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Hollywood Hotel (radio Program)
''Hollywood Hotel'' is an American radio program that was broadcast in the 1930s. It featured Hollywood stars in dramatized versions of then-current movies and "helped to make Hollywood an origination point for major radio programs."Buxton, Frank and Owen, Bill (1972). ''The Big Broadcast: 1920-1950''. The Viking Press. SBN 670-16240-x. P. 113. Radio historian John Dunning called the program, sponsored by Campbell Soup Company, "the most glamorous show of its time." The program was the inspiration for the 1937 Warner Brothers movie of the same title, which featured Louella Parsons as herself. The instigator of the program was gossip columnist Louella Parsons, whose column was distributed by the Hearst Syndicate. Dunning wrote that she "promoted the concept and became the driving force behind the success of ''Hollywood Hotel''."Dunning, John. (1976). ''Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976''. Prentice-Hall, Inc. . P.282-283. At the time ''Hol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louella Parsons
Louella Parsons (born Louella Rose Oettinger; August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie columnist and a screenwriter. She was retained by William Randolph Hearst because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and subsequently became an influential figure in Hollywood. At her peak, her columns were read by 20 million people in 700 newspapers worldwide. She remained the unchallenged “Queen of Hollywood gossip” until the arrival of the flamboyant Hedda Hopper, with whom she feuded for years. Early life Louella Parsons was born Louella Rose Oettinger in Freeport, Illinois, the daughter of Helen (Stine) and Joshua Oettinger. Her father was of German Jewish descent, as was her maternal grandfather, while her maternal grandmother, Jeanette Wilcox, was of Irish origin. During her childhood, her parents attended an Episcopal church. She had two brothers, Edwin and Fred, and a sister, Rae. In 1890, her widowed mother married John H. Edwards. They lived i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loretta Young
Loretta Young (born Gretchen Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film '' The Farmer's Daughter'' (1947), and received her second Academy Award nomination for her role in ''Come to the Stable'' (1949). Young moved to the relatively new medium of television, where she had a dramatic anthology series, ''The Loretta Young Show'', from 1953 to 1961. It earned three Emmy Awards, and was re-run successfully on daytime TV and later in syndication. In the 1980s, Young returned to the small screen and won a Golden Globe for her role in ''Christmas Eve'' in 1986. Early life She was born Gretchen Young in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Gladys (née Royal) and John Earle Young. She was of Luxembourgish descent. When she was two years old, her parents separated, and when she was three, her mother moved the famil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loretta Lee (singer)
Loretta Lee (June 14, 1913 – January 21, 1977) was an American singer in the first half of the 20th century. Early years Lee was born Margaret Viegas (or Vieages) in New Orleans, the daughter of a juvenile court judge, Joseph Viegas (or Vieages), and his wife. Her ancestry was Spanish on her father's side and Irish on her mother's side. She was educated at a convent in New Orleans, but left that city as a teenager because her parents opposed her romance with a young Frenchman. She sang with the Boswell Sisters at charity functions when she was a youngster and later studied music at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, winning a Peabody scholarship for four years and a Juilliard scholarship for one year. She was the third Peabody student to graduate as a singer. On June 1, 1927, radio station WBAL in Baltimore, Maryland, broadcast one of her recitals. Career A visit to a publishing house during a trip to New York City in 1932, when she was 18, led to a singing engagement f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley Ross
Shirley Ross (born Bernice Maude Gaunt, January 7, 1913 – March 9, 1975) was an American actress and singer, notable for her duet with Bob Hope, "Thanks for the Memory" from ''The Big Broadcast of 1938''. She appeared in 25 feature films between 1933 and 1945, including singing earlier and wholly different lyrics for the Rodgers and Hart song in ''Manhattan Melodrama'' (1934) that later became " Blue Moon." Early musical career Ross was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the elder of two daughters of Charles Burr Gaunt and Maude C. (née Ellis) Gaunt. Growing up in California, she attended Hollywood High School and UCLA,United Press"Co-Ed Crashes Gates of Hollywood Studio" ''The Pittsburgh Press'', December 26, 1933, p. 18. training as a classical pianist. By age 14, she was giving radio recitals and made her first vocal recordings at 20 with Gus Arnheims's band. Here she attracted the notice of the up-and-coming songwriting duo Rodgers and Hart, who selected her to sell their latest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frances Langford
Julia Frances Newbern-Langford (April 4, 1913 – July 11, 2005) was an American singer and actress who was popular during the Golden Age of Radio and made film and television appearances for over two decades. She was known as the "GI Nightingale", an American armed-forces sweetheart, who entertained troops touring often with Bob Hope. Discovery Langford originally trained as an opera singer. While a young girl she required a tonsillectomy that changed her soprano range to a rich contralto. As a result, she was forced to change her vocal approach to a more contemporary big band, popular music style. At age 17, she was singing for local dances. Cigar manufacturer Eli Witt heard her sing at an American Legion party and hired her to sing on a local radio show he sponsored. Radio After a brief stint in the Broadway musical "Here Goes the Bride" in 1931, she moved to Hollywood, appearing on Louella Parsons' radio show ''Hollywood Hotel'' while starting a movie career. Singing f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duane Thompson
Duane Thompson (born Lura Duane Malony; July 28, 1903 – August 15, 1970) was an American film actress during Hollywood's silent film era. When Talkies pushed silent films into the background, she worked in stock theater for a time before moving to radio drama. She was married twice, to comedian Buddy Wattles and to radio producer William T. Johnson. Dancer and bit player Thompson and her mother moved to San Francisco and Hollywood in the early 1920s, where Thompson, after a stint as a cafe dancer, pursued a career in acting. She received her first film role in 1921, starring opposite Vernon Dent as Violet Joy in ''Up and at 'em''. Silent film star Dropping Violet Joy for Duane Thompson, she was Neal Burn's leading lady in ''Hot Water''. That film launched her into regular roles, and she starred in four films that year. From 1923 to 1929, Thompson starred in 37 films, with uncredited roles in another three films. In 1925, she was one of 13 women selected by the Western A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Parker (singer)
Frank Parker (April 29, 1903 – January 10, 1999) was an American singer and radio and television personality. Early years Parker was born Frank Ciccio on April 29, 1903DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . Pp. 209-210. in New York City. He was a graduate of the Milan Conservatory of music, and was a dancer in a stage production of ''Little Nellie Kelly.'' Bands Parker began his singing career as a tenor in 1926 and appeared with Harry Horlick's orchestra in 1933. Radio Parker debuted on radio as a substitute singer on ''The Eveready Hour'', and he was a regular on radio and television in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s with personalities including Jack Benny, George Burns and Arthur Godfrey. 1930s An October 30, 1930, newspaper listing shows Parker singing on the ''Van Heusen Program'' on WABC in New York City. Also, in the early 1930s, he was a featured singer with D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Murray (entertainer)
Ken Murray (born Kenneth Abner Doncourt, July 14, 1903 – October 12, 1988) was an American comedian, actor, radio and television personality and author. Early life Murray was born in New York City to a family of vaudeville performers. Many sources incorrectly give his birth name as Don Court. He had an older brother, Joseph. According to Murray's autobiography ''Life on a Pogo Stick'', as a teenager he learned that Joseph was actually his father and the couple who he thought were his parents were in fact his grandparents. The family withheld the truth from Murray because Joseph, who was also a vaudevillian, did not want the public to know that he had a young son. Joseph had divorced Murray's mother and decided that his parents would provide a more stable life than he was able to as a traveling performer. Murray also wrote of his quest to find his mother in his later years. Before embarking on a career in show business, Murray changed his name because he did not want to ride ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Marshall
Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the United Kingdom and North America, he became an in-demand Hollywood leading man, frequently appearing in romantic melodramas and occasional comedies. In his later years, he turned to character acting. The son of actors, Marshall is best remembered for roles in Ernst Lubitsch's '' Trouble in Paradise'' (1932), Alfred Hitchcock's ''Murder!'' (1930) and ''Foreign Correspondent'' (1940), William Wyler's '' The Letter'' (1940) and ''The Little Foxes'' (1941), Albert Lewin's ''The Moon and Sixpence'' (1942), Edmund Goulding's ''The Razor's Edge'' (1946), and Kurt Neumann's '' The Fly'' (1958). He appeared onscreen with many of the most prominent leading ladies of Hollywood's Golden Age, including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford and Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life (magazine)
''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography, and was one of the most popular magazines in the nation, regularly reaching one-quarter of the population. ''Life'' was independently published for its first 53 years until 1936 as a general-interest and light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes, and social commentary. It featured some of the most notable writers, editors, illustrators and cartoonists of its time: Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell and Jacob Hartman Jr. Gibson became the editor and owner of the magazine after John Ames Mitchell died in 1918. During its later years, the magazine offered brief capsule reviews (similar to those in ''The New Yorker'') of plays and movies currently running in New York City, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloria Swanson
Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most famously for her 1950 return in Billy Wilder's ''Sunset Boulevard'', which also earned her a Golden Globe Award. Swanson was born in Chicago and raised in a military family that moved from base to base. Her infatuation with Essanay Studios actor Francis X. Bushman led to her aunt taking her to tour the actor's Chicago studio. The 15-year-old Swanson was offered a brief walk-on for one film, beginning her life's career in front of the cameras. Swanson was soon hired to work in California for Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios comedy shorts opposite Bobby Vernon. She was eventually recruited by Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount Pictures, where she was put under contract for seven years. With the company she became a global superstar. She starr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Jory
Victor Jory (November 23, 1902 – February 12, 1982) was a Canadian-American actor of stage, film, and television. He initially played romantic leads, but later was mostly cast in villainous or sinister roles, such as Oberon in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1935) and carpetbagger Jonas Wilkerson in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939). From 1959 to 1961, he had a lead role in the 78-episode television police drama ''Manhunt''. He also recorded numerous stories for Peter Pan Records and was a guest star in dozens of television series as well as a supporting player in dozens of theatrical films, occasionally appearing as the leading man. Biography Born in Dawson City, Yukon, to American parents, he was the boxing and wrestling champion of the US Coast Guard during his military service, and he kept his burly physique. He graduated from the Martha Oatman School of the Theater in Los Angeles. Jory toured with theatre troupes and appeared on Broadway, before making his Hollywood debut in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
