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Ice-Capades
''Ice-Capades'' is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Joseph Santley and starring James Ellison, Phil Silvers, and Barbara Jo Allen. Its score, composed by Cy Feuer, was nominated for the Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Victor Mackay. It marked the screen debuts for the ice skaters Belita and Vera Ralston, both of whom went on to star in a number of films at Monogram and Republic respectively. Plot Bob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he arrives too late, so decides to film a woman skating on a different New York rink and pass her off as Karen. The scheme backfires when promoter Larry Herman takes a look at Bob's film and decides to make the skater a star. Unfortunately, it's actually amateur (and illegal immigrant) Marie Bergin in the newsreel footage, not the great figure skater from Switzerland. Chaos ensues as Bob tries to straighten everybody out. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vera Ralston
Vera Ralston (born Věra Helena Hrubá; July 12, 1919 or 1920 or 1921 or 1923 February 9, 2003) was a Czech figure skater and actress. She later became a naturalized American citizen. She worked as an actress during the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Ralston was born Věra Helena Hrubá in Prague to a Catholic family with a home on the Berounka River. Her father, Rudolf Hrubý, was a jeweler. Her year of birth has been given as 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1923. Her brother, Rudy Ralston, later became a film producer in the United States. Skating career As a figure skater, she represented Czechoslovakia in competition under her birth name ''Věra Hrubá''. She competed at the 1936 European Figure Skating Championships and placed 15th. Later that season, she competed at the 1936 Winter Olympics, where she placed 17th. During the games, she personally met and reportedly insulted Adolf Hitler. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert North
Robert North (February 2, 1884 – August 13, 1976) was an American vaudeville performer who became a success as a stand-up comedian. Later he became a prolific motion picture producer. Early years Bobby North was born in New York City. He joined a vaudeville company at the age of twelve as a boy balcony singer. As North explained, "... there was a vogue of a soubrette, as we called her, singing on the stage, and a kid would get up from the gallery and sing the chorus. The Gallery Gods, of course, thought he was one of them and applauded loudly. I was the kid in the gallery. I had the voice and I could sing." North traveled around the US with the company playing in small town opera houses or theaters for one- or two-night stands. He developed a song and dance act. Theater success In January 1909 North performed as a "Hebrew impersonator" at the Colonial Theatre in New York. In this act he told humorous stories with a Jewish accent and sang parodies of popular songs. He w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Newell (actor)
William M. Newell (January 6, 1894 – February 21, 1967)''California, Death Index, 1940-1997'' was an American film actor. Biography Newell was most active in the 1930s, familiar to fans of the '' Our Gang'' short subjects in his recurring role as Alfalfa's father, and as Dr. Henley on ''Our Miss Brooks''. Newell was cast as a hobo in "Little Boy Blew," one of the last episodes of the Walter Brennan sitcom, ''The Real McCoys'', then airing on CBS. He died in 1967 in Studio City, Los Angeles''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014''. Social Security Administration. and is interred at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. Selected filmography * '' Bombshell'' (1933) - Lola's Chauffeur (uncredited) * '' The Woman in Red'' (1935) - Reporter (uncredited) * ''Gold Diggers of 1935'' (1935) - Newspaper Reporter (uncredited) * ''Alias Mary Dow'' (1935) - Reporter (uncredited) * '' Honeymoon Limited'' (1935) - Cop (uncredited) * ''Here Comes the Band'' (1935) - Greasy (uncredit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Colonna (entertainer)
Gerardo Luigi Colonna (September 17, 1904 – November 21, 1986), better known as Jerry Colonna, was an American musician, actor, comedian, singer, songwriter and trombonist who played the zaniest of Bob Hope's sidekicks in Hope's popular radio shows and films of the 1940s and 1950s. He also voiced the March Hare in Disney's 1951 animated film '' Alice in Wonderland.'' With his pop-eyed facial expressions and large handlebar moustache, Colonna was known for singing loudly in what Gerald Nachman called a "comic caterwaul", and for his catchphrase, " Who's Yehudi?", uttered after many an old joke, though it usually had nothing to do with the joke itself. The line was believed to be named for violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, and "the search for Yehudi" became a running gag on Hope's show. Colonna played a range of nitwitted characters, the best-remembered of which was a moronic professor, of which Nachman wrote: :Colonna brought a whacked-out touch to Hope's show. In a typica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Jo Allen
Barbara Jo Allen (born Marian Barbara Henshall; September 2, 1906 – September 14, 1974) was an American actress. She was also known as Vera Vague, the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 1950s. She based the character on a woman she had seen delivering a PTA literature lecture in a confused manner. As Vague, she popularized the catch phrase "You dear boy!" Early years Allen was born on September 2, 1906, in Manhattan, New York, to Charles Thomas Henshall and Grace Esther Selby. Following her mother's death when Allen was 9, she went to live with an aunt and uncle in Los Angeles. She was educated at Los Angeles High School, UCLA, Stanford University, and the Sorbonne. Her acting ability first surfaced in school plays. Concentrating on language at the Sorbonne, she became proficient in French, Spanish, German and Italian. Film, radio and television In 1933, Allen joined the cast of NBC's ''One Man's Family''Grunwald, Edga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Gargan
Edward Gargan (July 17, 1902 – February 19, 1964) was an American film and television actor. Career He was born of Irish parents in Brooklyn, New York. He was the elder brother of actor William Gargan. As soon as he had left college, he went onto the stage and had extensive acting experience gained in plays like ''My Maryland'', ''Rose Marie'', and ''Good News'' before going into films. His Broadway credits include ''Face the Music'' (1931), ''Polly of Hollywood'' (1926) and ''Black Boy'' (1926). In 1930, Gargan played Patrolman Mulligan in a production of ''Strictly Dishonorable''. Many of his appearances were uncredited. Personal life and death Gargan was married to the former Catherine Conlan. He died February 19, 1964, at Columbus Hospital in New York City. He was 62. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Selected filmography * ''Tarnished Lady'' (1931) – Al – Man in Bar (uncredited) * ''The Girl Habit'' (1931) – Detective * ''The Girl in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carol Adams (actress)
Carol Adams (born Lurline Uller; March 15, 1918 – April 9, 2012), was an American actress and dancer whose career began as a child in 1923. Early years Adams was born Lurline Uller in Los Angeles, California, March 15, 1918.Lentz III, Harris M. (2013). ''Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2012''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 2. At age 5, Adams was asked to appear in a short subject called ''Navy Blues'' where she played a flower girl. She was billed by her birth name until her name was changed when she was 20 and working for Paramount Pictures. Film She appeared in episodes of the film serials Our Gang and Mickey McGuire and at age 18 signed a contract with the film studio 20th Century Fox. Two years later, she was under contract with Paramount Pictures and subsequently Republic Pictures. Her obituary in ''Variety'' said that she "appeared in some 50 features." Regarded as one of the foremost tap dance stars in the beginning of the 1940s, Carol Adams was in many Soundies. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Ryan (actor)
Timothy Thomas Ryan (July 5, 1899 – October 22, 1956) was an American performer and film actor. His wife, Irene Ryan, who later played Granny on ''The Beverly Hillbillies'', and he were a show-business team who performed on Broadway, in films, and on radio. They made short films for Educational Pictures in the mid-1930s based on their vaudeville act. They were married from 1922 to 1942. Even after their divorce in 1942, the couple occasionally worked together. In the 1940s, Ryan found opportunities at Monogram Pictures, where he acted in films and wrote screenplays. In films of the 1940s and the early 1950s, Ryan appeared onscreen playing numerous roles as policemen, newspaper editors, and detectives. He was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, to Edward and Hannah (McGeehan) Ryan, and died in Los Angeles at the age of 57. Selected filmography * '' Brother Orchid'' (1940) - Turkey Malone * '' Private Affairs'' (1940) - Bartender Harry * '' Third Finger, Left Hand'' (1940) - Thir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gus Schilling
August "Gus" Schilling (June 20, 1908 – June 16, 1957) was an American film actor who started in burlesque comedy and usually played nervous comic roles, often unbilled. A friend of Orson Welles, he appeared in five of the director's films — ''Citizen Kane'' (first screen performance), ''The Magnificent Ambersons'', ''The Lady from Shanghai'', ''Macbeth'' and ''Touch of Evil'' (final performance, released posthumously). Career Born in New York City, Schilling had a rubber face and flustered gestures which made him a natural comedian and he began his career understudying comedy stars Bert Lahr and Joe Penner on Broadway. He soon became a favorite among burlesque comedians, who welcomed him into the burlesque profession. Schilling was in a relationship with burlesque star Betty Rowland and the couple toured in the Minsky burlesque troupe. Orson Welles saw Schilling in New York and followed him to Florida. There Welles hired Schilling to appear in a stage production featurin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray (born Alfred Ernest Allen; 18 August 1896 – 25 March 1969) was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood. Early life Mowbray was born in London, England. He served with distinction in the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal and the French Croix de Guerre for bravery in action. He applied for transfer to the Royal Air Force, which was granted just six days before the war ended. This placed him in London on Armistice Day. His service came to an end when the Royal Air Force wanted another seven years from him. Career Mowbray began his stage career in London in 1922, as an actor and stage manager. In 1923 he arrived in the United States and was soon acting with New York stock companies. He debuted on Broadway in ''The Sport of Kings'' (1926); in 1929 he wrote, directed and starred in the unsuccessful ''Dinner Is Served''. Mowbray made his film debut in ''God's Gift to Women'' (1931) playing a butler, a role in which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belita
Belita Jepson-Turner (21 October 1923 – 18 December 2005), known professionally as Belita, was a British Olympic figure skater, dancer and film actress. Biography Born at Nether Wallop, Hampshire,Belita Jepson-Turner sports-reference.com to Major William Jepson-Turner and wife Gladys Olive Lyne-Stivens. She skated (as Belita Jepson-Turner) for the United Kingdom in the 1936 Winter Olympics, where she was placed 16th in the singles, then her career turned towards Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. She had classical Russian ballet training which carried over into her skating. As a young ballerina, she was partner to Anton Dolin (ballet dancer), Anton Dolin, appearing with the Dolin-Markova Ballet. She appeared in films, making several highly profi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Santley
Joseph Mansfield Santley (born Joseph Ishmael Mansfield, January 10, 1890 – August 8, 1971) was an American actor, singer, dancer, writer, director, and producer of musical theatre, musical theatre, theatrical plays motion pictures and television shows. He adopted the stage name of his stepfather, actor Eugene Santley. Life and career Joseph Santley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a boy, he and older brother Fred Santley, Fred began performing in live theatre appearing in summer stock and touring with their parents. In 1906, at age seventeen, Joseph Santley co-wrote and starred on Broadway theatre, Broadway in the play, ''Billy the Kid#Stage, Billy the Kid''. In 1907, he acted in film for the first time for Sidney Olcott at the Kalem Company in a silent film, silent Western film short called ''The Pony Express (1907 film), The Pony Express''. Santley continued to work almost exclusively in musical comedy plays, returning to Broadway five more times as well as touring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
