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Make Believe Ballroom (film)
''Make Believe Ballroom'' is a 1949 American musical romantic comedy directed by Joseph Santley and produced by Ted Richmond. It was loosely based on the radio program of the same name hosted by Martin Block and Al Jarvis. The film starred Jerome Courtland, Ruth Warrick, Ron Randell, Virginia Welles, and Jarvis. The film featured musical icons of the era such as Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, and Charlie Barnet. Plot The film focuses on two carhops as they compete in a mystery record contest. John Reid, in the reference book ''Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s'', commented, "... this is one of those films which string together a musical melange through the excuse of a radio show." Music The film features iconic bandleaders of the big band era in a performance of "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" by the combined bands of Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet, Ray McKinley, Pee Wee Hunt, and Jan Garber. Gene Krupa performs his classic "Disco Jockey Jump" and Franki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Santley
Joseph Mansfield Santley (born Joseph Ishmael Mansfield, January 10, 1890 – August 8, 1971) was an American actor, singer, dancer, writer, director, and producer of musical theatre, musical theatre, theatrical plays motion pictures and television shows. He adopted the stage name of his stepfather, actor Eugene Santley. Life and career Joseph Santley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a boy, he and older brother Fred Santley, Fred began performing in live theatre appearing in summer stock and touring with their parents. In 1906, at age seventeen, Joseph Santley co-wrote and starred on Broadway theatre, Broadway in the play, ''Billy the Kid#Stage, Billy the Kid''. In 1907, he acted in film for the first time for Sidney Olcott at the Kalem Company in a silent film, silent Western film short called ''The Pony Express (1907 film), The Pony Express''. Santley continued to work almost exclusively in musical comedy plays, returning to Broadway five more times as well as touring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle". Early life Barnet was born in New York City, the son of Charline (Daly) and Willard Barnet. His parents divorced when he was two, and he was raised by his mother and her grandparents. His grandfather was Charles Frederick Daly, a vice-president for the New York Central Railroad, banker, and businessman. Barnet attended boarding schools, both in the New York and Chicago areas. He learned to play piano and saxophone as a child. He often left school to listen to music and to try to gain work as a musician. Although his family wanted him to become a lawyer, he chose to be a musician instead. Career By sixteen, Barnet had played on tours with Jean Goldkette's satellite band and was in New York, where he joined Frank Winegar's Pennsylvania ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire (1931 song), That's My Desire" in 2005. Often billed as "America's Number One Song Stylist", his other nicknames include "Mr. Rhythm", "Old Leather Lungs", and "Mr. Steel Tonsils". His hits included "That's My Desire", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Mule Train", "Jezebel (Frankie Laine song), Jezebel", "High Noon (song), High Noon", "I Believe (1953 song), I Believe", "Hey Joe (1953 song), Hey Joe!", "The Kid's Last Fight", "Cool Water (song), Cool Water", "Rawhide (song), Rawhide", and "You Gave Me a Mountain". He sang well-known theme songs for many western (genre), Western film soundtracks, including ''3:10 to Yuma (1957 film), 3:10 To Yuma'', ''Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (film), Gunfight at the O.K. Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray McKinley
Ray McKinley (June 18, 1910 – May 7, 1995) was an American jazz drummer, singer, and bandleader. He played drums and later led the Major Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra in Europe. He also led the new Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1956. Career Born in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, McKinley's parents bought him his first drum set at the age of nine. Soon after he began playing with a local band called The Jolly Jazz Band in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. He left home when he was 15 and played with Milt Shaw's Detroiters and the Smith Ballew and Duncan-Marin bands. His first substantial professional engagement came in 1934 with the Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra. It was with the Smith Ballew band in 1929 that McKinley met Glenn Miller. The two formed a friendship that lasted from 1929 until Miller's death in 1944. McKinley and Miller joined the Dorsey Brothers in 1934. Miller left for Ray Noble in December 1934, while McKinley remained. The Dorsey brothers split in 1935, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vernon Dent
Vernon Bruce Dent (February 16, 1895 – November 5, 1963) was an American comic actor, who appeared in over 400 films. He co-starred in many short films for Columbia Pictures, frequently as the foil and the main antagonist and ally to The Three Stooges. Early career In the early 1920s, Dent was a fixture at the Mack Sennett studio, working with comedians Billy Bevan, Andy Clyde, and especially Harry Langdon. Dent alternately played breezy pals and blustery authority figures opposite Langdon's timid character. Sennett voided all contracts when it came time to retool his studio for sound, and Dent moved to Educational Pictures in 1929. Dent's supporting performances were frequently funnier than the sometimes uninspired antics of the nominal stars. When Educational hired Harry Langdon for a series of two-reelers in 1932, Vernon Dent resumed his place as Langdon's co-star. Columbia Pictures Dent joined Columbia Pictures' short-subject department in 1935, and achieved his great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Watkin
Pierre Frank Watkin (December 29, 1887 – February 3, 1960) was an American character actor best known for playing distinguished authority figures throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood. He is best remembered for his roles of Mr. Skinner the bank president in ''The Bank Dick'' (1940); Lou Gehrig's father-in-law Mr. Twitchell in ''Pride of the Yankees'' (1942); and the first actor to portray Perry White in the ''Superman'' serials ''Superman'' (1948) and ''Atom Man vs. Superman'' (1950). Early life Watkin was born on December 29, 1887, in Afton Township, Iowa, the third of four sons born to Charles Henry Watkin and Elizabeth Jeannette (née Scoles) Watkin. When Watkin was a young child, his family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, where his parents ran a boarding house for actors. This environment influenced Watkin to go into acting. When he was a teenager, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he began acting in theater. Career Watkin began his career touring the Mid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Orth
Frank Orth (February 21, 1880 – March 17, 1962) was an American actor born in Philadelphia. He is probably best remembered for his portrayal of Inspector Faraday in the 1951-1953 television series '' Boston Blackie''. Career By 1897, Orth was performing in vaudeville with his wife, Ann Codee, in an act called "Codee and Orth". In 1909, he expanded into song writing, with songs such as "The Phone Bell Rang" and "Meet Me on the Boardwalk, Dearie". His first contact with motion pictures was in 1928, when he was part of the first foreign-language shorts in sound produced by Warner Bros. He and his wife also appeared together in a series of two-reel comedies in the early 1930s. Orth's first major screen credit was in ''Prairie Thunder'', a Dick Foran western, in 1937. From then on, he was often cast as bartenders, pharmacists, and grocery clerks, and always distinctly Irish. He had a recurring role in the Dr. Kildare series of films and also in the Nancy Drew series as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adele Jergens
Adele Jergens (November 26, 1917 – November 22, 2002) was an American actress. Early life and career Born in Brooklyn, New York, as Adele Louisa Jurgens (some sources say Jurgenson), she rose to prominence in the late 1930s when she was named "Miss World's Fairest" at the 1939 New York World's Fair. In the early 1940s, she briefly worked as a Rockette and was named the number-one showgirl in New York City. After a few years of working as a model and chorus girl, including being an understudy to Gypsy Rose Lee in the Broadway show ''Star and Garter'' in 1942, Jergens landed a movie contract with Columbia Pictures in 1944, with brunette Jergens becoming a blonde. At the beginning of her career, she had roles in movies in which she was usually cast as a blonde floozy or burlesque dancer, as in '' Down to Earth'' starring Rita Hayworth (1947) and ''The Dark Past'' starring William Holden (1948). She played Marilyn Monroe's mother in ''Ladies of the Chorus'' (1948) despite being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Jean Heydt
Louis Jean Heydt (April 17, 1903 – January 29, 1960) was an American character actor in film, television and theatre, most frequently seen in hapless, ineffectual, or fall guy roles. Early life Heydt was born in 1903 (not 1905, as many sources have it) in Montclair, New Jersey, the son of German parents George Frederick Heydt, a jeweler and the secretary and executor for Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the former Emma Foerster.''The New York Times'', August 18, 1928 He was educated at Montclair High School, Worcester Academy. and Dartmouth College, graduating from the latter in 1926. He initially wanted to be a journalist and worked as a reporter for ''The New York World''. Career Stage Heydt received his start in the theatre while visiting a classmate backstage while ''The Trial of Mary Dugan'' was in rehearsal. As an actual reporter, he caught the attention of the producers and was offered the role of a reporter in the play. He made his stage debut therein and went on to a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Harvey (actor)
Roy Paul Harvey (September 10, 1882 – December 5, 1955) was a prolific American character actor who appeared in at least 177 films. Biography Primarily a character actor, Harvey began his career on stage and in silent films. He appeared in the Broadway and original film versions of ''The Awful Truth'', then had supporting roles in many Hollywood films, often portraying dignified executives or pompous authority figures. He was a vacationing businessman whose car is commandeered by fugitive killer Humphrey Bogart in the 1936 crime drama ''The Petrified Forest'' and the minister who marries Spencer Tracy's daughter Elizabeth Taylor in the 1950 comedy ''Father of the Bride'' and baptizes her baby in its sequel. In the thriller ''Side Street'', Harvey played a married man forced to pay $30,000 in blackmail money after having an affair. Besides his numerous films, Harvey appeared in 1950s television series such as ''I Love Lucy'', ''December Bride'', ''My Little Margie'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Jarvis
AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal Alchemist'') or Alphonse Elric, a character in the manga/anime * Al Borland, a character in the ''Home Improvement'' universe * Al Bundy, a character in the television series ''Married... with Children'' * Al Calavicci, a character in the television series ''Quantum Leap'' * Al McWhiggin, a supporting villain of ''Toy Story 2'' * Al, or Aldebaran, a character in ''Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World'' media Music * ''A L'', an EP by French singer Amanda Lear * '' American Life'', an album by Madonna Calendar * Anno Lucis, a dating system used in Freemasonry Mythology and religion * Al (folklore), a spirit in Persian and Armenian mythology * Al Basty, a tormenting female night demon in Turkish folklore * ''Liber AL'', th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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