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Hollywood Cavalcade
''Hollywood Cavalcade'' is a 1939 American film featuring Alice Faye as a young performer making her way in the early days of Hollywood, from slapstick silent pictures through the transition from silent to sound. Production In the wake of Alice Faye's 1938 success ''Alexander's Ragtime Band'', which took a nostalgic look at the musical scene of the 1910s, screenwriter Lou Breslow approached studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck with an idea to do another period piece, this time in Technicolor, concerning the early days of silent movies.Scott MacGillivray, ''Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward, Second Edition'', iUniverse, 2009, p. 13. ISBN 978-1440172373. The film was directed by Irving Cummings, with comedy sequences directed by Mal St. Clair. St. Clair's old crony Buster Keaton staged some of the gags, and a host of silent-era comedians re-created slapstick sight gags. The romance in the storyline was based on the real-life relationship between pioneer producer Mack Sennett and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irving Cummings
Irving Caminsky (October 9, 1888 – April 18, 1959) was an American movie actor and director. Career Born in New York City, Cummings started his acting career at age 16 in ''Diplomacy''. His Broadway, performances included ''In the Long Run'' (1909) and ''Object -- Matrimony'' (1916). Acting in the Proctor Stock Company, Cummings appeared with Lillian Russell and other actresses. He entered into movies in 1909, acting with the P. A. Powers company in Mount Vernon, New York, and quickly became a popular leading man. Few of the films he made as an actor are easily available, except for Buster Keaton's first feature film, ''The Saphead'' (1920), in which Cummings plays a crooked stockbroker and Fred Niblo's film Sex (1920), one of the first films to depict a new phenomenon in 1920s America, the Flapper. Both films are readily available on home video, as well as '' The Round-Up'' (1920), a Western drama starring Roscoe Arbuckle (with the famous tagline "Nobody loves a fat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinie Conklin
Heinie Conklin (born Charles John Conklin; July 16, 1880July 30, 1959) was an American actor and comedian whose career began in the silent film era. Early years Conklin was born Charles John Conklin on July 16, 1880, in San Francisco, California. He attended San Francisco's public schools. Career In vaudeville, Conklin headlined shows on the Keith and Orpheum circuits. He was billed as Charles Conklin until 1927. He began working in films in 1915 after 17 years on stage and in vaudeville. One of the original Keystone Kops, Conklin wore makeup of heavy eyebrow lining and a thin, upside-down, painted-on variation of Kaiser Wilhelm's mustache. In areas where anti-German sentiments still ran high during the post-World War I era, Conklin was billed as Charlie Lynn. One of Conklin's first talking pictures was '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' as a hospital patient. For the rest of his career in talking pictures, he had small roles in 2-reelers which starred The Three Stooges, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hank Mann
Hank Mann (born David William Lieberman, May 28, 1887 – November 25, 1971) was a Russian Empire-born and American comedian and silent screen star who was a member of the Keystone Cops. According to fellow actor and original member of the ensemble Edgar Kennedy, Mann was the originator of the idea for the Keystone Cops. Career Hank Mann was born in the Russian Empire but emigrated to New York City with his parents and siblings in 1891. Mann was one of the earliest of film comedians, working first for Mack Sennett as an original Keystone Cop, and later for producers William Fox and Morris R. Schlank in silent film comedies. With the advent of motion picture sound and the "talkies", he became a popular bit player and background extra in many quintessential motion picture dramas as well as comedies, including '' The Maltese Falcon'' (one of a group of reporters) and '' Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (as a photographer). One of his more sizable talkie roles was as a flu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Hicks
Edward Russell Hicks (June 4, 1895 – June 1, 1957) was an American film character actor. Hicks was born in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army in France. He later became a lieutenant Colonel in the California State Guard. Hicks was a prolific character actor appearing in bit parts and small supporting roles in nearly 300 films between 1933 and 1956. He often appeared as a smooth-talking confidence man, or swindler as in the W.C. Fields film ''The Bank Dick'' (1940). Distinguished, suave and a consummate actor, Hicks played a variety of judges, corrupt officials, crooked businessmen and attorneys, working in a variety of mediums almost until his death. Hicks appeared once in the syndicated western television series ''The Cisco Kid'' as an uncle of the Gail Davis character, whom he threatens to disinherit if she marries a known gangster. Broadway plays in which Hicks acted included ''The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial'' (1954), ''On Borrowed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Collins (actor)
Edward Bernard Collins (January 30, 1883 – September 2, 1940) was an American actor, comedian and singer. He is best remembered for voicing Dopey in Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937) and for portraying Tylo in the Shirley Temple film '' The Blue Bird'' (1940). Career He began working in vaudeville in 1905 and started working in burlesque around 1925. An animator for Walt Disney Productions saw him in a burlesque show and suggested that Disney hire him as a live-action reference model for Dopey in ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937)."1938 Movie Mirror Magazine" Retrieved February 6, 2018. In the film, Dopey is clumsy and mute, with Happy explaining that he has simply "never tried". In the movie's trailer, |
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer." Jolson was known for his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach" towards performing, as well as for popularizing many of the songs he sang. Jolson has been referred to by modern critics as "the king of blackface performers." Although best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927), he starred in a series of successful musical films during the 1930s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II. After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with ''The Jolson Story'' (1946), in which Larry Parks played Jolson, with the singer dubbing for Parks. The formula was repeat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Givot
George David Givot (February 18, 1903 – June 7, 1984) was a Russian Empire-born American comedian and actor on Broadway and in vaudeville, movies, television and radio. He was known for speaking in a comedic fake Greek dialect and was styled the "Greek Ambassador of Good Will". His best known movie role may be as the voice of Tony in the Disney film ''Lady and the Tramp'' (1955). Early life Givot stated that he actually did not know who his parents are; he was adopted by a French family when he was three. According to official documents, he was born on 18 February 1903 in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro, Ukraine), Russian Empire, to Walf Givistinsky - later William Wolf Givot(1875–1955) and Sofya—later Sarah—Givistinsky (née Garber) (1875–1930). According to the 1910 census, the family emigrated to the US in 1906 and settled in Omaha, Nebraska. They later moved to Chicago, where Givot went to high school and college. His night school journalism instructor became fed up wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Meek
Thomas Donald Meek (14 July 1878 – 18 November 1946) was a Scottish-American actor. He first performed publicly at the age of eight and began appearing on Broadway in 1903. Meek is perhaps best known for his roles in the films '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938) and ''Stagecoach'' (1939). He posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early years Meek was born in Glasgow to Matthew and Annie Meek. In the 1890s, the Meek family emigrated to Canada and then to the United States. By 1900, they were living in Philadelphia where Meek was employed as a dry goods salesman, according to the United States census of that year with Meek later working on stage. Career Meek's Broadway credits include ''Take My Tip'' (1932), ''After Tomorrow'' (1931), ''Oh, Promise Me'' (1930), ''Broken Dishes'' (1929), in which he starred with a young Bette Davis, ''Jonesy'' (1929), ''Mr. Moneypenny'' (1928), ''The Ivory Door'' (1927), ''My Princess'' (1927), ''Spread Eagle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jed Prouty
Jed Prouty (born Clarence Gordon Prouty; April 6, 1879 – May 10, 1956) was an American film actor. Biography Born as Clarence Gordon Prouty in Boston, Massachusetts, Prouty was a vaudeville performer before becoming a film actor. Mostly appearing in comedies, he occasionally performed a serious character role, for instance a small part as an oily publicist in '' A Star is Born'' (1937). After a significant career in silent films, a large part of Prouty's later career was the Jones Family film series. They were 17 low-budget 20th Century Fox family comedies between 1936 and 1940, along with Spring Byington as Mrs. Jones, for such directors as Malcolm St. Clair and Frank R. Strayer. Prouty appeared in all but the final entry. Partial filmography (Films marked with a caret are ''Jones Family'' films) * ''Her Game'' (1919) * ''Sadie Love'' (1919) * ''The Conquest of Canaan'' (1921) * '' The Great Adventure'' (1921) * ''Experience'' (1921) * ''Room and Board (1921) * '' Kick I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuart Erwin
Stuart Erwin (February 14, 1903 – December 21, 1967) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Early years Erwin was born in Squaw Valley, Fresno County, California. He attended Porterville High School and the University of California. Career Erwin began acting in college in the 1920s, having first appeared on stage. From there, he acted in stock theater in Los Angeles. Film career He broke into films in 1928 in ''Mother Knows Best''. In 1934, he was cast as Joe Palooka in the film '' Palooka''. In 1932, he co-starred with Bing Crosby in the comedy ''The Big Broadcast'', where he played Texas oil tycoon Leslie McWhinney. In 1936, he was cast in '' Pigskin Parade'', for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 1940, he played Howie Newsome, the dairy delivery vendor, in the film adaptation of ''Our Town'', based on the Thornton Wilder play. In Walt Disney's ''Bambi'', Erwin performed the voice of a tree squirrel. Late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mabel Normand
Amabel Ethelreid Normand (November 9, 1893 – February 23, 1930), better known as Mabel Normand, was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She was a popular star and collaborator of Mack Sennett in their Keystone Studios films, and at the height of her career in the late 1910s and early 1920s had her own film studio and production company. Onscreen, she appeared in twelve successful films with Charlie Chaplin and seventeen with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, sometimes writing and directing (or co-writing/directing) films featuring Chaplin as her leading man. In the 1920s, Normand's name was linked with scandal, including the 1922 murder of William Desmond Taylor and the 1924 shooting of Courtland S. Dines. Dines was shot by Normand's chauffeur, who was using her pistol. She was exonerated in the first crime, and disregarded from the second, but her film career declined. In addition, Normand suffered a recurrence of tuberculosis in 1923, which led ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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