Follow The Girls
''Follow the Girls'' is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton, Eddie Davis and Fred Thompson and music and lyrics by Dan Shapiro, Milton Pascal, and Phil Charig. A major wartime hit in both New York City and London, its thin plot about a burlesque striptease queen who becomes the star attraction at the Spotlight, a servicemen's club in Great Neck, Long Island, serves as an excuse for a series of songs, dance numbers, and comedy routines. Productions The Broadway production, produced by Albert Borde, conceived and directed by Harry Delmar and choreographed by Catherine Littlefield, opened on April 8, 1944 at the New Century Theatre. It transferred to the 44th Street Theatre and then the Broadhurst to complete its 888-performance run. The cast included Jackie Gleason, Danny Aiello, Walter Long, and Gertrude Niesen. The West End production, presented by Jack Hylton, opened on October 25, 1945 at His Majesty's Theatre, where it ran for 572 performances. The cast included Arthur A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Follow The Girls (Australian Production)
''Follow the Girls'' is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton, Eddie Davis and Fred Thompson and music and lyrics by Dan Shapiro, Milton Pascal, and Phil Charig. A major wartime hit in both New York City and London, its thin plot about a burlesque striptease queen who becomes the star attraction at the Spotlight, a servicemen's club in Great Neck, Long Island, serves as an excuse for a series of songs, dance numbers, and comedy routines. Productions The Broadway production, produced by Albert Borde, conceived and directed by Harry Delmar and choreographed by Catherine Littlefield, opened on April 8, 1944 at the New Century Theatre. It transferred to the 44th Street Theatre and then the Broadhurst to complete its 888-performance run. The cast included Jackie Gleason, Danny Aiello, Walter Long, and Gertrude Niesen. The West End production, presented by Jack Hylton, opened on October 25, 1945 at His Majesty's Theatre, where it ran for 572 performances. The cast included ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Al Hirschfeld
Albert Hirschfeld (June 21, 1903 – January 20, 2003) was an American caricaturist best known for his black and white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars. Personal life Al Hirschfeld was born in 1903 in a two-story duplex at 1313 Carr Street in St. Louis, Missouri, and moved with his family to New York City in 1915, where he received his art training at the National Academy of Design. He married chorus girl Florence Ruth Hobby in 1927; the couple separated in 1932 and divorced in 1943. That same year he married actress Dolly Haas. Haas died in 1994, aged 84. They had one child, a daughter, Nina (b. 1945). In 1996, he married Louise Kerz, a theatre historian (b. 1936). Career In 1924, Hirschfeld traveled to Paris and London, where he studied painting, drawing and sculpture. When he returned to the United States, a friend, fabled Broadway press agent Richard Maney, showed one of Hirschfeld's drawings to an editor at the '' New York Herald Tribune'', which got Hirschf ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term originated in ancient Greece: in Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing '' agon'' or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Evelyn Dall
Evelyn Dall (born Evelyn Mildred Fuss; January 8, 1918 – March 10, 2010) was an American singer and actress. Career Born in The Bronx, New York City as Evelyn Mildred Fuss, she took her stage name from the surname of two grandchildren of President Franklin D Roosevelt. Dall began her career in short films and in supporting roles on Broadway. In 1935, she was invited to become the female vocalist for Bert Ambrose and his Orchestra, in the UK, where she remained until 1946. She was known there as Britain's "Original Blonde Bombshell". In 1946, she returned to the United States where she married and raised a daughter and son. Widowed in 1974, Dall moved to Jupiter, Florida, in 1980, then to Arizona in 2002. Musical films *1936 ''Soft Lights and Sweet Music'' *1937 ''Calling All Stars'' *1937 ''Sing as You Swing'' *1938 ''Kicking the Moon Around'' *1941 ''He Found a Star'' *1942 ''King Arthur Was a Gentleman'' *1943 ''Miss London Ltd.'' *1944 ''Time Flies'' Theater musicals ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey, (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation and catchphrases including "Hello playmates!", "I thank you" (pronounced "Ay-thang-yaw") and "Before your very eyes". Askey achieved prominence in the 1930s in the BBC's first radio comedy series ''Band Waggon'' and subsequently starred in several Gainsborough Pictures comedy films during the Second World War including ''Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt'' (1940) and ''The Ghost Train (1941 film), The Ghost Train'' (1941). His Novelty song, novelty recordings for His Master's Voice include "The Bee Song" (1938), a lasting part of his act. From the 1950s, Askey was a prominent television presence and made regular appearances on the BBC's long-running music hall programme ''The Good Old Days (UK TV series), The Good Old Days''. Askey was made an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre. In the early decades of the 20th century, Tree produced spectacular productions of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare and other classical works, and the theatre hosted premieres by major playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge, Noël Coward and J. B. Priestley. Since the First World War, the wide stage has made the theatre suitable for large-scale musical productions, and the theatre has accordingly specialised in hosting musical theatre, musicals. The theatre has been home to record-setting musical theatre runs, notably the First World War sensation ''Chu Chin Chow''Larkin, Colin (ed). ''Guinness Who's Who of Stage Musicals'' (Guinness Publishing, 1994) and the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jack Hylton
Jack Hylton (born John Greenhalgh Hilton; 2 July 1892 – 29 January 1965) was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario. Hylton rose to prominence during the British dance band era, being referred as the "British King of Jazz" and "The Ambassador of British Dance Music" by the musical press, not only because of his popularity which extended throughout the world, but also for his use of unusually large ensembles for the time and his polished arrangements. He mostly retired from the music industry after 1940, becoming a successful theatrical businessman until his death. Early life and career He was born John Greenhalgh Hilton in Great Lever near Bolton, Lancashire, the son of George Hilton, a cotton yarn twister. His father was an amateur singer at the local Labour Club and Hylton learned piano to accompany him on the stage. Hylton later sang to the customers when his father bought a pub in nearby Little Lever, becoming known as the "Singing Mill-Boy". He also perf ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gertrude Niesen
Gertrude Niesen (July 8, 1911 – March 27, 1975) was an American torch singer, actress, comedian, and songwriter who achieved popular success in musicals and films in the 1930s and 1940s. Early years Niesen was born aboard ship as her Swedish father and Russian mother returned from a vacation in Europe. As a child, she hoped for a career on stage and began performing in vaudeville. She attended Brooklyn Heights Seminary, where she found and developed an interest in music. Career Niesen began singing as a career in the early 1930s, performing on radio and in night clubs. She first appeared on film (credited as Gertrude Nissen) with Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra and Artie Shaw in a Vitaphone short film, ''Yacht Party'' (1932). On old-time radio, Niesen was the featured singer on ''The Ex-Lax Big Show'' on CBS and host of ''The Show Shop'' (1942), on NBC-Blue. She left ''The Ex-Lax Big Show'' in the summer of 1935 to sing leads in musical productions of the St. Loui ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Walter Long (actor)
Walter Huntley Long (March 5, 1879 – July 4, 1952) was an American character actor in films from the 1910s. Career Born in Nashua, New Hampshire, Long appeared in nearly 200 films. Long debuted in films in 1909 with Broncho Billy Anderson. He disliked the working conditions for making films, so after that project he returned to acting on stage. He appeared in many D. W. Griffith films, notably ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915), where he appeared as Gus, an African American, in blackface make-up, and ''Intolerance'' (1916). He also supported Rudolph Valentino in the films '' The Sheik,'' '' Moran of the Lady Letty,'' and '' Blood and Sand.'' He later appeared as a comic villain in four Laurel and Hardy films during the early 1930s. On Broadway, Long appeared in ''Adonis'' (1899), ''Leave It to Me!'' (1938), ''Very Warm for May'' (1939), ''Boys and Girls Together'' (1940), ''Follow the Girls'' (1944), and ''Toplitzky of Notre Dame'' (1946). Personal life In 1908, Long marri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Danny Aiello
Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. () (June 20, 1933 – December 12, 2019) was an American actor. He appeared in numerous motion pictures, including ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974), ''The Front'' (1976), ''Once Upon a Time in America'' (1984), ''Hide in Plain Sight'' (1984), ''The Purple Rose of Cairo'' (1985), ''Moonstruck'' (1987), ''Harlem Nights'' (1989), ''Do the Right Thing'' (1989), ''Jacob's Ladder'' (1990), ''Hudson Hawk'' (1991), ''Ruby'' (1992), '' Léon: The Professional'' (1994), '' 2 Days in the Valley'' (1996), ''Dinner Rush'' (2000), and ''Lucky Number Slevin'' (2006). He played Don Domenico Clericuzio in the miniseries ''The Last Don'' (1997). Aiello was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Salvatore "Sal" Frangione in the Spike Lee film ''Do the Right Thing'' (1989). Early life Aiello, the fifth of six children, was born on West 68th Street, Manhattan, the son of parents Frances Pietrocova, a seamstress from Naples, Italy, and Dani ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jackie Gleason
John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy, exemplified by his city-bus-driver character Ralph Kramden in the television series ''The Honeymooners''. He also developed ''The Jackie Gleason Show,'' which maintained high ratings from the mid 1950s through 1970. After originating in New York City, filming moved to Miami Beach, Florida, in 1964 after Gleason took up permanent residence there. Among his notable film roles were Minnesota Fats in 1961's ''The Hustler'' (co-starring with Paul Newman) and Buford T. Justice in the ''Smokey and the Bandit'' series from 1977 to 1983 (co-starring Burt Reynolds). Gleason enjoyed a prominent secondary music career during the 1950s and 1960s, producing a series of best-selling "mood music" albums. H ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Broadhurst Theatre
The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 235 West 44th Street (Manhattan), 44th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was built for the Shubert family, Shubert brothers. The Broadhurst Theatre is named for British-American theatrical producer George Broadhurst, who leased the theater before its opening. It has 1,218 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium interior are List of New York City Landmarks, New York City landmarks. The neoclassical facade is simple in design and is similar to that of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Schoenfeld (formerly Plymouth) Theatre, which was developed concurrently. The Broadhurst's facade is made of Buff (colour), buff-colored brick and Architectural terracotta, terracotta and is divided into two sections: a stage house to the west and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |