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Hollywood Steps Out
''Hollywood Steps Out'' is a 1941 short ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon by Warner Bros., directed by Tex Avery. The short was released on May 24, 1941. The cartoon features caricatures of over 40 Hollywood celebrities. Plot A bird's-eye view of Los Angeles is shown with searchlights moving to a conga beat. The action takes place in the famed Ciro's nightclub, where the Hollywood stars are having dinner at $50 () a plate and "easy terms". The first stars seen are Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, and, at a table behind them, Adolphe Menjou and Norma Shearer, followed by Cary Grant, seated alone. Grant's first lines reference his films ''My Favorite Wife'', ''The Awful Truth'', and '' His Girl Friday'' (originally titled '' The Front Page''). Greta Garbo comes along as a cigarette girl, and lights a match for Grant on her notoriously large feet. In the next scene, Edward G. Robinson asks Ann Sheridan "How's the Oomph girl tonight?" Sheridan, then known as the "Oomph Girl", responds by ut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His most significant work was for the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, where he was crucial in the creation and evolution of famous animated characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel, The Wolf, Red Hot Riding Hood, and George and Junior. He gained influence for his technical innovation, directorial style and brand of humor. Avery's attitude toward animation was opposite that of Walt Disney and other conventional family cartoons at the time. Avery's cartoons were known for their sarcastic, ironic, absurdist, irreverent, and sometimes sexual tone in nature. Avery's cartoon focused on sight gags, surrealist humor, rapid pacing, racial stereotypes, and violent humor, with wacky c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men from the 1930s until the mid-1960s. Grant was born and brought up in Bristol, England. He became attracted to theater at a young age when he visited the Bristol Hippodrome. At 16, he went as a stage performer with the Pender Troupe for a tour of the US. After a series of successful performances in New York City, he decided to stay there. He established a name for himself in vaudeville in the 1920s and toured the United States before moving to Hollywood in the early 1930s. Grant initially appeared in crime films and dramas such as ''Blonde Venus'' (1932) with Marlene Dietrich and '' She Done Him Wrong'' (1933) with Mae West, but later gained renown for his performances in romantic screwball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blondie (film Series)
The ''Blondie'' film series is an American comedy film series based on the comic strip of the same name, created by Chic Young. The series featured Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead and Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead. Concurrently the film adventures were continued, with the same cast reprising their roles, in the '' Blondie'' radio series. Columbia Pictures produced the films from 1938 to 1943, and popular demand brought them back in 1945. Columbia later reissued the ''Blondie'' features, beginning with the first film in the series. Columbia used the series to showcase many of its contract players. Rita Hayworth was featured in ''Blondie on a Budget''; Glenn Ford in ''Blondie Plays Cupid'', Larry Parks and Janet Blair in ''Blondie Goes to College'', Shemp Howard in ''Blondie Knows Best'', and Adele Jergens in ''Blondie's Anniversary''. Other roles were taken by Columbia contractees Doris Houck, Bruce Bennett, Lloyd Bridges, Ann Doran, Stanley Brown, Richard Fiske, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kate Smith
Kathryn Elizabeth Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American contralto. Referred to as The First Lady of Radio, Smith is well known for her renditions of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" & "When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain". In more recent times, she has also been associated with controversial songs containing racially insensitive themes and undertones. She had a radio, television, and recording career spanning five decades, which reached its pinnacle in the 1940s. She became known as The Songbird of the South because of her tremendous popularity during World War II. Early life She was born on May 1, 1907, in Greenville, Virginia, to Charlotte 'Lottie' Yarnell (''née'' Hanby) and William Herman Smith, growing up in Washington, D.C. Her father owned the Capitol News Company, distributing newspapers and magazines in the greater D.C. area. She was the youngest of three daughters, the middle child dying in infancy. She failed to talk until she was four years old ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical films, suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greater successes were in romantic dramas. A recipient of two Academy Awards, she was the first thespian to accrue ten nominations. Bette Davis appeared on Broadway in New York, then the 22-year-old Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930. After some unsuccessful films, she had her critical breakthrough playing a vulgar waitress in ''Of Human Bondage'' (1934) although, contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. The next year, her performance as a down-and-out actress in '' Dangerous'' (1935) did land Davis her first Best Actress nomination, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merrily We Roll Along (song)
"Merrily We Roll Along" is a song written by Charlie Tobias, Murray Mencher, and Eddie Cantor in 1935, and used in the ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon '' Billboard Frolics'' that same year. It is best known as the theme of Warner Bros.' ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon series. The first two lines of Cantor's recording are: :Merrily we roll along, my honey and me :Verily there's no one half as happy as we In the 1970s, it was adopted by WGN as the theme music for '' The Ray Rayner Show'', which featured Warner Bros. cartoons. In 1995, it was used as the closing theme of '' The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries''. The song shares a title with the 1934 play '' Merrily We Roll Along'' by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, but is unrelated to it. The song is also an introduction to all the Guns N' Roses concerts in their tour Not in This Lifetime... Tour. The old folk song "Goodnight, Ladies "Goodnight, Ladies" is a folk song attributed to Edwin Pearce Christy, originally intended to be sung ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It is, therefore, an esoteric joke, only humorous to those who are aware of the circumstances behind it. In-jokes may exist within a small social clique, such as a group of friends, or extend to an entire profession or other relatively large group. An example is: ::Q: What's yellow and equivalent to the axiom of choice? ::A: Zorn's lemon. Individuals not familiar with the mathematical result Zorn's lemma are unlikely to understand the joke. The joke is a pun on the name of this result. Ethnic or religious groups may also have in-jokes. Philosophy In-jokes are cryptic allusions to shared common ground that act as selective triggers; only those who share that common ground are able to respond appropriately. An in-joke can work to build c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Sheridan
Clara Lou "Ann" Sheridan (February 21, 1915 – January 21, 1967) was an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in the films ''San Quentin'' (1937) with Humphrey Bogart, ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938) with James Cagney and Bogart, '' They Drive by Night'' (1940) with George Raft and Bogart, ''City for Conquest'' (1940) with Cagney and Elia Kazan, ''The Man Who Came to Dinner'' (1942) with Bette Davis, ''Kings Row'' (1942) with Ronald Reagan, ''Nora Prentiss'' (1947), and ''I Was a Male War Bride'' (1949) with Cary Grant. Early life Clara Lou Sheridan was born in Denton, Texas, on February 21, 1915, the youngest of five children (Kitty, Pauline, Mabel and George) of George W. Sheridan and Lula Stewart (née Warren). According to Sheridan, her father was a grandnephew of Civil War Union general Philip Sheridan. She was active in dramatics at Denton High School and at North Texas State Teachers College. She also sang with the college's stage band and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward G
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Saxon England, but the rule of the Norman and Plantagenet dynasties had effectively ended its use amongst the upper classes. The popularity of the name was revived when Henry III named his firstborn son, the future Edward I, as part of his efforts to promote a cult around Edward the Confessor, for whom Henry had a deep admiration. Variant forms The name has been adopted in the Iberian peninsula since the 15th century, due to Edward, King of Portugal, whose mother was English. The Spanish/Portuguese forms of the name are Eduardo and Duarte. Other variant forms include French Édouard, Italian Edoardo and Odoardo, German, Dutch, Czech and Romanian Eduard and Scandinavian Edvard. Short forms include Ed, Eddy, Eddie, Ted, Teddy and Ned. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cigarette Girl (person)
In Europe and the United States, a cigarette girl is a person who sells or provides cigarettes from a tray held by a neck strap. They may also carry cigars and other items like candy, snacks, and chewing gum on their trays. Uniform The most common uniform is a red and black short saloon-style skirt above the knee dress accompanied with a matching pillbox hat, but different colors and styles are possible. Another title for a cigarette girl is candy girl. Aside from serving cigarettes and other novelties, the attractive girls acted as eye candy and were often employed to flirt with male customers as well. Cigarette girls usually consented in the hopes of getting tips from wealthy businessmen. Popularity and decline The modern image of cigarette girl developed in the 1920s with the urbanization of America. Though largely not seen other than in speakeasies and supper clubs, cigarette girls were frequently shown in Hollywood films and soon became well-established among the gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic characters, and her subtle and understated performances. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on its list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Garbo launched her career with a secondary role in the 1924 Swedish film '' The Saga of Gösta Berling''. Her performance caught the attention of Louis B. Mayer, chief executive of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), who brought her to Hollywood in 1925. She stirred interest with her first American silent film, '' Torrent'' (1926). Garbo's performance in ''Flesh and the Devil'' (1927), her third movie, made her an international star. In 1928, Garbo starred in '' A Woman of Affairs,'' which catapulted her at MGM to its highest box-office star, surpassing the long-reign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Front Page
''The Front Page'' is a Broadway comedy about newspaper reporters on the police beat. Written by former Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it was first produced in 1928 and has been adapted for the cinema several times. Plot The play's single set is the dingy press room of Chicago's Criminal Courts Building, overlooking the gallows behind the Cook County Jail. Reporters from most of the city's newspapers are passing the time with poker and pungent wisecracks about the news of the day. Soon they will witness the hanging of Earl Williams, a white man and supposed Communist revolutionary convicted of killing a black policeman. Hildy Johnson, cocky star reporter for the ''Examiner'', is late. He appears only to say goodbye; he is quitting to get a respectable job and be married. Suddenly the reporters hear that Earl Williams has escaped from the jail. All but Hildy stampede out for more information. As Hildy tries to decide how to react, Williams comes in through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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