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John Morris (composer)
John Leonard Morris (October 18, 1926 – January 25, 2018) was an American film, television, and Broadway composer, dance arranger, conductor, and trained concert pianist. He collaborated with filmmakers Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder. Early life John Morris was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Thomas Morris, an engineer who designed revolving doors for the Tiffany & Co. flagship store in Fifth Avenue, and Helen Sherratt, a homemaker. He became interested in music as early as three years old when he started learning to play the piano and visiting friends in The Bronx with his parents. His family moved to Independence, Kansas while he was young, and Morris continued studying piano. By the late 1940s, he moved back to New York City, where he studied at both Juilliard School and at The New School for Social Research. Career From the 1950s through the 1970s, Morris helped to compose incidental music and dance numbers for a number of Broadway productions, including ''Wildcat'' (1960), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey County Map , New Jersey Department of State. Accessed July 10, 2017. As of the , the city had a total population of 137,298,Table DP-1. Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2010 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baker Street (musical)
''Baker Street'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Jerome Coopersmith and music and lyrics by Marian Grudeff and Raymond Jessel. Background Loosely based on the 1891 Sherlock Holmes story " A Scandal in Bohemia" by Arthur Conan Doyle with elements of "The Final Problem" and " The Empty House" as well, it is set in and around London in 1897, the year in which England celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria (an event marked by an elaborate royal procession depicted by Bil Baird's marionettes). The musical veers from Conan Doyle's work in that Irene Adler becomes an associate of Holmes rather than his opponent, thus allowing an element of romance between the two. Because of problems the show went through during out of town tryouts, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, the successful composing team of '' Fiddler on the Roof'' were brought in to contribute additional songs including "Cold Clear World" and "I Shall Miss You." They also wrote "I'm In London Again" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hummie Mann
Hummie Mann (born October 29, 1955) is a Canadian-born American film score composer. His credits include the Mel Brooks films '' Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' and '' Dracula: Dead and Loving It''. Mann was awarded an Emmy for arranging Billy Crystal's opening number for the 1992 Academy Awards and another Emmy in 1996 for an episode of Showtime's miniseries ''Picture Windows'' called "Language of the Heart".http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=3292 He was nominated for two more for arrangements on the series ''Moonlighting''. Biography In addition to composing for television and film, Mann has orchestrated several film scores including ''Addams Family Values'', ''Sister Act'', ''Georgia Rule'' and ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad''. In 1997, Mann established thPacific Northwest Film Scoring Programin Seattle, Washington to instruct students in film scoring, music technology, songwriting for film, and video game audio. This program merged with the Seattle Film Institute in 2011 and be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dead And Loving It
MaryJanice Davidson is an American author who writes mostly paranormal romance, but also young adult literature and non-fiction. She is the creator of the popular ''Undead'' series. She is both a ''New York Times'' and ''USA Today'' bestseller. She won a 2004 ''Romantic Times'' Reviewers’ Choice Award and was nominated for the same award in 2005. Davidson lives in Minnesota with her husband and two children. She grew up on military bases and moved often, as she was the child of a United States Air Force soldier. Pamela Clare of ''USA Today'' wrote, "It's Davidson's humor, combined with her innate storytelling ability and skill with dialogue, that has lifted her from small presses to the big best-seller lists." Bibliography Undead series Elizabeth "Betsy" Taylor turns thirty in the most unfortunate manner possible: she is laid off from work and then run down by an SUV. Waking up in the morgue fails to improve her mood, and when she discovers she can't kill herself, she gets ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Men In Tights
''Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' is a 1993 adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story. The film was produced and directed by Mel Brooks, co-written by Brooks, Evan Chandler, and J. David Shapiro based on a story by Chandler and Shapiro, and stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle in his film debut. It includes frequent comedic references to previous ''Robin Hood'' films, particularly ''Prince of Thieves'' (upon which the plot is loosely structured), and the 1938 Errol Flynn adaptation ''The Adventures of Robin Hood''. The film also features Brooks in a minor role – the first time he had appeared in one of his own films in which he does not receive top billing or play the lead role since ''Young Frankenstein''. In addition to Brooks, it features cameos from Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise, Dick Van Patten, and Rudy De Luca. Plot Robin of Loxley is captured during the Crusades and is imprisoned in Jerusalem. With the help of fellow inmate Asneeze, he escapes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Elephant Man (film)
''The Elephant Man'' is a 1980 British-American biographical drama film about Joseph Merrick (John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in late 19th-century London. The film was directed by David Lynch, produced by Mel Brooks (who was uncredited, to avoid audiences anticipating the film being in the vein of his comedic works, although his company Brooksfilms is in the opening credits) and Jonathan Sanger, and stars John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Michael Elphick, Hannah Gordon and Freddie Jones. ''The Elephant Man'' is generally regarded as one of Lynch's more accessible and mainstream works, alongside ''The Straight Story'' (1999). The screenplay was adapted by Lynch, Christopher De Vore and Eric Bergren from Frederick Treves's ''The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences'' (1923) and Ashley Montagu's ''The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity'' (1971). It was shot in black-and-white and featured make-up work by Christopher Tucke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Young Frankenstein
''Young Frankenstein'' is a 1974 American comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks. The screenplay was co-written by Brooks and Gene Wilder. Wilder also starred in the lead role as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Peter Boyle portrayed the monster. The film co-stars Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Richard Haydn, and Gene Hackman. The film is a parody of the classic horror film genre, in particular the various film adaptations of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' produced by Universal Pictures in the 1930s. Much of the lab equipment used as props was created by Kenneth Strickfaden for the 1931 film ''Frankenstein''. To help evoke the atmosphere of the earlier films, Brooks shot the picture entirely in black and white, a rarity in the 1970s, and employed 1930s-style opening credits and scene transitions such as iris outs, wipes, and fades to black. The fil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blazing Saddles
''Blazing Saddles'' is a 1974 American satirical western black comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, who also wrote the screenplay with Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Alan Uger. The film stars Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences, was nominated for three Academy Awards and is ranked No. 6 on the American Film Institute's '' 100 Years...100 Laughs'' list. Brooks appears in three supporting roles, Governor William J. Le Petomane, a Yiddish-speaking Native American chief and "a director" in line to help invade Rock Ridge (a nod to Hitchcock); he also dubs lines for one of Lili Von Shtupp's backing troupe. The supporting cast includes Slim Pickens, Alex Karras, and David Huddleston, as well as Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, and Harvey Korman. Bandleader Count Basie has a cameo as himself, appearing with his orchestra. The film is full of deliberate anachronisms, from the Count Basie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Springtime For Hitler
''Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp With Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden'' is a fictional musical in Mel Brooks' 1967 film '' The Producers'', as well as the stage musical adaptation of the movie, and the 2005 movie adaptation of the musical. It is a musical about Adolf Hitler, written by Franz Liebkind, an unbalanced Nazi originally played by Kenneth Mars (and later by Brad Oscar and Will Ferrell in the stage musical and the 2005 film, respectively). In the film, the play is chosen by the producer Max Bialystock and his accountant Leo Bloom in their fraudulent scheme to raise substantial funding by selling 25,000% of a play, then causing it to fail, and finally keeping all of the remaining money for themselves. To ensure that the play is a total failure, Max selects an incredibly tasteless script (which he describes as "practically a love letter to Adolf Hitler"), and hires the worst director he can find ( Roger DeBris), a stereotypical homosexual and transvestite caricature. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Producers (1967 Film)
''The Producers'' is a 1967 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Mel Brooks in his directorial debut and starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, and Kenneth Mars. The film is about a theater producer and his accountant who, as part of a scam, decide to stage the worst stage musical they can create. They find a script centering on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and bring it to the stage. Because of this theme, ''The Producers'' was controversial from the start and received mixed reviews. It became a cult film and found a more positive critical reception later. ''The Producers'' was Brooks's directorial debut. For the film, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry and placed eleventh on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list. It was later adapted by Brooks and Thomas Meehan as a stage musical, which itself was adapted into a film. Plot Max Bialystock ( Zero Mostel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Time For Singing
''A Time for Singing'' is a musical with music by John Morris, lyrics by Gerald Freedman and John Morris, and a book by Freedman and Morris. The work was based on Richard Llewellyn's novel of a Welsh mining village, ''How Green Was My Valley''. The show takes place in the memory of Protestant minister David Griffith, recalling conflict within the Morgan family over the possible formation of a miners' union within the village, and the romance between Griffith himself and Angharad of the Morgans, who ultimately marries the mine owner instead. The show starred Ivor Emmanuel (as David Griffith), Tessie O'Shea, Shani Wallis and Laurence Naismith. The original Broadway production began a series of ten previews at The Broadway Theatre on May 12, 1966, and opened officially on May 21, 1966, running for a total of only 41 performances. It closed on June 25, 1966. An Alexander H. Cohen production, it has been called "probably the best musical he ever produced." Cohen used an "extravagant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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