|
Laffing Room Only
''Laffing Room Only'' is a vaudeville revue in two acts by Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, and Eugene Conrad, with music and lyrics by Burton Lane. This was the first show for which Burton Lane wrote both the words and the music. It was produced by the Shuberts (Lee and J.J.), Olsen, and Johnson at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York City, opening December 23, 1944. ''Laffing Room Only'' was staged by John Murray Anderson, with comedy directed by Edward F. Cline, music directed by John McManus, dances by Robert Alton, settings by Stewart Chaney, and costumes by Billy Livingston. The production was supervised by Harry Kaufman. It ran for 232 performances, closing on July 14, 1945. In addition to Olsen and Johnson, the cast of 44 headlined Frank Libuse, Betty Garrett, and Willie, West and McGinty, and included Ethel Owen, Herbert Ross, and Fred Waring Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personalit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ole Olsen (comedian)
John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen (November 6, 1892 – January 26, 1963) was an American vaudevillian and comedian. Biography Olsen was married twice. He had four children with his first wife, Lillian Clem: John Charles, Robert Clem, Joy, and Moya. They were later divorced. His son, Robert died of miliary tuberculosis at age 2; son J. C., an actor, died by suicide in 1956. Moya married William P. Lear of Learjet fame in 1942. Ole was involved in a serious automobile accident in 1950 and recuperated at the Lear home. In June 1961 Ole married Eileen Maria Osthoff, a dancer and choreographer he had known for eight years. Olsen's ambition was to make people laugh. He is remembered for the quote, "May you live as long as you laugh, and laugh as long as you live", which are cited on his headstone. Olsen died in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the age of 70 of a kidney ailment, and is interred in Palm Desert Memorial in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a grave adjoining that of Chic Johnson. References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Garrett
Betty Garrett (May 23, 1919 – February 12, 2011) was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer. She originally performed on Broadway, and was then signed to a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She appeared in several musical films, then returned to Broadway and made guest appearances on several television series. Garrett later became known for the roles she played in two prominent 1970s sitcoms: Archie Bunker's politically liberal neighbor Irene Lorenzo in ''All in the Family'' and landlady Edna Babish in ''Laverne & Shirley''. In later years, she appeared in television series such as ''The Golden Girls'', ''Grey's Anatomy'', ''Boston Public'' and ''Becker'' as well as in several Broadway plays and revivals. Early life Garrett was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the daughter of Elizabeth Octavia (née Stone) and Curtis Garrett. Shortly after her birth, her parents relocated to Seattle, Washington, where her mother managed the sheet music department at Sherman Cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadway Musicals
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Theatre'' as the proper noun in their names (12 others used neither), with many performers and trade groups for live dramatic presentations also using the spelling ''theatre''. or Broadway, are the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres, each with 500 or more seats, located in the Theater District and the Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End theatre, West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world. While the thoroughfare is eponymous with the district and its collection of 41 theaters, and it is also closely identified with Times Square, only three of the theaters are located on Broadway itself (nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1944 Musicals
Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in North Africa. ** Landing at Saidor: 13,000 US and Australian troops land on Papua New Guinea, in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat. * January 8 – WWII: Philippine Commonwealth troops enter the province of Ilocos Sur in northern Luzon and attack Japanese forces. * January 11 ** President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt proposes a Second Bill of Rights for social and economic security, in his State of the Union address. ** The Nazi German administration expands Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp into the larger standalone ''Konzentrationslager Plaszow bei Krakau'' in occupied Poland. * January 12 – WWII: Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle begin a 2-day conference in Marrakech ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Waring
Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also a promoter, financial backer and eponym of the Waring Blendor, the first modern electric blender on the market. Biography Fredrick Malcolm Waring was born in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, on June 9, 1900, to Jesse Calderwood and Frank Waring. During his teen years, Waring, his brother Tom ''(né'' Thomas Lincoln Waring; 1902–1960), and their friend Poley McClintock founded the Waring-McClintock Snap Orchestra, which evolved into Fred Waring's Banjo Orchestra. The band often played at fraternity parties, proms, and dances, and achieved local success. Waring attended Penn State University, where he studied architectural engineering. He aspired to be in the Penn State Glee Club, but he was rejected with every audition. His Banjo Orchestra becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Ross
Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. He is known for directing musical and comedies such as ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969 film), Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1969), ''The Owl and the Pussycat (film), The Owl and the Pussycat'' (1970), ''Play It Again, Sam (film), Play It Again, Sam'' (1972), '' The Sunshine Boys (1975 film), The Sunshine Boys'', ''Funny Lady'' (both 1975), ''The Goodbye Girl'' (1977), ''California Suite (film), California Suite'' (1978), and ''Pennies from Heaven (1981 film), Pennies From Heaven'' (1981). His later films include ''Footloose (1984 film), Footloose'' (1984), and ''Steel Magnolias'' (1989). For the drama ''The Turning Point (1977 film), The Turning Point'' (1977) he received two Academy Award nominations for Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture and Academy Award for Best D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethel Owen
Ethel Owen ( Ethel Marguerite Waite; March 30, 1893 – February 16, 1997) was an American actress with a lengthy career on stage as well as radio and television. In her early sixties, during the mid-1950s, she had a memorable recurring TV role on ''The Honeymooners'', playing Mrs. Gibson, Ralph Kramden's sharp-tongued, interfering mother-in-law. Early years, marriage and three daughters Born in Chicago, Ethel Marguerite Waite started performing around 1907, at age 14. Although she is credited with appearances on a number of vaudeville circuits, her primary venue was the legitimate stage, mostly as a member of regional touring theatre groups. Following marriage, in her early twenties, to Wisconsin veterinarian Raymond G. Owens on June 19, 1919, she had three daughters. Her eldest child, Mary, would later move to Texas, where in Fort Worth she worked professionally as a social worker; however, Ethel's younger girls, Virginia and Armilda Jane, followed their mother into show bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Libuse
Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Currency * Liechtenstein franc or frank, the currency of Liechtenstein since 1920 * Swiss franc or frank, the currency of Switzerland since 1850 * Westphalian frank, currency of the Kingdom of Westphalia between 1808 and 1813 * The currencies of the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland (1803–1814): ** Appenzell frank ** Argovia frank ** Basel frank ** Berne frank ** Fribourg frank ** Glarus frank ** Graubünden frank ** Luzern frank ** Schaffhausen frank ** Schwyz frank ** Solothurn frank ** St. Gallen frank ** Thurgau frank ** Unterwalden frank ** Uri frank ** Zürich frank Places * Frank, Alberta, Canada, an urban community, formerly a village * Franks, Illinois, United States, an unincorporated community * Franks, Missouri, United Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chic Johnson
Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson (March 15, 1891 – February 28, 1962) was the barrel-chested half of the American comedy team of Olsen and Johnson, known for his strangely infectious, high-pitched "Woo-Woo" laugh. Background Johnson was born of Swedish descent in Chicago to John M. and Matilda C. (née Carlson) Johnson. Career Johnson studied classical piano at the Chicago Musical College. He dropped out to support himself as a ragtime pianist in various Chicago-area cabarets and vaudeville houses. He broke into show business as a ragtime pianist and met his partner Ole Olsen, a violinist, when they were hired by the same band. Following the breakup of the band, they started doing comedy and by 1918 were vaudeville headliners. O&J were given contracts by Warner Bros. in 1930 to appear as the comic relief in a number of musicals including ''Oh, Sailor Behave'' (1930), ''Gold Dust Gertie'' (1931) and a lavish Technicolor version of ''Fifty Million Frenchmen'' (1931). Unfortunately ... [...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] |
Edward F
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Saxon England, but the rule of the Norman and Plantagenet dynasties had effectively ended its use amongst the upper classes. The popularity of the name was revived when Henry III named his firstborn son, the future Edward I, as part of his efforts to promote a cult around Edward the Confessor, for whom Henry had a deep admiration. Variant forms The name has been adopted in the Iberian peninsula since the 15th century, due to Edward, King of Portugal, whose mother was English. The Spanish/Portuguese forms of the name are Eduardo and Duarte. Other variant forms include French Édouard, Italian Edoardo and Odoardo, German, Dutch, Czech and Romanian Eduard and Scandinavian Edvard. Short forms include Ed, Eddy, Eddie, Ted, Teddy and Ned. Pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
