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Meglin Kiddies
Meglin Kiddies was an American troupe of acting, music and dance performers, consisting of children up to the age of 16. (AKA: The Meglin Professional Children's School, The Meglin Dance Studio, Meglin's Dance School and Meglin's Wondrous Hollywood Kiddies). Background The troupe was started by Ethel Meglin in 1928. Meglin was a Ziegfeld girl in feature films. Director/actor and Slapstick Keystone King Mack Sennett was supportive of the formation of the troupe's studio. Sennett donated a Meglin Kiddie studio building sign and assisted in securing an operations location on his lot. The Johnny Grant Building at 7018-7024 Hollywood Blvd once housed the Meglin Dance Studio on its second floor. One of the most successful child stars of all time, Shirley Temple, was once a Meglin Kiddie dancer. Producers from Educational Studios recruited her from the Meglin Kiddie studio. "Charles Lamont, a director from Educational Studios visited the “Meglin Kiddies” and chose Shirley, hiding unde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ziegfeld Girl
Ziegfeld Girls were the chorus girls and showgirls from Florenz Ziegfeld's theatrical Broadway revue spectaculars known as the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), in New York City, which were based on the Folies Bergère of Paris. Description These showgirls followed on the heels of the Florodora girls, who had started to "loosen the corset" of the Gibson Girl in the early years of the 20th century. These beauties, decked out in Erté designs, gained many young male admirers and became objects of popular adoration. All of the showgirls looked very similar, both in appearance and in stature. They danced in complete synchronization, and were the only act that was uniform in the Ziegfeld Follies. Many were persuaded to leave the show to marry, some to men of substantial wealth. The Ziegfeld Ball in New York City continued as a social event of the season for years after the last production of the Follies. In 1897, Ziegfeld married Anna Held, one of his Ziegfeld girls, by common ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scotty Beckett
Scott Hastings Beckett (October 4, 1929 – May 10, 1968) was an American actor. He began his career as a child actor in the ''Our Gang'' shorts and later costarred on ''Rocky Jones, Space Ranger''. Early life and career Born in Oakland, California, Beckett got his start in show business at age three when the family moved to Los Angeles and a casting director heard him singing by chance. He was at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital visiting his father, who was recovering from an illness, and was entertaining him by singing songs in Pig Latin. Nurses heard him singing and carried him from room to room on every visit to sing for other patients. A studio casting director noticed the child and told his parents he had movie potential. He auditioned, and landed a part in ''Gallant Lady'' (1933), alongside Dickie Moore. The same year, his father died. In 1934, he joined ''Our Gang'', in which Moore had appeared from 1932 to 1933. ''Our Gang'' Beckett appeared as a regular in the ''Our Gang'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Miller
Ann Miller (born Johnnie Lucille Collier; April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004) was an American retired actress and former dancer. She is best remembered for her work in the Classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Her early work included roles in Frank Capra's '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938) and the Marx Bros. film ''Room Service'' (1938). She later starred in the movie musical classics Charles Walters' '' Easter Parade'' (1948), Stanley Donen's '' On the Town'' (1949) and George Sidney's ''Kiss Me Kate'' (1953). Her final film role was in David Lynch's ''Mulholland Drive'' (2001). In 1960, Miller received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2017, ''The Daily Telegraph'' named her one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Early life Johnnie Lucille Collier (other sources give other birthnames, such as Lucille Collier and Lucy Ann Collier) was born in Chireno, Texas, to Clara Emma (née Birdwell) and John Alfred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary McCarty (actress)
Mary McCarty (September 27, 1923 – April 3, 1980) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and comedian, perhaps best known for her role as nurse Clara "Starch" Willoughby on the television series ''Trapper John, M.D.'' Early years McCarty was born in Winfield, Kansas in September 1923, but grew up in Los Angeles after her parents divorced and she and her mother went to live with her great-grandmother. Career McCarty's versatility as a performer was highlighted in a review in the September 11, 1948, issue of the trade publication ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard''. Reviewer Bill Riley described McCarty as "a versatile, pretty young Ethel Merman-to-be, who can sing a novelty or a torch song, dance a turn ... or act a sketch with the best of them." McCarty began appearing in musical revues in Los Angeles when she was 5 years old. As a youngster, she performed with other child actresses, including Shirley Temple and Jane Withers. Her first screen credit came in ''Rebecca of Sunn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Marco
Paul Marco (June 10, 1927 – May 14, 2006) was an American actor who often appeared in movies made by Ed Wood, including the "Kelton Trilogy" of ''Bride of the Monster'', ''Night of the Ghouls'' and ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'', in which he played a bumbling, fearful policeman named Kelton. Career Born in Los Angeles, Marco started taking lessons in drama, singing and dancing at an early age. After graduating from Hollywood High School, he served in the United States Navy, Navy during World War II. His first known movie role was a small part in the 1944 in film, 1944 film ''Sweet and Low-Down'' with Benny Goodman, Jo Stafford, and The Pied Pipers. In the early 1950s, The Amazing Criswell predicted on national television that Paul Marco would go far in the motion picture business. Criswell introduced Marco to Ed Wood shortly thereafter. In turn, Marco introduced Ed Wood to Bunny Breckinridge, a flamboyantly gay Shakespearean actor who lived with Marco for a time and co-starred in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cherylene Lee
Cherylene Alice Lee (June 13, 1953 – March 18, 2016) was an American actress and writer. Life Lee was born and raised in Los Angeles, and was a fourth-generation Chinese-American. She had two sisters, Priscilla "Puggy" and Virginia. She began a career as a child actress and dancer at age three, and performed in a song and dance team with her sister Virginia in Las Vegas for three summers. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Paleontology and from UCLA with an MS in Geology. She subsequently managed an alternative wastewater treatment plant as a Disney Imagineer. In 1977, she returned to the stage, performing in ''A Chorus Line''.In 1983, she began writing plays, poetry, and fiction. Her plays include ''The Legacy Codes'' about the Wen Ho Lee Wen Ho Lee or Li Wenho (; born December 21, 1939) is a Taiwanese-American scientist who worked for the University of California at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He created simulations of nuclear explosions fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Lee (actor)
Billy Lee (William Lee Schlensker) (March 12, 1929 – November 17, 1989) was a child actor who appeared in many films from the mid-1930s through the early 1940s. He is probably best remembered for his performance in '' The Biscuit Eater''. Lee's first role was in the ''Our Gang'' comedy short ''Mike Fright'' as a tap dancer in a sailor suit. He was signed under contract with Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 and his first significant role was in ''Wagon Wheels'' when he was just four years old. Lee continued acting throughout the 1930s, appearing in a number of movies (among others: ''Too Many Parents'', ''Easy to Take'', ''Three Cheers for Love'', '' Silk Hat Kid'', ''The Big Broadcast of 1937'', ''Sons of the Legion'', ''Say It in French'', ''Boy Trouble'', '' Night Work'', ''Sudden Money'', ''Nobody's Children'', ''Hold Back the Dawn'', '' Nevada City'', '' Road to Happiness'') and working alongside some of Hollywood's finest, including, Donald O'Connor, Lon Chaney Jr., ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
June Lang
June Lang (born Winifred June Vlasek, May 5, 1917 – May 16, 2005) was an American film actress. Early life Born Winifred June Vlasek in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she was the daughter of Edith and Clarence Vlasek, After the family moved to Los Angeles, Lang trained at a school of dance and performed in revues in theaters in Los Angeles. She graduated from Beverly Hills High School. Career At age 16, Lang was a dancer at a vaudeville theater in Los Angeles when she left that job to seek work at the Fox Film studio. The company had her teeth straightened and changed her name from Vlasek to Lang. Lang made her film debut in 1931, with much of her early work coming in minor roles in musical and dramatic films. She gradually securing second lead roles in mostly B movies for 20th Century Fox. She played her debut feature film role in ''Young Sinners''. Noted for her fragile and demure appearance, she was usually cast as the little sister or the heroine's best friend in light comedi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dwayne Hickman
Dwayne Bernard Hickman (May 18, 1934 – January 9, 2022) was an American actor and television executive, producer and director, who worked as an executive at CBS and had also briefly recorded as a vocalist. Hickman portrayed Chuck MacDonald, Bob Collins' girl-crazy teenaged nephew, in the 1950s ''The Bob Cummings Show'' and the title character in the 1960s sitcom ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis''. He was the younger brother of actor Darryl Hickman, with whom he appeared on screen. After retirement, he devoted his time to painting personalized paintings. Early life Born in Los Angeles, on May 18, 1934, Hickman was the younger brother of child actor Darryl Hickman and the older brother of Deidre Hickman. His father, Milton, sold insurance and his mother, Katherine Louise (née Ostertag), was a housewife. His maternal grandfather, Louis Henry Ostertag, was a US Navy seaman on Commodore George Dewey's flagship, the cruiser USS ''Olympia'' (C-6), and present at the Battle of Manila ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darryl Hickman
Darryl Gerard Hickman (born July 28, 1931) is an American former actor, screenwriter, television executive, and acting coach. He started his career as a child actor in the Golden Age of Hollywood and appeared in numerous TV serials as an adult. He appeared in films such as ''The Grapes of Wrath'' (1940) and ''Leave Her to Heaven'' (1945). He is the older brother of Dwayne Hickman, an actor, television executive, producer and director, and Deidre Hickman. Child actor in the 1930s and 1940s Hickman was born in Hollywood, California, to Milton and Katherine Hickman (née Ostertag). His father sold insurance and his mother was a housewife. His maternal grandfather, Louis Henry Ostertag, was a US Navy seaman on Commodore George Dewey's flagship, the cruiser USS ''Olympia'' (C-6), and present at the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, for which he was awarded the Dewey Medal by Act of Congress. Per the 1940 Census, Darryl and his family were living with his grandparents at 950 Ken ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virginia Grey
Virginia Grey (March 22, 1917 – July 31, 2004) was an American actress who appeared in over 100 films and a number of radio and television shows from the 1930s to the early 1980s. Biography Grey was born on March 22, 1917, in Edendale, California, the youngest of three daughters of Florence Anna Grey (née Pauly; 1890—1930) and director Ray Grey. One of her early babysitters was movie star Gloria Swanson. Grey debuted at the age of 10 in the silent film ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1927) as Little Eva. She continued acting for a few more years, but then left movies for three years to finish her education. Grey gave up on training to be a nurse and returned to films in the 1930s with bit parts and work as an extra. She eventually signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and appeared in several films, including ''The Hardys Ride High'' (1939) with Mickey Rooney, '' Another Thin Man'' (1939) with William Powell, ''Hullabaloo'' (1940), and '' The Big Store'' (1941) with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farley Granger
Farley Earle Granger Jr. (July 1, 1925 – March 27, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his two collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock: ''Rope'' in 1948 and '' Strangers on a Train'' in 1951. Granger was first noticed in a small stage production in Hollywood by a Goldwyn casting director, and given a significant role in '' The North Star'' (1943), a controversial film praising the Soviet Union at the height of World War II, but later condemned for its political bias. Another war film, ''The Purple Heart'' (1944), followed, before Granger's naval service in Honolulu, in a unit that arranged troop entertainment in the Pacific. Here he made useful contacts, including Bob Hope, Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. It was also where he began exploring his bisexuality, which he said he never felt any need to conceal. His role in Hitchcock's ''Rope'', a fictionalized account of the Leopold and Loeb murder case of 1924, earned him much critical praise though the film got mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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