Minstrel Man (film)
''Minstrel Man'' is a 1944 American musical drama film directed by Joseph H. Lewis and produced by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). It was a vehicle for Broadway and vaudeville headliner Benny Fields. Plot Singing star Dixie Boy Johnson and his wife Caroline are jubilant over Dixie's headlining a Broadway show and Caroline's impending motherhood. On opening night, Caroline is rushed to the hospital and Dixie begs to leave the theater and join her, but producer Lew Dunn refuses. Caroline dies in childbirth and Dixie is shattered. He leaves the baby in the care of his friends, Lasses and Mae, and drops out of sight. Presumed dead, Dixie stays undercover and takes an assumed name, as a shipboard entertainer. Years later, Dunn grooms Dixie's daughter Caroline for stardom in a revival of Dixie's Broadway show. Dixie's former agent Bill Evans sees an opportunity to sue Dunn for damages, and arranges for Dixie to confront his daughter and his old friends. Cast *Benny Fields as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joseph H
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic countries. In Portuguese and Spanish, the name is "José". In Arabic, including in the Quran, the name is spelled '' Yūsuf''. In Persian, the name is "Yousef". The name has enjoyed significant popularity in its many forms in numerous countries, and ''Joseph'' was one of the two names, along with ''Robert'', to have remained in the top 10 boys' names list in the US from 1925 to 1972. It is especially common in contemporary Israel, as either "Yossi" or "Yossef", and in Italy, where the name "Giuseppe" was the most common male name in the 20th century. In the first century CE, Joseph was the second most popular male name for Palestine Jews. In the Book of Genesis Joseph is Jacob's eleventh son and Rachel's first son, and k ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Broadway Theatre
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 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 (namely the Broadwa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based in Los Angeles, to cover the motion-picture industry. ''Variety.com'' features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, cover stories, videos, photo galleries and features, plus a credits database, production charts and calendar, with archive content dating back to 1905. History Foundation ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. As a result, he decided to start his own publication "that ouldnot be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul Francis Webster
Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984) was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated sixteen times for the award. Life and career Webster was born in New York City, United States, the son of Myron Lawrence Webster and Blanche Pauline Stonehill Webster. His family was Jewish. His father was born in Augustów, Poland. He attended the Horace Mann School ( Riverdale, Bronx, New York), graduating in 1926, and then went to Cornell University from 1927 to 1928 and New York University from 1928 to 1930, leaving without receiving a degree. He worked on ships throughout Asia and then became a dance instructor at an Arthur Murray studio in New York City. By 1931, however, he turned his career direction to writing song lyrics. His first professional lyric was "Masquerade" (music by John Jacob Loeb) which became a hit in 1932, performed by Paul Whiteman. In 1935, Twentieth Century Fox signed him to a contract to write lyr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lee "Lasses" White
Leroy Robert White (August 28, 1888 – December 16, 1949), better known as Lee "Lasses" White or Leroy (sometimes Le Roy or Lee Roy) "Lasses" White, was an American vaudeville pianist, songwriter and entertainer who became an actor of the stage, screen and radio. He became famous doing minstrel shows during the early part of the 1900s, and wrote one of the first copyrighted twelve-bar blues, " Nigger Blues". After spending some time on radio, White entered the film industry in the late 1930s. During his eleven-year career he appeared in over 70 films. Life and career Leroy Robert White was born on August 28, 1888, in Wills Point, Texas.Bill Edwards, "Leroy Robert (Lee Roy) "Lasses" White", ''RagPiano.com'' Retrieved 9 February 2019 He gained the nickname "Lasses" as a child because ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 and based in Beverly Hills, California. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Productions, Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious film studio, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of ''Ben-Hur (1959 film), Ben Hur''. After that, it divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain, and, in the 1960s, diversified ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Binnie Barnes
Gertrude Maud Barnes (25 March 1903 – 27 July 1998), known professionally as Binnie Barnes, was an English actress whose career in films spanned from 1923 to 1973. Early life Barnes was born in Islington, London, the daughter of Rosa Enoyce and George Barnes, a policeman; 16 children were in her family. Before moving to Hollywood to become an actress, Barnes worked a series of jobs, such as chorus girl, nurse, and dance hostess. Career Barnes began her acting career in films in 1923, appearing in a short film made by Lee De Forest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Her film career continued in Great Britain, most notably in ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933) as Katherine Howard, Henry's fifth wife. Barnes' main qualm in accepting roles as an actress was that she not play submissive roles. Barnes once remarked, "One picture is just like another to me, as long as I don't have to be a sweet woman". Later, her career continued in Hollywood, until 1973, when s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Conscription In The United States
In the United States, military conscription, commonly known as the draft, has been employed by the U.S. federal government in six conflicts: the American Revolutionary War, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The fourth incarnation of the draft came into being in 1940, through the Selective Training and Service Act. It was the country's first peacetime draft. From 1940 until 1973, during both peacetime and periods of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in the U.S. Armed Forces that could not be filled through voluntary means. Active conscription in the United States ended in 1973, when the U.S. Armed Forces moved to an all-volunteer military. However, conscription remains in place on a contingency basis and all male U.S. citizens, regardless of where they live, and male immigrants, whether documented or undocumented, residing within the United States, who are 18 through 25 are required to register with the Selecti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Raitt
John Emmet Raitt (; January 29, 1917 – February 20, 2005) was an American actor and singer best known for his performances in musical theatre. Early years Raitt was born in Santa Ana, California, United States. He got his start in theatre as a high school student at Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton, California. While there, he played in several drama productions in Plummer Auditorium. Raitt sang in the chorus of ''The Desert Song''. (A few years before he died, Raitt again came back to the Plummer to see a rehearsal, visit students and recollect his beginnings.) He is on the school's "Wall of Fame" for his accomplishments. In 1935, Raitt won the "football throw" at the California State High School Track and Field Championship; his mark of 220 feet remains the state record in that short-lived event. He was named "Athlete of the Meet" after that accomplishment. He graduated from the University of Redlands in 1939. After graduating, he was initially inclined toward a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Molly Lamont
Molly Lamont (22 May 1910 – 7 July 2001) was a South African-British film actress. Life and career Lamont was born in Boksburg, Transvaal, South Africa. After winning a beauty contest in South Africa she was offered a contract by British International Pictures. She began her career in British films in 1930 and for several years played small, often uncredited roles. Her roles began to improve by the mid-1930s, whilst resident in London, but she later moved to Hollywood where she played roles such as Cary Grant's fiancée in ''The Awful Truth'' (1937). Her other appearances include such popular films as ''The White Cliffs of Dover'' and ''Mr. Skeffington'' (both 1944). Lamont retired from acting in 1951 with more than fifty films to her credit. She married an airline pilot, Edward Bellande, on April 1, 1937. They remained married until his death in 1976. She died on 7 July 2001 in Brentwood, Los Angeles, aged 91. Filmography *'' The Black Hand Gang'' (1930) (uncredited) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Judy Clark
Judy Clark (June 9, 1921 – December 27, 2002) was an American film and television actress and singer. Clark adopted a brash and energetic singing style, similar to that of musical-comedy star Betty Hutton (with trade critics almost always comparing the blonde Clark to the blonde Hutton). Early life Clark was the daughter of Jack Kaufman, who was a vaudeville performer. She and comedian Jack Gilford were among the new faces in the stage show ''Meet the People''; Universal Pictures signed both for the Gloria Jean musical ''Reckless Age'' (1944). Clark won the juvenile lead in the 1944 Benny Fields musical '' Minstrel Man'', in which she delivered two songs in the Hutton manner. The role reflected Clark's own life, as a rising star in a theatrical family. She continued to work in pictures through the mid-1940s, including the Joan Davis musical comedy '' Beautiful but Broke'' (1944), the Cinderella-styled comedy '' The Kid Sister'' (1945), the Freddie Stewart musical ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jerome Cowan
Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early years Cowan was born in New York City, the son of William Cowan, a confectioner of Scottish descent, and Julia Cowan, née Palmer. Stage At 18, Cowan joined a travelling stock company, shortly afterwards enlisting in the United States Navy during World War I. After the war he returned to the stage and became a vaudeville headliner, then gained success on the New York stage. His Broadway debut was in ''We've Got to Have Money'' (1923). His other Broadway credits include ''Frankie and Johnnie'' (1930), ''Just to Remind You'' (1931), ''Rendezvous'' (1932), ''The Little Black Book'' (1932), ''Marathon'' (1933), ''Both Your Houses'' (1933), ''As Thousands Cheer'' (1933), ''Ladies' Money'' (1934), ''Paths of Glory'' (1935), ''Boy Meets Girl'' (1935), '' My Three Angels'' (1953), ''Lunatics and Lovers'' (1954), '' Rumple'' (1957), and ''Say, Darling'' (1958). Film H ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |