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Little Miss Marker (1934 Film)
''Little Miss Marker'' (also known as ''The Girl in Pawn'') is an American Pre-Code 1934 comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Hall. It was written by William R. Lipman, Sam Hellman, and Gladys Lehman after a 1932 short story of the same name by Damon Runyon. It stars Shirley Temple, Adolphe Menjou and Dorothy Dell in a story about a young girl held as collateral by gangsters. It was Temple's first starring role in a major motion picture and was crucial to establishing her as a major film star. It was named to the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1998 and has been remade several times. Plot The film tells the story of "Marky" (Shirley Temple), whose father gives her to a gangster-run gambling operation as a "marker" (collateral) for a bet. When he loses his bet and commits suicide, the gangsters are left with her on their hands. They decide to keep her temporarily and use her to help pull off one of their fixed races, naming her the own ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Hall
Alexander Hall (January 11, 1894 – July 30, 1968) was an American film director, film editor and theatre actor. Biography Hall acted in the theatre from the age of four through 1914, when he began to work in silent movies. Following his military service in World War I, he returned to Hollywood and pursued a career in film production. He worked as a film editor and assistant director at Paramount Pictures until 1932, when he directed his first feature film, ''Sinners in the Sun''. From 1937 to 1947, he was a contract director at Columbia Pictures, where he earned a reputation for sophisticated comedies. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Here Comes Mr. Jordan'' (1941). From 1934 to 1936, Hall was married to actress Lane Sisters, Lola Lane. He was also married to Marjorie Hunter. In 1952 Hall had a home in Palm Springs, California. He was engaged briefly to Lucille Ball, who left him when she met Desi Arnaz. The couple later hired him to direct their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warren Hymer
Edgar Warren Hymer (February 25, 1906 – March 25, 1948) was an American theatre and film actor. Early life He was born in New York City. His father, John Bard Hymer (1875/1876 – 1953) was a playwright (with nine Broadway plays to his credit, according to the Internet Broadway Database), vaudeville writer and actor, while his mother, Eleanor Kent, was an actress. Career He appeared in 129 films between 1929 and 1946, as well as the 1928 Broadway play ''The Grey Fox.'' Despite his typical screen persona as an unsophisticated tough guy with a Brooklyn accent, he actually attended Yale University. In the late 1930s, Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn had him removed from the studio after he showed up for work drunk. Hymer responded by breaking into Cohn's office and urinating on his desk. Cohn then blackballed him in the film industry, making it hard for him to find work. Death He died in Los Angeles, California, reportedly of a "stomach ailment" at age 42 in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a hapless little league team in the baseball comedy ''The Bad News Bears'' (1976). He also starred in 10 films alongside Jack Lemmon, including ''The Odd Couple'' (1968), ''The Front Page'' (1974) and '' Grumpy Old Men'' (1993). Matthau won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Billy Wilder film ''The Fortune Cookie'' (1966). Matthau is also known for his performances in Stanley Donen's romance ''Charade'' (1963), Gene Kelly's musical '' Hello, Dolly!'' (1969), Elaine May's screwball comedy '' A New Leaf'' (1971) and Herbert Ross' ensemble comedy ''California Suite'' (1978). He also starred in ''Plaza Suite'', ''Kotch'' (both 1971), ''Charley Varrick'' (1973), ''The Sunshine Boys'' (1975), and ''Hopscotch'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Miss Marker (1980 Film)
''Little Miss Marker'' is a 1980 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Walter Bernstein and based on a short story by Damon Runyon. It stars Walter Matthau, Tony Curtis, Julie Andrews, Bob Newhart and new arrival Sara Stimson. The film is a remake of the 1934 film of the same name starring Shirley Temple and Adolphe Menjou. Plot In the 1930s, Sorrowful Jones is a gloomy, cantankerous bookie who is confronted by Carter, a gambler who cannot pay a $10 debt. Carter gives his six-year-old daughter to Sorrowful's gangster-run gambling operation as a "marker" (collateral) for a bet. When Carter loses his bet and commits suicide, the gangsters are left with the girl on their hands. Sorrowful's nervous assistant Regret is concerned about the legality of the arrangement, which might violate kidnapping statutes. In the interim, a crime boss named Blackie coerces his longtime rival Sorrowful into financing a new gambling joint. It is opened in the stately home of Blackie's gir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She earned many honors, including the Women in Film Crystal Award, an induction into the Television Hall of Fame, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors, and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Ball's career began in 1929 when she landed work as a model. Shortly thereafter, she began her performing career on Broadway using the stage name Diane (or Dianne) Belmont. She later appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures, being cast as a chorus girl or in similar roles, with lead roles in B-pictures and supporting roles in A-pictures. During this time, she met Cuban bandlea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 54 feature films with Hope as star, including a series of seven '' Road to ...'' musical comedy films with Bing Crosby as Hope's top-billed partner. In addition to hosting the Academy Awards show 19 times, more than any other host, Hope appeared in many stage productions and television roles and wrote 14 books. The song "Thanks for the Memory" was his signature tune. Hope was born in the Eltham district of southeast London, he arrived in the United States with his family at the age of four, and grew up near Cleveland, Ohio. After a brief career as a boxer in the late 1910s, Hope began his career in show business in the early 1920s, initially as a comedian and dancer on the vaudeville circuit, before acting on Broadway. Hope began appeari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sorrowful Jones
''Sorrowful Jones'', also known as ''Damon Runyon's Sorrowful Jones'', is a 1949 American comedy-drama film directed by Sidney Lanfield. The film stars Lucille Ball and Bob Hope. ''Sorrowful Jones'' was a remake of a 1934 Shirley Temple film, ''Little Miss Marker''. In the film, a young girl is left with the notoriously cheap Sorrowful Jones (Hope) as a marker for a bet. When her father does not return, he learns that caring for a child interferes with his free-wheeling lifestyle. Lucille Ball plays a nightclub singer who is dating Sorrowful's boss. Ball's singing voice is provided by Annette Warren, who also sang for her in ''Fancy Pants (film), Fancy Pants'' and later provided the singing voice for Ava Gardner in ''Show Boat''. Plot Sorrowful Jones is a New York bookie who hides his operation behind a trap door in a Broadway barber shop. He suffers from a financial setback when a horse named Dreamy Joe, owned by gangster Big Steve Holloway, unexpectedly wins a race. Jones has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Big Shot (1935 Film)
''Little Big Shot'' is a 1935 American film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Sybil Jason and Glenda Farrell. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 7, 1935. A young girl endears herself to her caretakers after her father is murdered by mobsters. Plot Mortimer Thompson (Edward Everett Horton) and Steve Craig ( Robert Armstrong) are a pair of sidewalk confidence men working Broadway one step ahead of the police selling phony watches. Broke, they arrange to have dinner with Gibbs, an old friend, thinking he will help them with some money. Gibbs and his young daughter Gloria (Sybil Jason) don't have much money, either, and think that Steve and Mortimer can help them. On top of needing money, Gibbs is in hiding from notorious gangster Kell Norton. After Steve, Mortimer, Gibbs and Gloria finish their dinner, Gibbs is shot and killed by Norton's men as the group leaves the restaurant. Steve and Mortimer hurry to leave before they too get shot, hastily leaving Gibbs' da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception in 1988. History Through the 1980s, several prominent filmmakers and industry personalities in the United States, such as Frank Capra and Martin Scorsese, advocated for Congress to enact a film preservation bill in order to avoid commercial modifications (such as pan and scan and editing for TV) of classic films, which they saw as negative. In response to the controversy over the colorization of originally black and white films in the decade specifically, Representatives Robert J. Mrazek and Sidney R. Yates introduced the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, which established the National Film Registry, its purpose, and the criteria for selecting films for preservation. The Act was passed and the NFR's mission was subsequently reau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Conroy (actor)
Frank Parish Conroy (14 October 1890 – 24 February 1964) was a British film and stage actor who appeared in many films, notably ''Grand Hotel'' (1932), '' The Little Minister'' (1934) and ''The Ox-Bow Incident'' (1943). Career Born in Derby, England, Conroy began acting on stage in 1908. He acted in Shakespearean plays in England from 1910 until he came to the United States in 1915. He was responsible for building the Greenwich Village Theatre which opened in 1917, and he directed productions of the repertory theater there for three years. He appeared in more than 40 Broadway plays, beginning with ''The Passing Show of 1913'' (1913) and ending with ''Calculated Risk'' (1962). He won a Tony Award for best supporting actor for his performance in Graham Greene's ''The Potting Shed'' (1957). Conroy's work on television included appearances on ''Kraft Theater'' and ''The Play of the Week''. Personal life and death Conroy had a wife, Ruth, and a son, Richard. He died of heart di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Sheehan (actor)
John Sheehan (October 22, 1885 – February 14, 1952) was an American actor and vaudeville performer. After acting onstage and in vaudeville for several years, Sheehan began making films in 1914, starring in a number of short films. From 1914 to 1916, he appeared in over 60 films, the vast majority of them film shorts. Career He returned exclusively to the stage in 1917, where he remained until the advent of sound films. He returned to the screen with a featured role in the 1930 melodrama, ''Swing High'', starring Helen Twelvetrees. His more notable performances and roles include: the first talking version of the film '' Kismet'' (1930), starring Otis Skinner and Loretta Young; a featured role in 1934's ''Little Miss Marker'', starring Shirley Temple and Adolphe Menjou; Michael Curtiz's ''Kid Galahad'' (1937), starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart; the Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn romantic comedy ''Woman of the Year'' (1942); the classic bio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank McGlynn Sr
Frank McGlynn Sr. (October 26, 1866 – May 18, 1951) was an American stage and screen actor who, in a career that spanned more than half a century, is best known for his convincing Impersonator, impersonations and performances as Abraham Lincoln in both plays and films. Early life McGlynn was born in 1866 in San Francisco, the eldest of four children of Mary and Frank McGlynn. "FRANK M'GLYNN, 84, LINCOLN ON STAGE..." ''The New York Times'', May 19, 1951; p. 12. Federal census records indicate that McGlynn, in addition to having two younger sisters, had a younger brother, George, who died sometime between 1870 and 1880. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
