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Francis Covers The Big Town
''Francis Covers the Big Town'' is a 1953 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Leonard Goldstein, directed by Arthur Lubin, that stars Donald O'Connor, Yvette Duguay, and Gene Lockhart. The distinctive voice of Francis is a voice-over by actor Chill Wills. This is the fourth film in Universal-International's Francis the Talking Mule series continuing the misadventures of Peter Stirling and his friend Francis. ''Diabolique'' argued it was the best in the series. Plot Peter lands a job at a big New York City newspaper and while on assignment gets framed for a murder. Cast *Donald O'Connor as Peter Stirling *Yvette Duguay as Maria Scola *Gene Lockhart as Tom Henderson * Nancy Guild as Alberta Ames *William Harrigan as Deputy Chief Inspector Hansen *Silvio Minciotti as Salvatore Scola *Lowell Gilmore as Jefferson Garnet *Larry Gates as Dan Austin *Hanley Stafford as Dr. Goodrich *Gale Gordon as District Attorney Evans *Forrest Lewis as Judge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Poster
A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. They normally contain an image with text. Today's posters often feature printed likenesses of the main actors. Prior to the 1980s, illustrations instead of photos were far more common. The text on film posters usually contains the film title in large lettering and often the names of the main actors. It may also include a tagline, the name of the director, names of characters, the release date, and other pertinent details to inform prospective viewers about the film. Film posters are often displayed inside and on the outside of movie theaters, and elsewhere on the street or in shops. The same images appear in the film exhibitor's pressbook and may also be used on websites, DVD (and historically VHS) packaging, flyers, advertisements in newspap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chill Wills
Theodore Childress "Chill" Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys quartet. Early life Wills was born in Seagoville, Texas, on July 18, 1902. Career He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s. After appearing in a few Westerns, he disbanded the group in 1938, and struck out on a solo acting career. One of his more memorable roles was that of the distinctive voice of Francis the Talking Mule in a series of popular films. Wills' deep, rough voice, with its Western twang, was matched to the personality of the cynical, sardonic mule. As was customary at the time, Wills was given no billing for his vocal work, though he was featured prominently on-screen as blustery General Ben Kaye in the fourth entry, ''Francis Joins the WACS''. He provided the deep voice for Stan Laurel's performance of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" in '' Way Out West'' (1937), in which th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 Comedy Films
Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugoslavia. ** The CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel first meets to discuss the UFO phenomenon. * January 15 – Georg Dertinger, foreign minister of East Germany, is arrested for spying. * January 19 – 71.1% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into ''I Love Lucy'', to watch Lucy give birth to Little Ricky, which is more people than those who tune into Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration the next day. This record has yet to be broken. * January 20 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is sworn in as the 34th President of the United States. * January 24 ** Mau Mau Uprising: Rebels in Kenya kill the Ruck family (father, mother, and six-year-old son). ** Leader of East Germany Walter Ulbricht announces that agriculture will be collectiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1953 Films
The year 1953 in film involved some significant events. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1953 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * January 16 – A new Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. is incorporated following a Consent Judgment to divest their Stanley Warner Theaters. * February 5 – Walt Disney's production of J.M. Barrie's ''Peter Pan'', starring Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont, premieres to astounding acclaim from critics and audiences and quickly becomes one of the most beloved Disney films. This is the last Disney animated movie released in partnership RKO Pictures, becoming the last ever smash hit movie of the later company before it bankrupted in 1959. * July 1 – ''Stalag 17'', directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, premieres and is considered by the critics and audiences to be one of the greatest WWII Prisoner of War films ever made. Holden wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DVD Region 4
DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD release, including its content, release date, and price, all according to the appropriate region. This is achieved by way of region-locked DVD players, which will play back only DVDs encoded to their region (plus those without any region code). The American DVD Copy Control Association also requires that DVD player manufacturers incorporate the regional-playback control (RPC) system. However, region-free DVD players, which ignore region coding, are also commercially available, and many DVD players can be modified to be region-free, allowing playback of all discs. DVDs may use one code, multiple codes (multi-region), or all codes (region free). Region codes and countries Any combination of regions can be applied to a single disc. For example, a DVD designated Region 2/4 is suitable for playback in Europe, L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DVD Region 1
DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD release, including its content, release date, and price, all according to the appropriate region. This is achieved by way of region-locked DVD players, which will play back only DVDs encoded to their region (plus those without any region code). The American DVD Copy Control Association also requires that DVD player manufacturers incorporate the regional-playback control (RPC) system. However, region-free DVD players, which ignore region coding, are also commercially available, and many DVD players can be modified to be region-free, allowing playback of all discs. DVDs may use one code, multiple codes (multi-region), or all codes (region free). Region codes and countries Any combination of regions can be applied to a single disc. For example, a DVD designated Region 2/4 is suitable for playback in Europe, La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Goes To The Races
''Francis Goes to the Races'' is a 1951 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Leonard Goldstein, directed by Arthur Lubin, that stars Donald O'Connor, Piper Laurie, and Cecil Kellaway. The distinctive voice of Francis is a voice-over by actor Chill Wills. This is a sequel to Universal-International's 1950 film ''Francis''. Plot Francis the Talking Mule and his sidekick Peter Sterling visit Colonel Travers and his granddaughter on their family horse farm. Peter soon finds himself involved in the world of horse racing and a crime boss and his men trying to "fix" races involving the Travers' horses. Cast *Donald O'Connor as Peter Stirling *Piper Laurie as Frances Travers *Cecil Kellaway as Colonel Travers * Jesse White as Frank Damer *Barry Kelley as 'Square Deal' Mallory *Hayden Rorke as Rogers *Vaughn Taylor as Harrington *Larry Keating as Head Steward Production ''Francis'' had been a success, and in May 1950 Universal announced they had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LaserDisc
The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diameter typically spans . Unlike most optical disc standards, LaserDisc is not fully Digital data, digital, and instead requires the use of analog video signals. Although the format was capable of offering higher-quality video and audio than its consumer rivals—VHS and Betamax videotape—LaserDisc never managed to gain widespread use in North America, largely due to high costs for the players and the inability to record TV programmes. It eventually did gain some traction in that region and became somewhat popular in the 1990s. It was not a popular format in Europe and Australia. By contrast, the format was much more popular in Japan and in the more affluent regions of Southeast Asia, such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, and was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Qualen
John Qualen (born Johan Mandt Kvalen, December 8, 1899 – September 12, 1987) was an American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles. Early years Qualen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of immigrants from Norway; his father was a Lutheran minister and changed the family's original surname, "Kvalen", to "Qualen" – though some sources give Oleson, later Oleson Kvalen as Qualen's earlier surnames. His father's ministering meant many moves and John was 20 when he graduated from Elgin (Illinois) High School in 1920. For four years, Qualen attended the University of Toronto, but he left there to join a Toronto-based traveling troupe as an actor. Career In a ''Milwaukee Journal'' interview he said he needed to start working and did so with the Chautauqua Circuit. He drove stakes for the tent used for presentations until a night in Ripon, Wisconsin, when the scheduled principal lecturer did not arrive. Qualen replaced the mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gale Gordon
Gale Gordon (born Charles Thomas Aldrich Jr., February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995) was an American character actor perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive Theodore J. Mooney, on Ball's second television situation comedy, ''The Lucy Show''. Gordon also appeared in ''I Love Lucy'' and had starring roles in Ball's successful third series ''Here's Lucy'' and her short-lived fourth and final series '' Life with Lucy''. Gordon was also a respected and beloved radio actor who is remembered for his role as school principal Osgood Conklin in ''Our Miss Brooks'', starring Eve Arden, in both the 1948–1957 radio series and the 1952–1956 television series. He also co-starred as the second Mr. Wilson in ''Dennis the Menace'', replacing Joseph Kearns after he died. Career Radio Born Charles Thomas Aldrich Jr., in New York City to vaudevillian Charles Thomas Aldrich and his wife, E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanley Stafford
Hanley Stafford (born Alfred John Austin, September 22, 1899 – September 9, 1968), was an actor principally on radio. He is remembered best for playing Lancelot Higgins on ''The Baby Snooks Show''. Stafford also assumed the role of Mr. Dithers, the boss of Dagwood Bumstead on the '' Blondie'' radio program. He is commemorated by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Early life Stafford emigrated from England to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1911. In World War I he enlisted in the 43rd Battalion (Cameron Highlanders of Canada), CEF in 1915, was wounded in the Third Battle of Yprès in 1917 and returned to England in 1918. Until 1924 he toured Canada in drama productions and landed in Los Angeles that year. He played in stock for eight years and then in tent shows. He was appearing on KFWB radio in Los Angeles by April 1932 then went to Phoenix to manage a stock company, the Delmas-Lawless Players, before returning to Los Angeles to resume stage and radio work the following ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry Gates
Lawrence Wheaton Gates (September 24, 1915December 12, 1996) was an American actor. His notable roles include H.B. Lewis on daytime's ''Guiding Light'' and Doc Baugh in the film version of ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' (1958). He played the role of H.B. from 1983 to 1996 and won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor at the 1985 awards. (He had previously played the role of District Attorney Eric Van Gelder on ''Guiding Light'' in 1977 and 1978.) Gates may be best remembered for his role in the 1967 film version of '' In the Heat of the Night'', where his character, Eric Endicott, is part of a famous scene involving his slapping Sidney Poitier's face, and gets slapped in return. Early years Gates was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota. As a chemical engineering student at the University of Minnesota, he acted in student plays. Some of his early acting experience came at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. His interest in acting led him to change his collegiate focus, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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