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Looking Forward (1933 Film)
''Looking Forward'' is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by Clarence Brown starring Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone and Benita Hume. It was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The sets and costumes were designed by studio regulars Cedric Gibbons and Adrian. Based on the 1932 Dodie Smith play '' Service'', it depicts the desperate struggle of a London department store owner to save his business during the Great Depression. The film's title was taken from a book by the newly-inaugurated president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is quoted in the film's prologue. The film was strongly backed by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Pictures and Hearst was involved in the securing of the president's support for the film's new title.Pizzitola p.301-2 Plot With his upscale department store steadily losing money, Gabriel Service, Sr. (Lewis Stone) is forced to discharge some of his employees, including an unenterprising but loyal and long-serving Tim Benton ( Lion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clarence Brown
Clarence Leon Brown (May 10, 1890 – August 17, 1987) was an American film director. Early life Born in Clinton, Massachusetts, to Larkin Harry Brown, a cotton manufacturer, and Katherine Ann Brown (née Gaw), Brown moved to Tennessee when he was 11 years old. He attended Knoxville High School and the University of Tennessee, both in Knoxville, Tennessee, graduating from the university at the age of 19 with two degrees in engineering. An early fascination in automobiles led Brown to a job with the Stevens-Duryea Company, then to his own Brown Motor Car Company in Alabama. He later abandoned the car dealership after developing an interest in motion pictures around 1913. He was hired by the Peerless Studio at Fort Lee, New Jersey, and became an assistant to the French-born director Maurice Tourneur. Career After serving as a fighter pilot and flight instructor in the United States Army Air Service during World War I, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adrian (costume Designer)
Adrian Adolph Greenburg (March 3, 1903 – September 13, 1959), widely known as Adrian, was an American costume designer whose most famous costumes were for '' The Wizard of Oz'' and hundreds of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films between 1928 and 1941. He was usually credited onscreen with the phrase "Gowns by Adrian". Early in his career he chose the professional name Gilbert Adrian, a combination of his father's forename and his own. Early life Adrian was born on March 3, 1903, in Naugatuck, Connecticut, to Gilbert and Helena (née Pollak) Greenburg. Adrian's father Gilbert was born in New York and his mother Helena in Waterbury, Connecticut. Both sides of the family were Jewish. Joseph Greenburg and his wife Frances were from Russia, while Adolph Pollak and Bertha (née Mendelsohn) Pollak were from Bohemia and Germany, respectively. In 1920 Adrian entered the New York School for Fine and Applied Arts (now Parsons School of Design). In 1922 he transferred to the NYSFAA Paris campu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Clive
Colin Clive (born Colin Glenn Clive-Greig; 20 January 1900 – 25 June 1937) was a British stage and screen actor. His most memorable role was Henry Frankenstein, the creator of the monster, in the 1931 film ''Frankenstein'' and its 1935 sequel, ''Bride of Frankenstein''. Early life Clive was born in Saint-Malo, France, to an English colonel, Colin Philip Greig, and his wife, Caroline Margaret Lugard Clive. He attended Stonyhurst College and subsequently Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where an injured knee disqualified him from military service and contributed to his becoming a stage actor."Colin Clive," ''The Stage'' (1 July 1937), p. 7. bituary/ref> He was a member of the Hull Repertory Theatre Company for three years. Clive created the role of Steve Baker, the white husband of racially mixed Julie LaVerne, in the first London production of ''Show Boat''; the production featured Cedric Hardwicke and Paul Robeson. Clive first worked with James Whale in the Savoy Theatre p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viva Tattersall
Viva Tattersall (1898–1989) was the stage name of British stage and film actress, playwright and sculptor, Vera Tattersall, who settled in the United States. Early life Tattersall was one of five girls born in London to Hugh Tattersall, a sea captain, and his wife, Lilian. Her father had been blamed for a ship's loss and never worked again. Lilian worked as a dressmaker but supplemented her income by playing the stocks and shares. Tattersall's sisters included Lady Emma Henderson and Marjorie Clark, wife of economist, Colin Clark. Career Tattersall commenced her career as a stage actress. In 1927 she appeared in the original Broadway run of John Galsworthy's ''Escape''. She was also a playwright, co-authoring plays with actor Sidney Toler (who she later married) such as ''Her Western Romeo'', ''Dress Parade'' and '' Ritzy''. She appeared in at least eight Hollywood films between 1932 and 1936. This included a leading role as the daughter, Vera Strang, of Professor Adam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas Walton (actor)
Douglas Walton (born John Douglas Duder; October 17, 1909 – November 15, 1961) was a Canadian-born American actor who worked in American films during the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared in 60 films between 1931 and 1950. Life and career Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Walton began his acting career in the theatres of Chicago and New York City. Tall, blond and elegant, Walton played many aristocratic, intellectual or sophisticated English or European men in films such as '' The Count of Monte Cristo'' in 1934; '' The Bride of Frankenstein'' (1935), in which Walton memorably played the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in the film's prologue; the Clark Gable version of '' Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1935); and director John Ford's '' Mary of Scotland'' (1936) starring Katharine Hepburn, in which Walton gave his perhaps best performance as the effeminate and cowardly "Lord Darnley".McPeak, William"Mini-Biography"/ref>Erickson, Hal"Douglas Walton: Biography"on AllMovies.com Walton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doris Lloyd
Hessy Doris Lloyd (3 July 1891 – 21 May 1968) was an English–American film and stage actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in ''The Time Machine'' (1960) and ''The Sound of Music'' (1965). Lloyd appeared in two Academy Award winners and four other nominees. Early life Lloyd's parents were Edward Franklin Lloyd and Hessy Jane McCappin. She was born in Liverpool, and she had a grandfather who was an amateur actor. Her father was born in 1855, in Holywell, Flintshire. Her mother was born in 1860. Career When Lloyd was 23, she debuted on stage with the Liverpool Repertory Company. She appeared a number of times in the London West End, including in '' Mr. Todd's Experiment'' by Walter C. Hackett ( Queen's Theatre, 1920), and ''The Smiths of Surbiton'' by Keble Howard ( New Theatre, 1922). Her film debut was in the 1920 British silent film '' The Shadow Between''. She went to the United States to visit a sister already living there. What was supposed to be a visi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence Grant
Percy Reginald Lawrence-Grant (30 October 1870 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England – 19 February 1952 in Santa Barbara, California, USA) was an English actor known for supporting roles in films such as ''The Living Ghost'', '' I'll Tell the World'', '' Shanghai Express'', '' The Mask of Fu Manchu'' and ''Son of Frankenstein''. He was host of the 4th Academy Awards ceremonies in 1931. Selected filmography * '' The Eternal City'' (1915) - English Ambassador * ''To Hell with the Kaiser!'' (1918) - The Kaiser / Robert Graubel * ''Someone Must Pay'' (1919) - Walter Hargrave * ''Held In Trust'' (1920) - Dr. Babcock * ''The Chorus Girl's Romance'' (1920) - Jose Brasswine * ''Someone in the House'' (1920) - Walter Hargrave * ''Extravagance'' (1921) - Uncle Mark * '' The Great Impersonation'' (1921) - Emperor William of Germany * ''The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln'' (1924) - Actor at Ford's Theatre * ''Happiness'' (1924) - Mr. Rosselstein * ''His Hour'' (1924) - Stephen Stro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phillips Holmes
Phillips Raymond Holmes (July 22, 1907 – August 12, 1942) was an American actor. For his contributions to the film industry, he was posthumously given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early life, education and career Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Edna Phillips and stage star Taylor Holmes, Holmes enjoyed a privileged childhood and received his education at Trinity College, Cambridge, the University of Grenoble and a year at Princeton University where he was spotted in the undergraduate crowd during the filming of Frank Tuttle's ''Varsity'' in 1928 and offered a screen test. In the early 1930s, he became a popular leading man, playing leads in a few important productions, notably in Josef von Sternberg's '' An American Tragedy'' (1931) and Ernst Lubitsch's '' Broken Lullaby'' (1932). At Paramount, he starred in melodrama and comedy. In 1933, his contract with Paramount ran out and he moved to MGM for one year. As the decade progressed, Holmes' care ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmopolitan Pictures
Cosmopolitan Productions, also often referred to as Cosmopolitan Pictures, was an American film company based in New York City from 1918 to 1923 and Hollywood until 1938. History Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst formed Cosmopolitan in conjunction with Adolph Zukor of Paramount after Hearst's bid for entry into the motion picture business was rebuffed by United Artists. The advantage of Paramount having a production deal with Cosmopolitan was that they had the film rights to stories that had appeared in the wide variety of Hearst's magazines. These included Cosmopolitan magazine (from which Hearst took the film company's name), as well as '' Harpers Bazaar'', and ''Good Housekeeping''. Thus the stories arrived pre-sold to the public, who were familiar with them through reading them in Hearst's magazines. Hearst's magazines would also advertise and promote his films. Cosmopolitan's first successful film was '' Humoresque'' (1920), which also was the first film to receiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboyant methods of yellow journalism influenced the nation's popular media by emphasizing sensationalism and human interest stories. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887 with Mitchell Trubitt after being given control of ''The San Francisco Examiner'' by his wealthy father, Senator George Hearst. After moving to New York City, Hearst acquired the '' New York Journal'' and fought a bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's '' New York World''. Hearst sold papers by printing giant headlines over lurid stories featuring crime, corruption, sex, and innuendos. Hearst acquired more newspapers and created a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He later expanded to magazines, creating the largest ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prologue
A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Ancient Greek ''prólogos'' included the modern meaning of ''prologue'', but was of wider significance, more like the meaning of preface. The importance, therefore, of the prologue in Greek drama was very great; it sometimes almost took the place of a romance, to which, or to an episode in which, the play itself succeeded. Latin On the Latin stage the prologue was often more elaborate than it was in Athens, and in the careful composition of the poems which Plautus prefixes to his plays we see what importance he gave to this portion of the entertainment; sometimes, as in the preface to the '' Rudens'', Plautus rises to the height of his genius in his adroit and romantic pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the leader of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. He built the New Deal Coalition, which defined modern liberalism in the United States throughout the middle third of the 20th century. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II, which ended in victory shortly after he died in office. Born into the prominent Roosevelt family in Hyde Park, New York, he graduated from both Groton School and Harvard College, and attended Columbia Law Sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
