 swapped designations on 15 July 1943, resulting in a three-year controversy as to which squadron owned the Felix name and emblem until VF-3 was re-designated VF-3A on 15 November 1946, and awarded the official approval to adopt Felix the Cat by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO). VF-3A was then re-designated VF-31 on 7 August 1948. The emblem and mascot is the famous cartoon character Felix the Cat, running with a large spherical black bomb with a lit fuse. The yellow field and outline were omitted from the aircraft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hamilton (actor)
John Rummel Hamilton (January 16, 1887 – October 15, 1958) was an American actor who appeared in many movies and television programs, including the role as the blustery newspaper editor Perry White in the 1950s television program '' Adventures of Superman''. Biography John R. Hamilton was born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, to John M. Hamilton and his wife Cornelia J. (Hollar) Hamilton. Hamilton was the youngest of four children, and his mother died eight days after his birth. Hamilton grew up in neighboring Southampton Township, Pennsylvania, where his father worked as a store clerk. Hamilton's father was also appointed Shippensburg's trustee for the State Superintendent of Public Education, allowing Hamilton to attend college at Dickinson College and Shippensburg State Teacher's College. He opted to forgo teaching for a stage career, however. After becoming an actor, he worked in Broadway plays and in touring theatrical companies for many years prior to his 1930 movie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gayne Whitman
Gayne Whitman (born Alfred D. Vosburgh; March 19, 1890 – August 31, 1958) was an American radio and film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1904 and 1957. In some early films, he was credited under his birth name. He was born in Chicago, Illinois. Whitman's theatrical debut came when he carried a spear behind an actor portraying King Richard III in a production in Indianapolis. Allen Vosburgh, he was the leading man in the film ''Princess of the Dark'' (1917). Soon after that, he changed his screen name to Alfred Whitman because "1917 was not a good time to have a German sounding name." Beginning in 1921, Whitman acted at the Morosco Theater in Los Angeles. He returned to films in 1925 when he received a contract with Warner Bros. On radio, Whitman played the title role in ''Chandu the Magician'', was the narrator on ''Lassie'' and ''Strange as It Seems'', and was an announcer on ''Paducah Plantation'' and other programs. Personal life Whitman was marrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reed Hadley
Reed Hadley (born Reed Herring, June 25, 1911 – December 11, 1974) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early life Hadley was born in Petrolia, Texas. Career Before moving to Hollywood, he acted in ''Hamlet'' on stage in New York City, a last-minute substitute for the scheduled actor who failed to appear to portray Fortinbras. Radio In the 1950s, Hadley played Chad Remington on '' Frontier Town''. He also was one of the actors who portrayed cowboy hero '' Red Ryder'' on the '' Red Ryder'' series during the 1940s. On September 16, 1950, Hadley was on '' Tales of the Texas Rangers'' episode "Candy Man". Television Hadley starred in two television series, '' Racket Squad'' (1950–1953) as Captain Braddock, and '' The Public Defender'' (1954–1955) as Bart Matthews, a fictional attorney for the indigent. He also was a guest star on such programs as the religion anthology series, '' Crossroads,'' and on Rory Calhoun's CBS western series, '' The Texan'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Tung Foo
Lee Tung Foo (also known as Frank Lee) was a Chinese American Vaudeville performer born in California who performed in English, German, and Latin.''Sixty years of California song'' By Rosana Margaret Kroh Blake Alversonwas''Yellowface: creating the Chinese in American popular music and performance'' by Moon, Krystyn R., pp 146-147 He became a film actor later in his life. At the age of 45, he ran a Chinese restaurant he bought in New York City called Jung Sy Mandarin Restaurant. He opened a second restaurant, Imig Sy, and both were str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marsha Hunt (actress, Born 1917)
Marsha Hunt (born Marcia Virginia Hunt; October 17, 1917 – September 7, 2022) was an American actress with a career spanning nearly 80 years. She was Hollywood blacklist#The Hollywood Ten and other 1947 blacklistees, blacklisted by Hollywood film studio executives in the 1950s during McCarthyism. She appeared in many films, including ''Born to the West'' (1937) with John Wayne, ''Pride and Prejudice (1940 film), Pride and Prejudice'' (1940) with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, ''Kid Glove Killer'' (1942) with Van Heflin, ''Cry 'Havoc' (film), Cry 'Havoc''' (1943) with Margaret Sullavan and Joan Blondell, The Human Comedy (film), ''The Human Comedy'' (1943) with Mickey Rooney, ''Raw Deal (1948 film), Raw Deal'' (1948) with Claire Trevor, ''The Happy Time'' (1952) with Charles Boyer, and Dalton Trumbo's ''Johnny Got His Gun (film), Johnny Got His Gun'' (1971). In the midst of the blacklist era, she became active in the humanitarian cause of world hunger and in her later yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Flaherty (actor)
Edmund Joseph Flaherty (March 8, 1897 – December 2, 1970) was an American film actor who appeared in about 200 films. Biography Early life Flaherty was born Edmund Joseph Flaherty in Washington, D.C.; the son of Mary Rose Ella (née Wilson) and Michael Joseph Flaherty. He was the older brother of writer Vincent X. Flaherty. Flaherty had Irish ancestry. Pat attended Eastern High School, and Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts. After playing baseball, he attended Princeton University and graduated on January 26, 1918. Flaherty served in the U.S. Army during the Pancho Villa Expedition and then as an U.S. Army Air Service pilot in World War I. Early athletic career Flaherty was a popular Washington, D.C., athlete and coach, who went on to become a professional baseball and football player and was in the bullpen for John McGraw's New York Giants during the 1921 World Series, and punted for George Halas' Chicago Bears. After his professional athletic career ended, he went ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Douglas (actor)
Donald Douglas (born Douglas William Kinleyside, 24 August 1905 – 31 December 1945) was a Scottish-American actor who performed in films, on the stage and in radio. Early life Douglas was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 24 August 1905, and was christened at a church in Twickenham, England. He was the son of William Young Kinleyside, a businessman and lawyer. Business brought his father to New York City on several occasions, and eventually, five-year old Douglas, with his sister Hazel, were brought to America as second cabin class passengers, on board the British steamer ''Mauritania'', which sailed from the Port of Liverpool on 29 October 1910, and arrived at the Port of New York, 4 November. He became an American citizen in 1939. Career Stage Adopting the stage name "Don Douglas", he became a singer and actor in musical shows such as ''Footlites''. In 1928, his big break came when he won glowing revues for his performance in '' The Desert Song'' in the Orpheum Theatre i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Addison Richards
Addison Whittaker Richards, Jr. (October 20, 1902 – March 22, 1964) was an American actor of film and television. Richards appeared in more than 300 films between 1933 and his death in 1964. Biography A native of Zanesville, Ohio, Richards was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Addison Richards. His grandfather was a mayor of Zanesville. Following his father's death, the family moved to California. Richards graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from Washington State College. Stage and screen In 1931 Addison Richards joined the Pasadena Playhouse as actor and associate director. He entered motion pictures in 1933. Warner Bros. signed him to a nonexclusive five-year contract in 1934, and he appeared steadily in that studio's feature films. His dignified, businesslike demeanor established him as a character actor, and he almost always played professional men of authority: doctors, attorneys, judges, executives, military officers, legislators, prison wardens, etc. Richards became such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
