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Jitterbugs
''Jitterbugs'' is a 1943 Laurel and Hardy feature film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by Mal St.Clair. Plot Stan and Ollie are musicians travelling across the country as "The Original Zoot Suit Band". En route to their next gig, their car runs out of gas and they are rescued by Chester Wright, an inventor who has perfected a pill which will turn water into gas (in reality he is a small-time con man who simply switches a water canister with a canister of gas when the duo aren't looking). The trio make a plan to travel to the next town "Midvale" and after using Stan and Ollie's music to attract a crowd Chester takes the opportunity to sell his "miracle pill" to the masses and make a fortune. As Stan and Ollie play, Chester makes the acquaintance of a young choir singer named Susan. The trio's sales pitch is initially a success but their scam is soon uncovered when a customer returns after having poured the "gasoline" into the fuel tank of his car and ended up in a nasty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vivian Blaine
Vivian Blaine (born Vivian Stapleton; November 21, 1921 – December 9, 1995) was an American actress and singer, best known for originating the role of Miss Adelaide in the musical theater production of ''Guys and Dolls'', as well as appearing in the subsequent film version, in which she co-starred with Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and Frank Sinatra. Early years Blaine was born in Newark, New Jersey to Leo Stapleton, an insurance agent, and Wilhelmina Tepley. The cherry-blonde-haired Blaine appeared on local stages as early as 1934 and she started touring after graduating from South Side High School. Personal appearances Blaine was a touring singer with dance bands starting in 1937. At one point in the 1940s, she was the top-billed act at New York's Copacabana nightclub. In his book, ''Dean and Me: (A Love Story)'', Jerry Lewis wrote about appearing at the club when Blaine was on the same bill: "We ewis and Dean Martin, as the double act Martin and Lewis">Dean_Marti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Patrick (actress)
Lee Patrick (November 22, 1901 – November 21, 1982) was an American actress whose career began in 1922 on the New York stage with her role in '' The Bunch and Judy'' which headlined Adele Astaire and featured Adele's brother Fred Astaire. Patrick continued to perform in dozens of roles on the stage for the next decade, frequently in musicals and comedies, but also in dramatic parts like her 1931 performance as Meg in ''Little Women''. She began to branch out into films in 1929. For half a century she created a credible body of cinematic work, her most memorable being as Sam Spade's assistant Effie in '' The Maltese Falcon'' (1941), and her reprise of the role in the George Segal comedy sequel '' The Black Bird'' (1975). Her talents were showcased in comedies such as the Jack Benny film ''George Washington Slept Here'' (1942) and as one of the foils of Rosalind Russell in ''Auntie Mame'' (1958). Dramatic parts such as an asylum inmate in '' The Snake Pit'' (1948) and as Pamel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Conlin
Jimmy Conlin (October 14, 1884 – May 7, 1962) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films in his 32-year career. Career Conlin was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1884, and his acting career started out in vaudeville, where he and his wife Myrtle Glass played the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuits billed as "Conlin & Glass," a song-and-dance team.Erickson, HaBiography (Allmovie)/ref> They also starred together in two short films, ''Sharps and Flats'' (1928) and ''Zip! Boom! Bang!'' (1929) for Vitaphone. These early shorts display Conlin's musical talents, including his impressive skills at the piano. In later years Conlin became strictly a character comedian, with little opportunity to show his vaudeville skills. Jimmy Conlin made another comedy short without Glass in 1930 (''A Tight Squeeze''), but his film career started in earnest in 1933, and for the next 27 years, with the single exception of 1951, every year saw the release of at least one film in whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gladys Blake
Gladys Blake (born Gladys Timmons, May 12, 1910 – May 21, 1983) was an American character actress from the 1930s to the 1950s. Biography Blake was born on January 12, 1910 in Luray, Virginia. Her mother, Ada Timmons, died when Gladys was less than a year old. At fourteen, she entered the theater world in a stock company, before moving on to vaudeville. In vaudeville, she met her husband, Lee Gresham, and the two formed an act together. While performing in Los Angeles, they were noticed by producer Edward Small, which led to her beginning in the film industry. Blake made her film debut in a small role in ''I Have Lived'' (1933), directed by Richard Thorpe. She had her first featured role later that same year in ''Rainbow over Broadway'', which Thorpe also directed. Over her 20-year career, she appeared in over 100 films. She was noted for playing very talkative supporting roles. Appearing mostly in supporting or bit parts, she was occasionally given a featured role, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Halton
Charles Halton (March 16, 1876 – April 16, 1959) was an American character actor who appeared in over 180 films. Life and career Halton trained at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his Broadway debut in 1901, after which he appeared in about 35 productions during the next 50 years. From the 1920s, Halton's thinning hair, rimless glasses, stern-looking face and officious manner were also familiar to generations of American moviegoers. Whether playing the neighborhood busybody, a stern government bureaucrat or weaselly attorney, Halton's characters tried to drive the "immoral influences" out of the neighborhood, foreclose on the orphanage, evict the poor widow and her children from their apartment, or any other number of dastardly deeds, all justified usually by "...I'm sorry but that's my job." Among his highest-profile roles were Mr. Carter, the bank examiner in Frank Capra's ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946), the Polish theatre producer Dobosh in Ernst Lubits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Bush (actor)
James Bush (October 4, 1907 – April 9, 1987) was an American actor from the 1930s until the early 1950s. He appeared in more than 100 television shows and films, more than 80 of them being feature films. Early years The son of an actress, Bush moved to California with his mother and studied in a theatrical school and graduated from Los Angeles High School. Stage Bush first appeared on stage at age four. When he finished high school he began acting with the Morosco stock theater company. He also acted at the Pasadena Playhouse for four seasons, spent one season in St. Louis, and performed with the Henry Duffy Players at the Hollywood Playhouse. Film As a child, Bush appeared in some Paramount films that starred Mary Pickford. While the Internet Movie Database has him appearing as a child actor in 1917's ''Jack and the Beanstalk'', the American Film Institute has his first film role as Bent Weymer in 1932's '' Wild Horse Mesa'', directed by Henry Hathaway, which was a f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Bailey (actor)
Bob Bailey (born Robert Bainter Bailey; June 13, 1913 – August 13, 1983) was an American actor who performed mostly on radio but also appeared in films. Early years Bailey's parents were actor Edwin B. Bailey and actress Grace Lockwood Bailey, both of whom performed in early 1900s stock theater. He made his first appearance on stage with his mother when he was 10 days old. He took his middle name from actress Fay Bainter, who was his godmother. He began performing in his parents' stock company when he was 4 years old and continued to work there until he was 15. Career At age 15, Bailey worked in a wild-west carnival as both a barker and an actor. He went on to work at other places as an usher, a waiter, and a guide at an automobile exhibit, among other jobs. Bailey first worked in radio in Chicago. His mother had left the stage for the newer medium, and she helped him find work on soap operas. He moved to St. Louis when he was offered a job at radio station KWK, but he res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Fowley
Douglas Fowley (born Daniel Vincent Fowley, May 30, 1911 – May 21, 1998) was an American movie and television actor in more than 240 films and dozens of television programs, He is probably best remembered for his role as the frustrated movie director Roscoe Dexter in '' Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), and for his regular supporting role as Doc Holliday in ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp''. He was the father of rock and roll musician and record producer Kim Fowley. Early years Fowley was born in The Bronx in New York City. He began acting while attending St. Francis Xavier Military Academy. He later attended Los Angeles City College. Fowley began as a singing waiter and then worked as a copy boy for '' The New York Times'', a runner for a Wall Street broker, a United States Postal Service employee, a barker, a salesman, a professional football player, and finally a professional actor. Military service Fowley's enlistment in the United States Navy during World Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noel Madison
Noel Madison (born Noel Nathaniel Moscovitch; April 30, 1897 – January 6, 1975) was an American character actor in the 1930s and 1940s and appeared in 75 films, often as a gangster. Born in New York City, Madison was the son of actor Maurice Moscovitch and his wife Rose. Besides his theatrical work in the United States, he acted on stage in England and Australia. Partial filmography *''Sinners' Holiday'' (1930) - Buck *'' The Doorway to Hell'' (1930) - Rocco *'' Little Caesar'' (1931) - Killer Peppi (uncredited) *'' The Finger Points'' (1931) - Larry Hayes (scenes deleted) *''The Star Witness'' (1931) - Horan - Henchman (uncredited) *''The Hatchet Man'' (1932) - Charley Kee (uncredited) *'' Play Girl'' (1932) - Martie Happ *'' The Heart of New York'' (1932) - Mr. Farola - an Architect (uncredited) *''Symphony of Six Million'' (1932) - Magnus Klauber *'' The Trial of Vivienne Ware'' (1932) - Angelo Paroni *'' Man About Town'' (1932) - Tony (uncredited) *'' Radio Patrol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arizona To Broadway
''Arizona to Broadway'' is a 1933 American pre-Code crime romance film directed by James Tinling and starring James Dunn and Joan Bennett. It was made by Fox Film Corporation. The screenplay was written by William M. Conselman and Henry Johnson. It was reworked ten years later into ''Jitterbugs'', one of Laurel and Hardy's features made at 20th Century Fox in the 1940s. Cast (in credits order) * James Dunn as Smiley Wells * Joan Bennett as Lynn Martin * Herbert Mundin as Kingfish Miller * Sammy Cohen as Morris Blitz * Theodore von Eltz as Hubert Wayne * Merna Kennedy as Flo Sandberg * Earle Foxe as John Sandburg * Dave Wengren as Ambrose * J. Carrol Naish as Tommy Monk * Max Wagner as Pete * Walter Catlett as Ned Flynn * Jerry Lester as Jimmy Dante * Gene Malin Gene Malin (June 30, 1908 – August 10, 1933), also known by stage names Jean Malin and Imogene Wilson, was an American actor, emcee, and drag performer during the Jazz Age. He was one of the first o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Emmett Keane
Robert Emmett Keane (March 4, 1883 – July 2, 1981) was an American actor of both the stage and screen. Biography Keane began on stage in the 1910s, his first Broadway appearance being in the production of '' The Passing Show of 1914''. He continued on the stage through the mid-1930s, appearing in both London and New York theater productions. His film career began in 1930, and over the twenty-five years of that career he appeared in between 170 and 200 films. At the very tail end of his acting life he made several appearances on the small screen. Keane was married twice. His first marriage was to Muriel Inetta Window, an opera singer, vaudeville actress and 1913 Peacock Girl with the Ziegfeld Follies. They were married in approximately 1916 and divorced in 1920. After his divorce, he married the actress Claire Whitney in 1921, and they remained married until her death in 1969. He retired in 1958, and died on July 2, 1981. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Caruso (actor)
Anthony Caruso (April 7, 1916 – April 4, 2003) was an American character actor in more than one hundred American films, usually playing villains and gangsters, including the first season of Walt Disney's ''Zorro'' as Captain Juan Ortega. Life and career Caruso was born in Frankfort, Indiana, While acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, he met Alan Ladd, beginning a friendship that continued as they made 11 films together. Caruso's early acting experience included performing with The Hart Players, a stock theater company that presented tent shows. He also acted with the Federal Theatre Project and was a star in plays at the Hollywood Playhouse. He made his film debut in Henry Hathaway's '' Johnny Apollo'' (1940) starring Tyrone Power. Caruso played Ash, on an early episode of CBS's ''Gunsmoke'', and again in 1960 as Gurney, a cowboy. He also played Lone Wolf in a 1961 episode entitled “Indian Ford”. In 1954, Caruso played Tiburcio Vásquez in an episode of the western ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
