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Murder On The Blackboard
''Murder on the Blackboard'' is a 1934 American pre-Code mystery/comedy film starring Edna May Oliver as schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers and James Gleason as Police Inspector Oscar Piper. Together, they investigate a murder at Withers' school. It was based on the novel of the same name by Stuart Palmer. It features popular actor Bruce Cabot in one of his first post-''King Kong'' roles, as well as Gertrude Michael, Regis Toomey, and Edgar Kennedy. ''Murder on the Blackboard'' was the second of three films teaming Oliver and Gleason as Withers and Piper, following ''The Penguin Pool Murder'' and preceding ''Murder on a Honeymoon''. Director George Archainbaud also directed the first film in the series.Smith, Richard Harland"Murder on the Blackboard" (article)on TCM.com Plot Miss Withers (Oliver) discovers the dead body of her colleague, music teacher Louise Halloran (Barbara Fritchie), in a schoolroom. She summons her old friend, Inspector Oscar Piper (Gleason), but by the time he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Archainbaud
George Archainbaud (May 7, 1890 – February 20, 1959) was a French-American film and television director. Biography In the beginning of his career he worked on stage as an actor and manager. He came to the United States in January 1914, and started his film career as an assistant director to Emile Chautard at the World Film Company in Fort Lee, New Jersey. In 1917 he made his own directorial debut '' As Man Made Her''. During the next three and a half decades he directed over one hundred films. After the beginning of the 1950s he moved to television. While working at RKO Radio Pictures in the beginning of the 1930s, he showed some artistic and skillful eye with many of his films. The finest examples include ''Thirteen Women'' (1932), a story of ethnic discrimination and revenge, with Myrna Loy as a half-caste Hindu; ''The Lost Squadron'' (1932), a memorable thriller about Hollywood stunt flyers, who risk their lives under the direction of monstrous Erich von Stroheim; ''Peng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edgar Kennedy
Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to portray characters whose anger slowly rose in frustrating situations. In many of his roles, he used exasperated facial expressions and performed very deliberately to convey his rising anger or "burn", often rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face in an effort to control his temper. One memorable example of his comedy technique can be seen in the 1933 Marx Brothers' film '' Duck Soup'', where he plays a sidewalk lemonade vendor who is harassed and increasingly provoked by Harpo and Chico. Early years Kennedy was born April 26, 1890, in Monterey County, California, to Canadians Neil Kennedy and Annie Quinn. He attended San Rafael High School before taking up boxing. He was a light-heavyweight and once went 14 rounds with Jac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ZaSu Pitts
Zasu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film ''Greed'', and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the advent of sound films. She also appeared on numerous radio shows. Her career as an entertainer spanned nearly 50 years, and she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Her parents named her "ZaSu" as an amalgamation of the two maiden aunts she had been named for. Early life ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas, to Rulandus and Nelly (''née'' Shay) Pitts; she was the third of four children. Her father, who had lost a leg while serving in the 76th New York Infantry in the Civil War, had settled the family in Kansas by the time ZaSu was born. The names of her father's sisters, Eliza and Susan, were purportedly the basis for the name "ZaSu", i.e., to satisfy competing family interests. It has been (incorrectly) spelle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forty Naughty Girls
''Forty Naughty Girls'' is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Edward F. Cline and written by John Grey. The film stars James Gleason, ZaSu Pitts, Marjorie Lord, George Shelley and Joan Woodbury. It is the sixth and final entry in RKO Pictures' series of Hildegarde Withers films. This film was the sixth film in the Hildegarde Withers-Oscar Piper series, and the second film in which ZaSu Pitts appeared as Hildegarde. Before Pitts, Edna May Oliver and Helen Broderick had played the role. Plot The plot follows Inspector Oscar Piper and Hildegarde Withers as they attend a Broadway show, and get involved in a case where a press agent gets shot and an actor gets murdered live on stage. Cast * James Gleason as Inspector Oscar Piper * ZaSu Pitts as Hildegarde Withers * Marjorie Lord as June Preston * George Shelley as Bert * Joan Woodbury as Rita Marlowe * Frank M. Thomas as Jeff Plummer * Tom Kennedy as Detective Casey * Alan Edwards as Ricky Rickman * Stephen Chase as Tommy Wash ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Plot Thickens (film)
''The Plot Thickens'' is a 1936 mystery film directed by William Sistrom, starring James Gleason and ZaSu Pitts, who plays the schoolteacher and amateur sleuth Hildegarde Withers from Stuart Palmer's stories. Gleason reprised his role as Hildegarde's friendly nemesis, Inspector Oscar Piper, from RKO Radio Pictures' previous Hildegarde Withers films. Plot Hildegarde Withers (ZaSu Pitts) is a novelist who now tries to figure out the connection between two unrelated murders. Inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason), is Hildegarde's friendly nemesis. Cast * James Gleason as Oscar Piper * ZaSu Pitts as Hildegarde Withers * Owen Davis, Jr. as Robert 'Bob' Wilkins * Louise Latimer as Alice Stevens * Arthur Aylesworth as Kendall, the Butler * Paul Fix as Joe, the Chauffeur * Richard Tucker as John Carter * Barbara Barondess as Marie, the Maid * James Donlan as Jim, a Detective * Agnes Anderson as Dagmar, the Sculptor * Oscar Apfel Oscar C. Apfel (January 17, 1878 – March 21, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen Broderick
Helen Broderick (August 11, 1891 – September 25, 1959) was an American actress known for her comic roles, especially as a wisecracking sidekick. Career Broderick began on Broadway as a chorus girl in the ''Follies of 1907'', the first of Florenz Ziegfeld's annual revues. She went on to perform in the vaudeville duo "Broderick & Crawford" (with her husband) until the entertainment form went out of style, moving to a solo career in her first play ''Nifties of 23''. By the late 1920s, she was playing leads and featured roles, most notably in ''Fifty Million Frenchmen''. In the early 1930s, she starred in the revues ''The Band Wagon'' and ''As Thousands Cheer''. Her move to Hollywood came when her stage successes such as ''Fifty Million Frenchmen'' were made into movies, and an image as the quick-quipping friend soon followed in support roles for the Astaire-Rogers movies ''Top Hat'' and ''Swing Time''. She had leading roles in a few B movies, such as amateur sleuth Hildega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder On A Bridle Path
''Murder on a Bridle Path'' is a 1936 mystery film directed by William Hamilton and Edward Killy, starring James Gleason and Helen Broderick. This film was the fourth production in the Hildegarde Withers series, and the only one in which Broderick played Hildegarde Withers. Plot An apparent accident involving a horse in Central Park leads a police inspector to join forces with a brash amateur detective (Hildegarde Withers, played by Helen Broderick) to solve a woman's death. Cast * James Gleason as Police Inspector Oscar Piper * Helen Broderick as Hildegarde Withers * Sheila Terry as Violet Feverel * Louise Latimer as Barbara Foley, Violet's sister * Owen Davis Jr. as Eddie Fryi * John Arledge as Joey Thomas * John Carroll as Latigo Wells * Leslie Fenton as Don Gregg * Christian Rub as Chris Thomas * Willie Best as High Pockets * John Miltern as Pat Gregg * Spencer Charters as Warden Sylvester Mahoney * James Donlan as Detective Kane * Gustav von Seyffertitz as Doctor Bloom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jed Prouty
Jed Prouty (born Clarence Gordon Prouty; April 6, 1879 – May 10, 1956) was an American film actor. Biography Born as Clarence Gordon Prouty in Boston, Massachusetts, Prouty was a vaudeville performer before becoming a film actor. Mostly appearing in comedies, he occasionally performed a serious character role, for instance a small part as an oily publicist in '' A Star is Born'' (1937). After a significant career in silent films, a large part of Prouty's later career was the Jones Family film series. They were 17 low-budget 20th Century Fox family comedies between 1936 and 1940, along with Spring Byington as Mrs. Jones, for such directors as Malcolm St. Clair and Frank R. Strayer. Prouty appeared in all but the final entry. Partial filmography (Films marked with a caret are ''Jones Family'' films) * ''Her Game'' (1919) * ''Sadie Love'' (1919) * ''The Conquest of Canaan'' (1921) * '' The Great Adventure'' (1921) * ''Experience'' (1921) * ''Room and Board (1921) * '' Kick I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustav Von Seyffertitz
Gustav von Seyffertitz (4 August 1862 – 25 December 1943) was a German film actor and director. He settled in the United States. He was born in Haimhausen, Bavaria, and died in Los Angeles, California, aged 81. Biography Gustav von Seyffertitz was born into an aristocratic family as the son of Guido Freiherr von Seyffertitz and his wife Anna Gräfin von Butler Clonebough zu Haimhausen. His family expected him to start a military career, but was shocked when he said that he wanted to be an actor. He was a member of the Meiningen Court Theatre and also appeared in operas. He emigrated to the United States in 1896, after being asked by the Austrian-American theatre director Heinrich Conried. Despite his thick German accent, he was successful on Broadway where he worked as a stage actor and director during the 1900s and 1910s. He appeared as an actor in such lavish productions as ''The Brass Bottle'' in 1910. This play was turned into several films and was the idea for the televisi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jackie Searl
John E. Searl (July 7, 1921 – April 29, 1991) was an American actor. He portrayed bratty kids in several films, and often had only small roles, such as "Robin Figg" in 1934's '' Strictly Dynamite''. Early years His name is sometimes written as Jackie Searle, and by 1960, he was billed as Jack Searl. As a child actor, he began performing on a local Los Angeles radio station at the age of three. Military service Searl served four years in the U.S. Army, primarily as a radio instructor, during World War II. Career His first movie role was in ''Daughters of Desire'' (1929), followed by ''Tom Sawyer'' (1930) with Jackie Coogan and Mitzi Green, and ''Huckleberry Finn'' in 1931. Notable films in which he appeared include ''Skippy'', ''High Gear'', ''Peck's Bad Boy'', ''Great Expectations'', and ''Little Lord Fauntleroy''. In the 1940s, he had some supporting character roles before disappearing for nearly a decade. In the early 1960s, Searl enjoyed a flurry of activity as a sup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anemia
Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, the symptoms are often vague, such as tiredness, weakness, shortness of breath, headaches, and a reduced ability to exercise. When anemia is acute, symptoms may include confusion, feeling like one is going to pass out, loss of consciousness, and increased thirst. Anemia must be significant before a person becomes noticeably pale. Symptoms of anemia depend on how quickly hemoglobin decreases. Additional symptoms may occur depending on the underlying cause. Preoperative anemia can increase the risk of needing a blood transfusion following surgery. Anemia can be temporary or long term and can range from mild to severe. Anemia can be caused by blood loss, decreased red blood cell production, and increased red blood cell breakdown. Causes o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tully Marshall
Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning almost three decades. Early years Marshall was born in Nevada City, California. He attended private schools and Santa Clara College, from which he graduated with an engineering degree. ) Stage Marshall began acting on the stage at 19, appearing in ''Saratoga'' at the Winter Garden in San Francisco on March 8, 1883. He played a wide variety of roles on Broadway from 1887. His Broadway credits include ''The Clever Ones'' (1914). For several years, Marshall played with a variety of stock theater troupes, including both acting and being stage manager for E. H. Sothern's company. Film In 1914, Marshall arrived in Hollywood. His screen debut was in '' Paid in Full'' (1914). By the time D. W. Griffith cast him as the High Priest of Bel in ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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