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John Brascia
John F. Brascia (May 11, 1932 – February 19, 2013) was an American actor and dancer, best known for his dancing partnerships on film with Vera-Ellen in '' White Christmas'' (1954) and with Cyd Charisse and Liliane Montevecchi in ''Meet Me in Las Vegas'' (1956). Early life John Frank Brascia was born on May 11, 1932 in California, to Italian immigrants Gaetano Brascia and Caterina Napolitano. The Brascia clan including his Uncle Mike and Aunt Concetta Brascia moved from Brooklyn, New York, before John Frank was born. He had two siblings, Cecilia and Vincent. Brascia was a high-school basketball player beginning in his sophomore year at Colton High School as co-captain. At 5’11" he took the position of guard in his junior year; he was a starter for the Colton Yellowjackets. He played for Colton on the football squad as the starting quarterback in his junior and senior years. Career Film Brascia was a featured dancer with Vera-Ellen in '' White Christmas'' (1954) and with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, making it the fifth-most populous city in California, the most populous inland city in California, and the 34th-most populous city in the nation. The Metro population of Fresno is 1,008,654 as of 2022. Named for the abundant ash trees lining the San Joaquin River, Fresno was founded in 1872 as a railway station of the Central Pacific Railroad before it was incorporated in 1885. It has since become an economic hub of Fresno County and the San Joaquin Valley, with much of the surrounding areas in the Metropolitan Fresno region predominantly tied to large-scale agricultural production. Fresno is near the geographic center of California, approximately north of Los Angeles, south of the state capital, Sacramento, and southeast of San Franc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Burns
George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century. He and his wife Gracie Allen appeared on radio, television and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen. At the age of 79, Burns experienced a sudden career revival as an amiable, beloved and unusually active comedy elder statesman in the 1975 film ''The Sunshine Boys'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Burns was only a Tony Award shy of being one of the few EGOT award recipients in the American entertainment industry, winning an Emmy, a Grammy, and an Oscar. Burns became a centenarian in 1996, continuing to work until just weeks before his death of cardiac arrest at his home in Beverly Hills, shortly after his hundr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Davis Jr
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally, and his film career began in 1933. After military service, Davis returned to the trio and became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro's (in West Hollywood) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities.Sammy Davis Jr. Biography Biography.com. Retrieved June 6, 2013.< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Cahn
Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He and his collaborators had a series of hit recordings with Frank Sinatra during the singer's tenure at Capitol Records, but also enjoyed hits with Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin, and won an Oscar four times for his songs, including the popular hit " Three Coins in the Fountain". Among his most enduring songs is "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", cowritten with Jule Styne in 1945. Life and career Cahn was born Samuel Cohen in the Lower East Side of New York City, the only son (he had four sisters) of Abraham and Elka Reiss Cohen, who were Jewish immigrants from Galicia, then ruled by Austria-Hungary. His sisters, Sadye, Pearl, Flor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankie And Johnny (song)
"Frankie and Johnny" (sometimes spelled "Frankie and Johnnie"; also known as "Frankie and Albert", "Frankie's Man", "Johnny", or just "Frankie") is a traditional American popular song. It tells the story of a woman, Frankie, who finds her man Johnny making love to another woman and shoots him dead. Frankie is then arrested; in some versions of the song she is also executed. History The song was inspired by one or more actual murders. One of these took place in an apartment building located at 212 Targee Street in St. Louis, Missouri, at 2:00 on the morning of October 15, 1899. Frankie Baker (18761952), a 22-year-old woman, shot her 17-year-old lover Allen (also known as "Albert") Britt in the abdomen. Britt had just returned from a cakewalk at a local dance hall, where he and another woman, Nelly Bly (also known as "Alice Pryor" and no relation to the pioneering reporter who adopted the pseudonym Nellie Bly or Stephen Foster's Nelly Bly), had won a prize in a slow-dancing contest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Shoup
Howard Shoup (August 29, 1903 – May 29, 1987) was an American costume designer who received 5 Academy Award nominations. He had over 170 film credits during his long career. Including films like ''Ocean's 11'' and ''Cool Hand Luke''. Shoup was the long-term romantic partner of artist Sascha Brastoff. Oscar Nominations All 5 nominations were for Best Costumes-Black and White. *32nd Academy Awards-Nominated for ''The Young Philadelphians''. Lost to ''Some Like It Hot''. * 33rd Academy Awards-Nominated for ''The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond''. Lost to '' The Facts of Life''. *34th Academy Awards-Nominated for ''Claudelle Inglish''. Lost to ''La Dolce Vita''. *37th Academy Awards-Nominated for ''Kisses for My President''. Lost to ''The Night of the Iguana''. *38th Academy Awards-Nominated for ''A Rage to Live ''A Rage to Live'' is a 1965 American drama film directed by Walter Grauman and starring Suzanne Pleshette as a woman whose passions wreak havoc on her life. The sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donaldson Award
The Donaldson Awards were a set of theatre awards established in 1944 by the drama critic Robert Francis in honor of W. H. Donaldson (1864–1925), the founder of ''The Billboard'' (now ''Billboard'') magazine. Categories included "best new play", "best new musical", "best performance", "best debut" and "best costumes and set design". The winners were chosen by votes of the theatre community at large with no predetermined nominees and the winners were presented with a gold key and a scroll.Sagolla, Lisa Jo (2003). ''The Girl Who Fell Down A Biography of Joan McCracken''. Boston: University Press of New England. . p. 107. According to an article in ''Billboard'', "The Donaldson Awards are the stages' accolades to their own." The awards were discontinued in 1955 having been overshadowed by the Antoinette Perry Awards (Tony Awards). List of winners Eligibility List for 12th Annual Donaldson Awards (containing previous winners) "Award Winners, 1954–55 Season" ''Billboard'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Alton
Robert Alton (2 January 1902 – 12 June 1957) was an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in dance choreography of Broadway and Hollywood musicals from the 1930s through to the early 1950s. He is principally remembered today as the discoverer of Gene Kelly, for his collaborations with Fred Astaire, and for choreographic sequences he designed for Hollywood musicals such as ''The Harvey Girls'' (1946), ''Till the Clouds Roll By'' (1946), ''Show Boat'' (1951), and '' White Christmas'' (1954). Biography Born Robert Alton Hart in Bennington, Vermont, United States, Alton studied dance with Ralph McKernan in Springfield, Massachusetts and spent his summers in New York studying with Bert French and Mikhail Mordkin, formerly of the Bolshoi Ballet and Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. His Broadway stage dancing début was with Mordkin's company in ''Take It from Me'' (1919), followed by ''Greenwich Follies'' (1924) and ''Some Day'' (1925) which failed to make it to Broad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen Gallagher
Helen Gallagher (born July 19, 1926) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She is the recipient of three Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Drama Desk Award. Early years Born in Brooklyn, she was raised in Scarsdale, New York, and the Bronx. Her parents separated and she was raised by an aunt. She suffered from asthma. Career Stage Gallagher was known for decades as a Broadway performer. She appeared in '' Make a Wish'', ''Hazel Flagg'', ''Portofino'', ''High Button Shoes'', and ''Sweet Charity'' (for which she received a 1967 Tony Award nomination for Featured Actress in a Musical), eventually assuming the title role, and closing the original Broadway run. She also appeared in '' Cry for Us All''. In 1952, she won a Tony Award for her work in the revival of '' Pal Joey''. In 1971, she won her second Tony for her role in the revival of the musical ''No, No, Nanette''. Her song-and-dance number with Bobby Van from that show, "You Can Dance with Any Girl", is preserved o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Hilliard
Bob Hilliard (born Hilliard Goldsmith; January 28, 1918 – February 1, 1971) was an American lyricist. He wrote the words for the songs: " Alice in Wonderland", "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", " Any Day Now", "Dear Hearts and Gentle People", "Our Day Will Come", " My Little Corner of the World", " Tower of Strength" and " Seven Little Girls (Sitting in the Back Seat)". Career After finishing high school, Hilliard began working as a lyricist in Tin Pan Alley. At the age of 28 he had his first success with "The Coffee Song". During his Broadway years, Hilliard wrote successful scores for both '' Angel in the Wings'' (1947) and ''Hazel Flagg'' (1953). He also worked as lyricist of the film score for '' Alice in Wonderland'' (1951). This included providing the words to the theme song, as well as "I'm Late" and the unused Cheshire Cat song "I'm Odd." The 1954 comedy film ''Living It Up'' included his songs "Money Burns a Hole in My Pocket" and "That's What I Like." Hilli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jule Styne
Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became successful films: ''Gypsy,'' '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,'' and '' Funny Girl.'' Early life Styne was born to a Jewish family in London, England. His parents, Anna Kertman and Isadore Stein, were emigrants from Ukraine, the Russian Empire, and ran a small grocery. Even before his family left Britain, he did impressions on the stage of well-known singers, including Harry Lauder, who saw him perform and advised him to take up the piano. At the age of eight, he moved with his family to Chicago, where he began taking piano lessons. He proved to be a prodigy and performed with the Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphonies before he was ten years old. Career Before Styne attended Chicago Musical College, he had already attracted the attention o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hazel Flagg
''Hazel Flagg'' is a 1953 musical, book by Ben Hecht, based on a story by James H. Street. The lyrics are by Bob Hilliard, and music by Jule Styne. The musical is based on the 1937 screwball comedy film '' Nothing Sacred'', the primary screenwriter of which was Ben Hecht. Production The musical opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on February 11 and closed on September 19, 1953, after 190 performances. Direction was by David Alexander, with musical staging by Robert Alton and costumes by Miles White. The cast included Helen Gallagher (Hazel), John Howard (Wallace Cook), Thomas Mitchell (Dr. Downer), Benay Venuta (Laura Carew), Jack Whiting (mayor of New York), Ross Martin (Dr. Egelhofer), Jonathan Harris (Oleander), Sheree North in her Broadway debut (Whitey), and John Brascia (Willie). Paramount Pictures, which owned the rights to the source material for ''Nothing Sacred'', also acquired the rights to produce a film version of ''Hazel Flagg''. The Dean Martin an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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