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Jean Ruth
Jean Ruth (September 10, 1917 – September 18, 2004) was an American actress and radio personality. As an actress, she is best known for appearing in the Martin and Lewis film ''At War with the Army'' (1950). Her radio broadcasts during WWII from 1941-44 were the basis for the musical film Reveille with Beverly. Hay claimed later that while broadcasting she would be asked to read out the names of songs that didn't exist, which served as secret messages to the French Resistance. She also later befriended the famous wartime Japanese-American radio announcer Iva Toguri after she was prosecuted for treason for radio broadcasts from Tokyo. She was married to American swing and boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader Freddie Slack Frederick Charles Slack (August 7, 1910 – August 10, 1965) was an American swing and boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader. Life and career Slack was born in Westby, Wisconsin, United States. He learned to play drums as a boy. Later he took up ... ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
At War With The Army
''At War with the Army'' is a 1950 American musical comedy film directed by Hal Walker, released by Paramount, starring the comedy team of Martin and Lewis and introducing Polly Bergen. Filmed from July through August 1949, the film premiered in San Francisco on New Year's Eve 1950. It was re-released in 1958 by OMAT Pictures. Although filmed before ''My Friend Irma Goes West'' (1950), it was held back until the sequel to Martin and Lewis' smash film debut ''My Friend Irma'' (1949) was released. Plot The film is set at a United States Army base in Kentucky at the end of 1944, during World War II. The protagonists are First Sergeant Vic Puccinelli and Private First Class Alvin Korwin, who were partners in a nightclub song-and-dance act before joining the Army. Puccinelli wants to be transferred from his dull job to active duty overseas, but is refused transfer and is to be promoted to Warrant Officer. Korwin wants a pass to see his wife and new baby. In addition, they have to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from piano, to piano duo and trio, guitar, big band, country and western music, and gospel. While standard blues traditionally expresses a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing (although not the competitive dance known as boogie-woogie, a term of convenience in that sport). The genre had a significant influence on rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Musical features Boogie-woogie is characterized by a regular left-hand bass figure, which is transposed following the chord changes. : : Boogie-woogie is not strictly a solo piano style; it can accompany singers and be featured in orchestras and small combos. It is sometimes called ''"eight to the bar"'', as much of it is written in common time () time using eighth notes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cavalcade Of America
''Cavalcade of America'' is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented musicals, such as an adaptation of ''Show Boat'', and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. ''Cavalcade of America'' documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. The series was intended to improve DuPont's public image after World War I. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation. Background The show started as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Something To Live For (film)
''Something to Live For'' is a 1952 American drama film starring Joan Fontaine, Ray Milland, and Teresa Wright, directed by George Stevens, and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by Dwight Taylor was the first to focus on the Alcoholics Anonymous program as a means of overcoming an addiction to liquor. Plot Jenny Carey is a budding actress whose developing career is threatened by an increasing dependence on alcohol spurred by her self-destructive romance with theatre director Tony Collins. Reformed drunk Alan Miller attempts to help her by introducing her to AA, but his growing interest in her strains his marriage to Edna, who suspects his motive for assisting Jenny is more than humanitarian. Cast * Joan Fontaine as Jenny Carey * Ray Milland as Alan Miller * Teresa Wright as Edna Miller * Richard Derr as Tony Collins * Douglas Dick as Baker *Herbert Heyes as J.B. Crawley * Harry Bellaver as Billy, Elevator Operator * Paul Valentine as Albert Forest * Mari Blan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mating Season (film)
''The Mating Season'' is a 1951 American comedy-drama romance film directed by Mitchell Leisen, and produced by Charles Brackett from a screenplay by Charles Brackett, Richard Breen, and Walter Reisch, based on the play ''Maggie'' by Caesar Dunn. The ensemble cast stars Gene Tierney, John Lund, Miriam Hopkins, and Thelma Ritter. Plot Ellen McNulty (Thelma Ritter) gives up her hamburger stand in New Jersey when the bank calls in her loan, and goes to visit her son Val (John Lund) in Ohio. Val has recently married a socialite, Maggie (Gene Tierney). To help Maggie put on a dinner party, Val has an employment service send a cook; Ellen arrives first, and Maggie mistakes her for the cook. Ellen, to avoid embarrassing Maggie, does not correct her. After the party, Val follows her home, and persuades her to move in with them. The next morning, Ellen arrives with her things, and continues the deception, explaining to Val that a mother-in-law in the house would only cause friction. Val ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union Station (film)
''Union Station'' is a 1950 crime drama film noir directed by Rudolph Maté and starring William Holden, Nancy Olson and Barry Fitzgerald. Plot At Chicago Union Station (though filmed at Los Angeles Union Station), Police Lieutenant William "Bill" Calhoun is approached by an apprehensive passenger named Joyce Willecombe who believes that two men aboard her train may be up to no good. The two men deposit a suitcase in a storage locker. When Bill retrieves it, Joyce recognizes the clothing as belonging to Lorna Murchison, the blind daughter of wealthy Henry Murchison, Joyce's employer. When Mr. Murchison is brought in, he admits Lorna has been kidnapped and held for ransom, but does not want the police to get involved as they might endanger his daughter's life. Bill and his boss, Inspector Donnelly, persuade him to accept their help. The railway station where Calhoun works has been chosen as the location to pay off the ransom. Bill and Donnelly race against time to save Lorna and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fancy Pants (film)
''Fancy Pants'' is a 1950 American romantic comedy western film directed by George Marshall and starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball. It is a musical adaptation of ''Ruggles of Red Gap''. Plot A British actor attempts to impress two visiting American women, Efflie Floud and her tomboyish daughter, Agatha (Ball), by having the cast of his drawing-room comedy pose as his aristocratic family. Effie persuades the 'butler', Humphrey (Hope), really a struggling American actor named Arthur Tyler, to accompany them to the United States and help to refine both her husband and daughter. She sends a telegram home, referring to the person she believes is Humphrey as a "gentleman's gentleman", which the rural western townfolk misunderstand as meaning he is an aristocrat and presumably the future husband of Agatha. Arthur must now pretend to the family that he is this British butler while pretending to the rest of the town, and the visiting President Theodore Roosevelt that he is a politically sav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riding High (1950 Film)
''Riding High'' is a 1950 black-and-white musical racetrack film featuring Bing Crosby and directed by Frank Capra. The songs were performed live during filming instead of the customary lip-synching to studio recordings. The film is a remake of an earlier Capra film with screenwriter Robert Riskin titled ''Broadway Bill'' (1934). While the film is generally a light musical comedy, its plot contains an unexpected tragic turn. Plot Yale graduate Dan Brooks is expected to marry wealthy boss J.L. Higgins' daughter Margaret and join the family box-making business. He is far more interested in racing a horse he owns named Broadway Bill. Doing poorly at work, Dan and his groom Whitey leave town to enter Bill in the Imperial Derby, but first must find money for the entry fee. He and old pal Professor Pettigrew each try to con the other out of money and then must sing the Yale school song when they cannot pay the check at a restaurant. Maggie's younger sister Alice is secretly in love wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
No Man Of Her Own (1950 Film)
''No Man of Her Own'' is a 1950 American film noir drama directed by Mitchell Leisen and featuring Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Phyllis Thaxter, Jane Cowl and Lyle Bettger. The production is the second film Stanwyck made with director Mitchell Leisen, and its screenplay was adapted from Cornell Woolrich's 1948 novel ''I Married a Dead Man''. Woolrich is cited in the film's opening credits by one of his commonly used pseudonyms, "William Irish". Plot Helen Ferguson, filled with dread, holds her baby as Bill Harkness reads a book. The phone rings, and police tell Bill that they are on the way to their home. She puts the child to bed, praying that the boy will not suffer for her mistakes and whispering that she was desperate. A year earlier in New York, Helen is eight months pregnant, unmarried, and broke. She goes to her unfaithful boyfriend Stephen Morley, tearfully pleading for help as she stands in the hallway outside his apartment door. He refuses to answer, but slips under th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alias Nick Beal
''Alias Nick Beal'' is a 1949 American film noir mystery film retelling of the Faust myth directed by John Farrow and starring Ray Milland, Audrey Totter and Thomas Mitchell (although third-billed, Mitchell plays the leading role). The picture is also known as ''Dark Circle'', ''Strange Temptation'' and ''Alias Nicky Beal''. Plot Joseph Foster ( Thomas Mitchell) an honest district attorney wants to run for governor in order to clean up the criminal underworld but can't catch their leader Frankie Faulkner (Fred Clark) no matter how hard he tries. One day a smooth talking stranger named Nick Beal ( Ray Milland) visits him at a café beside the docks and he makes a deal with him. Joseph begins his rise to power in the company of prostitute Donna Allen (Audrey Totter) who is sent by Nick to seduce him. But he gets out of his contract with the help of his loving wife Martha, (Geraldine Wall) and his friend Reverend Thomas Garfield (George Macready). Cast * Ray Milland as Nick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suddenly It's Spring
''Suddenly, It's Spring'' (some sources list the title without a comma) is a 1947 comedy film directed by Mitchell Leisen. It stars Paulette Goddard and Fred MacMurray. The story is set in 1945, at the end of World War II. Goddard and MacMurray play a married couple seeing other again after both served in the military. When they parted, they were planning to divorce, but they never went through with it. Now reunited, they must decide if the marriage should end. Meanwhile, another woman considers herself betrothed to the husband, and a friend of the husband has romantic designs on the wife. Plot Cast *Paulette Goddard as Mary Morely *Fred MacMurray as Peter Morely *Macdonald Carey as Jack Lindsay *Arleen Whelan as Gloria Fay * Lillian Fontaine as Mary's Mother *Frank Faylen as Harold Michaels * Frances Robinson as WAC Capt. Rogers *Victoria Horne as WAC Lt. Billings *Georgia Backus as WAC Maj. Cheever *Jean Ruth as WAC Cpl. Michaels *Roberta Jonay as WAC Sergeant *Willie Best as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ladies' Man (1947 Film)
''Ladies' Man'' is a 1947 American comedy film directed by William D. Russell (director), William D. Russell and written by Edmund Beloin, Jack Rose (screenwriter), Jack Rose and Lewis Meltzer. The film stars Eddie Bracken, Cass Daley, Virginia Welles, Spike Jones, Johnny Coy and Virginia Field. The film was released on February 7, 1947, by Paramount Pictures. Plot Cast *Eddie Bracken as Henry Haskell *Cass Daley as Geraldine Ryan *Virginia Welles as Jean Mitchell *Spike Jones as Spike Jones *Johnny Coy as Johnny O'Connor *Virginia Field as Gladys Hayden *Lewis Russell as David Harmon *Georges Renavent as Mr. Jones *Roberta Jonay as Miss Miller *Gordon Richards (actor), Gordon Richards as Mr. Bolton *The City Slickers as Spike Jones' Band Reception A. W. of ''The New York Times'' said, "Whatever may be one's opinion about ''Ladies Man'', it cannot be said that Eddie Bracken, its star, is miscast. For this singularly simple little item from Paramount, which began a stand at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
