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Francis Joins The WACS
''Francis Joins the WACS'' is a 1954 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Ted Richmond, directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, ZaSu Pitts, Mamie Van Doren and Chill Wills in two roles, including that of the distinctive voice of Francis in voice-over. This is the fifth film in Universal-International's Francis the Talking Mule series. Plot A computer error mistakenly assigns junior officer Peter Stirling to the Women's Army Corps. Peter's old friend Francis helps him through his various military and personal problems, including several familiar stays in the base's psychiatric ward. Cast *Donald O'Connor as Peter Stirling *Julie Adams as Captain Jane Parker (as Julia Adams) *Mamie Van Doren as Corporal Bunky Hilstrom * Chill Wills as General Benjamin Kaye / voice of Francis *Lynn Bari as Major Louise Simpson *ZaSu Pitts as Lieutenant Valerie Humpert. Pitts played the same character in the first film of the ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Lubin
Arthur Lubin (July 25, 1898 – May 11, 1995) was an American film director and producer who directed several ''Abbott & Costello'' films, ''Phantom of the Opera'' (1943), the ''Francis the Talking Mule'' series and created the talking-horse TV series ''Mister Ed''. A prominent director for Universal Pictures in the 1940s and 1950s, he is perhaps best known today as the man who gave Clint Eastwood his first contract in film. Early life Arthur William Lubovsky was born in Los Angeles in 1898. His father, William Lubovsky, had come to the US from Poland in 1889. Lubovsky changed his name to Lubin in honour of filmmaker Siegmund Lubin and became a salesman. His family moved to Jerome, Arizona, when Arthur was five. He was interested in acting at an early age, appearing in local Sunday school productions, with the encouragement of his mother, who died when Lubin was six. His father remarried and the family moved from Jerome to San Diego when Lubin was eight. He managed the music and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film and it is derived from the classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1930s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque situations but also dialogue. Comedy, compared with other film genres, puts much more focus on individual stars, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity. In '' The Screenwriters Taxonomy'' (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story. Therefore the labels "drama" and "comedy" are t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1950s Fantasy Comedy Films
Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 195 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus has the Roman Senate deify the previous emperor Commodus, in an attempt to gain favor with the family of Marcus Aurelius. * King Vologases V and other eastern princes support the claims of Pescennius Niger. The Roman province of Mesopotamia rises in revolt with Parthian support. Severus marches to Mesopotamia to battle the Parthians. * The Roman province of Syria is divided and the role of Antioch is diminished. The Romans annexed the Syrian cities of Edessa and Nisibis. Severus re-establish his head ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1954 Films
Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM. * January 10 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near Elba; all 35 people on board are killed. * January 12 – 1954 Blons avalanches, Avalanches in Austria kill more than 200. * January 15 – Mau Mau rebellion, Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya. * January 17 – In Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, Milovan Đilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties. * January 20 – The US-based National Negro Network is established, with 46 m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Daily Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the sixth-highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017. In the 1850s, under Joseph Medill, the ''Chicago Tribune'' became closely associated with the Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, and the Republican Party's progressive wing. In the 20th century under Medill's grandson, Robert R. McCormick, it achieved a reputation as a crusading paper with a decidedly more American-conservative anti-New Deal outlook, and its writing reached other markets through family and corporate relationships at the ''New York Daily News'' and the ''Washington Times-Herald.'' The 1960s saw its corporate parent owner, Tribune Company, reac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mara Corday
Mara Corday (born Marilyn Joan Watts; January 3, 1930) is an American showgirl, model, actress, ''Playboy'' Playmate, and 1950s cult figure. Early life Corday was born in Santa Monica, California. Wanting a career in films, she came to Hollywood while still in her teens and found work as a showgirl at the Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Boulevard. Her physical beauty brought jobs as a photographer's model that led to a bit part as a showgirl in the 1951 film '' Two Tickets to Broadway''. Dancing One of Corday's first professional jobs was as a dancer in the '' Earl Carroll Revue'' in Hollywood. Accompanied by her mother, Corday auditioned when she was 15 years old. During the 2½ years that she was in the show, she advanced "from showgirl to actress in the sketches". This was also when she adopted the stage name Mara Corday, because it made her seem more exotic. The name Mara came from a bongo player who called her Marita when Corday was working as an usher at the Mayan Theate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allison Hayes
Allison Hayes (born Mary Jane Hayes; March 6, 1930 – February 27, 1977) was an American film and television actress and model. Early life Allison Hayes was born to William E. Hayes and Charlotte Gibson Hayes in Charleston, West Virginia. She was in the class of 1948 at Calvin Coolidge High School. Hayes won the title of Miss District of Columbia. She represented D.C. in the 1949 Miss America pageant. Although she did not win the competition, it provided her with the opportunity to work in local television before moving to Hollywood to work for Universal Pictures in 1954. Career Hayes made her film debut in the 1954 comedy ''Francis Joins the WACS''. Her second film, ''Sign of the Pagan'', provided her with an important role in a relatively minor film. Opposite Jack Palance, she played the part of a siren who ultimately kills him. Despite the strength of her second film role, she played minor roles in her next few films. Originally cast in ''Foxfire'' (1955), she was removed f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Shawlee
Joan Shawlee (March 5, 1926 – March 22, 1987), nee Joan Fulton (and also credited sometimes under that name, such as in the film noir, Woman On The Run, 1950), was an American film and television actress. She is known for her recurring role in ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' and a career-defining turn in Billy Wilder's comedy, ''Some'' ''Like'' ''It'' ''Hot'', playing '''Sweet'' Sue', the abrasive martinet in charge of Marilyn Monroe's all-girl jazz band. Early years Shawlee was born in Forest Hills, New York to Thomas Cuyler Fulton, an automobile salesman, and Esther L. Ring Fulton, and she moved with her parents and two brothers Theodore Cuyler Fulton Jr and Albert Fulton to Vancouver when she was five years old. Career Dancing and modeling Shawlee studied ballet under Ernest Belcher. At the age of fourteen, she began to work as a model for the John Robert Powers agency in New York, and worked later as a showgirl on Broadway. Billed as Joyce Ring, she appeared in the music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis (film)
''Francis'' is a 1950 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ... that launched the Francis the Talking Mule film series. ''Francis'' is produced by Robert Arthur (film producer), Robert Arthur, directed by Arthur Lubin, and stars Donald O'Connor and Patricia Medina. The distinctive voice of Francis is a voice-over by actor Chill Wills. Six ''Francis'' sequels from Universal-International followed this first effort. During World War II, a junior American Army officer gets sent to the psychiatric ward whenever he insists that an Army mule named Francis speaks to him. Plot When a bank manager discovers Peter Stirling, one of his tellers, is attracting public attention he calls the young man in who relates his s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lynn Bari
Lynn Bari (born Marjorie Schuyler Fisher, December 18, 1919 – November 20, 1989) was a film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through the 1940s. Early years Bari was born on December 18, 1919 in Roanoke, Virginia to John Manard Fisher (December 12, 1873 - June 4, 1927), of Lynchburg, Virginia, and his wife Marjorie Babcock Halpen (November 27, 1893 - May 11, 1960) a native of Albany, New York. Her father was a successful auto sales manager who for many years worked for a Roanoke car dealership, Harper Motor. In 1925, he left his job and moved the family to his hometown, Lynchburg, where he opened a car dealership of his own. Two years later, heavily in debt and struggling to make a sizeable profit, he, while away on a business trip, took his own life by jumping out of a hotel window. After selling everything to settle debts his widow was left with little money to support herself an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Women's Army Corps
The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an Auxiliaries, auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States as the WAC on 1 July 1943. Its first director was Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby. The WAC was disbanded in 1978, and all units were integrated with male units. History The WAAC's organization was designed by numerous Army bureaus coordinated by Lt. Col. Gillman C. Mudgett, the first WAAC Pre-Planner; however, nearly all of his plans were discarded or greatly modified before going into operation because he expected a corps of only 11,000 women. Without the support of the War Department, Representative Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts introduced a bill on 28 May 1941, providing for a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. The bill was held up for months by the Office of Management and Budget, Bureau of the Budget but was resurrected after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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