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Gogi Grant
Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg (September 20, 1924 – March 10, 2016), known professionally as Gogi Grant, was an American pop singer. She is best known for her No. 1 hit in 1956, "The Wayward Wind". Life and career Grant was born Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the eldest of six children of Russian Jewish parents, Rose (née Jacobson) and Alexander Arinsberg. At the age of 12, she moved to Los Angeles, where she attended Venice High School. In California, she won a teenage singing contest and appeared on television talent shows. She worked as a car saleswoman in the early 1950s. In 1952 she began to record, using first the name "Audrey Brown" and later "Audrey Grant". She was given the name "Gogi" by Dave Kapp, the head of Artists and Repertory at RCA Victor, who liked to patronize a restaurant called Gogi's LaRue. (Another source says that Grant asked Kapp, "What is a Gogi?" She continued, "His answer was, 'Darned if I know, I dreamed it last night.'") In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Act of Consolidation, 1854, Since 1854, the city has been coextensive with Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County, the List of counties in Pennsylvania, most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the Delaware Valley, the Metropolitan statistical area, nation's seventh-largest and one of List of largest cities, world's largest metropolitan regions, with 6.245 million residents . The city's population at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census was 1,603,797, and over 56 million people live within of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Helen Morgan Story
''The Helen Morgan Story'', released in the UK as ''Both Ends of the Candle'', is a 1957 American biographical film directed by Michael Curtiz starring Ann Blyth and Paul Newman. The screenplay by Oscar Saul, Dean Riesner, Stephen Longstreet, and Nelson Gidding is based on the life and career of torch singer/actress Helen Morgan, with fictional touches liberally added for dramatic purposes. This turned out to be Blyth's final film role. Another version of Morgan's life story, '' Helen Morgan'', was produced as a live television drama on '' Playhouse 90'', with Polly Bergen as Morgan. Despite requests to delay the television version, it aired five months before the release of the motion picture. Plot Helen Morgan begins her career as a Chicago carnival dancer. She catches the eye of fast-talking, double-dealing Larry Maddux, whose promotion catapults her to fame as a Broadway performer in ''Show Boat'' and a headliner in her own nightclub. Helen is involved in two romantic re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Jeffreys
Anne Jeffreys (born Annie Jeffreys Carmichael; January 26, 1923 – September 27, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She was noted as the female lead in the 1950s TV series '' Topper''. Career Jeffreys was born Annie Jeffreys Carmichael on January 26, 1923, in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Jeffreys entered the entertainment field at a young age, having her initial training in voice (she was an accomplished soprano). She became a member of the New York Municipal Opera Company on a scholarship and sang the lead at Carnegie Hall in such presentations as ''La bohème'', '' Traviata'', and ''Pagliacci.'' However, she decided as a teenager to sign with the John Robert Powers agency as a junior model. Her plans for an operatic career were sidelined when she was cast in a staged musical review, ''Fun for the Money''. Her appearance in that revue led to her being cast in her first movie role, in '' I Married an Angel'' (1942), starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. She was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Show Boat (1951 Film)
''Show Boat'' is a 1951 American musical romantic drama film, based on the 1927 stage musical of the same name by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (script and lyrics), and the 1926 novel by Edna Ferber. It was made by MGM, adapted for the screen by John Lee Mahin, produced by Arthur Freed and directed by George Sidney. Filmed previously in 1929 and in 1936, this third adaptation of ''Show Boat'' was shot in Technicolor in the typical MGM lavish style, while the basic plot remains unchanged. The film stars Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, and Howard Keel, with Joe E. Brown, Marge Champion, Gower Champion, William Warfield, Robert Sterling, Agnes Moorehead and Leif Erickson. Unlike the 1936 film, none of the members of the original Broadway cast of the show appeared in this version. The 1951 ''Show Boat'' was the most financially successful of the film adaptations of the show: one of MGM's most popular musicals, it was the second highest-grossing film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Keel
Harold Clifford Keel (April 13, 1919November 7, 2004), known professionally as Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer, known for his rich bass-baritone singing voice. He starred in a number of MGM musicals in the 1950s and in the CBS television series ''Dallas'' from 1981 to 1991. Early life Keel was born in Gillespie, Illinois, United States, to Navyman-turned-coalminer Homer Keel, and his wife, Grace Margaret (née Osterkamp). Keel was the younger of the couple's children, after elder son Frederick William Keel. The family was so poor that a teacher would often provide Keel with his lunch. After his father's death in 1930, Keel and his mother moved to California, where he graduated from Fallbrook High School at age 17. He worked various odd jobs until settling at Douglas Aircraft Company as a "traveling representative". He was a long haul truck driver. In the 1950s, the MGM publicity department stated that Keel's birth name was Harold Leek. Career At age 20, Ke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Show Boat
''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the ''Cotton Blossom'', a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years from 1887 to 1927. Its themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. The musical contributed such classic songs as "Ol' Man River", " Make Believe", and " Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man". The musical was first produced in 1927 by Florenz Ziegfeld. The premiere of ''Show Boat'' on Broadway was an important event in the history of American musical theatre. It "was a radical departure in musical storytelling, marrying spectacle with seriousness", compared with the trivial and unrealistic operettas, light musical comedies and "Follies"-type musical revues that defined Broadway in the 1890s and early 20th century. According to ''The Complete Book of Light Opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry James
Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his technical proficiency as well as his tone, and was influential on new trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of films that usually featured his band. Early life Harry James was born in Albany, Georgia, United States, the son of Everett Robert James, a bandleader in a traveling circus, the Mighty Haag Circus, and Myrtle Maybelle (Stewart), an acrobat and horseback rider. He started performing with the circus at an early age, first as a contortionist at age of four, then playing the snare drum in the band from about the age of six. It was at this age that James was almost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Shearing
Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 titles, including the jazz standards " Lullaby of Birdland" and " Conception", and had multiple albums on the '' Billboard'' charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s. He died of heart failure in New York City, at the age of 91. Biography Early life Born in Battersea, London, Shearing was the youngest of nine children. He was born blind to working-class parents: his father delivered coal and his mother cleaned trains in the evening. He started to learn piano at the age of three and began formal training at Linden Lodge School for the Blind, where he spent four years. Though he was offered several scholarships, Shearing opted to perform at a local pub, the Mason's Arms in Lambeth, for "25 bob a week" playing piano and accordion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cal Tjader
Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, known as the most successful non-Latino Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, even as he continued to perform music of Afro-Jazz, the Caribbean, México and Latin America. Cal Tjader played the vibraphone primarily, but was accomplished on the drums, bongos, congas, timpani, and the piano. He worked with many musicians from several cultures. He is often linked to the development of Latin rock and acid jazz. Although fusing Jazz with Latin music is often categorized as "Latin Jazz", Tjader's works swung freely between both styles. His Grammy award in 1980 for his album ''La Onda Va Bien'' capped off a career that spanned over forty years. Early years (1925–1943) Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. was born July 16, 1925, in St. Louis to touring Swedish American vaudevillians. His father tap danced and his mother played piano, a husband-wife team going from city to ci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mills Brothers
The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed the Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as the Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies and garnered at least three dozen gold records. The Mills Brothers were the first African-American artists to have their own show on national network radio (on CBS in 1930); they made appearances in film; and were the first to have a No. 1 hit on the '' Billboard'' singles chart, with " Paper Doll" in 1943. They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998. Early years The Mills Brothers were born into a family of nine in Piqua, Ohio, United States. The quartet consisted of Donald (lead tenor vocals, April 29, 1915 – November 13, 1999), Herbert (tenor vocals, April 2, 1912 – April 12, 1989), Harry (baritone vocals, August 9, 1913 – June 28, 1982), and John Jr. (guitar, double bass, vocals; October 19, 1910 – Janua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Del Vikings
The Del-Vikings (also known as The Dell-Vikings) were an American doo-wop musical group that recorded several hit singles in the 1950s and continued to record and tour with various lineups in later decades. The group is notable for the hit songs "Come Go with Me" and " Whispering Bells", and for having been a successful racially mixed musical group during a period of time when such groups were rare. History Formation and early fame The Del-Vikings were formed in 1955 by members of the United States Air Force stationed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with Clarence Quick, Kripp Johnson, Don Jackson, Samuel Paterson, Bernard Robertson and guitarist Joe Lopes. Because all of the members were in the armed forces, the group constantly ran the risk of being disrupted by members being stationed in other places. This happened soon after the group's forming when Paterson and Robertson were sent to Germany. They were replaced by baritone David Lerchey, the group's first white member, and teno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Diamonds
The Diamonds are a Canadian vocal quartet that rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s with 16 ''Billboard'' hit records. The original members were Dave Somerville (lead), Ted Kowalski (tenor), Phil Levitt (baritone), and Bill Reed (bass). They were most noted for interpreting and introducing rhythm and blues vocal group music to the wider pop music audience. Contrary to a popular myth, the father of Tom Hanks was never a member of the group. History 1950s In 1953, Dave Somerville, while working as a sound engineer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, met three other young singers. They decided to form a stand-up quartet called the Diamonds. The group's first performance was in the basement of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Toronto singing in a Christmas minstrel show. The audience's reaction to the Somerville-led group was so positive that they decided that night they would turn professional. After 18 months of rehearsal, they drove to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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