|
Meet Me In Las Vegas
''Meet Me in Las Vegas'' (1956) is an MGM musical comedy produced by Joe Pasternak, directed by Roy Rowland (film director), Roy Rowland, filmed in Eastman Color and CinemaScope, and starring Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse. The screenplay is by Isobel Lennart, cinematography by Robert Bronner, music direction by Georgie Stoll, George Stoll, and choreography by Hermes Pan (choreographer), Hermes Pan and Eugene Loring. It was largely shot on location shooting in Las Vegas and several popular celebrities are featured as themselves. Plot Set in and around the Sands Hotel, the film tells "what happens when a gambling rancher discovers that all he has to do to win at roulette is take hold of ballerina Charisse's hand". The film was tailored for the talents of Charisse, showcasing her modern ballet dancing.Clive Hischhorn, ''The Hollywood Musical'' Cast * Dan Dailey as Chuck Rodwell * Cyd Charisse as Maria Corvier * Agnes Moorehead as Miss Hattie * Lili Darvas as Sari Hatvany * Jim Backus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Rowland (film Director)
Roy Rowland (December 31, 1910 – June 29, 1995) was an American film director. The New York-born director helmed a number of films in the 1950s and 1960s including ''Our Vines Have Tender Grapes'', ''Meet Me in Las Vegas'', ''Rogue Cop'', ''The 5000 Fingers of Doctor T'', and ''The Girl Hunters (film), The Girl Hunters''. Rowland married Ruth Cummings, the niece of Louis B. Mayer and sister of Jack Cummings (director), Jack Cummings (MGM producer/director). They had one son, Steve Rowland (record producer), Steve Rowland, born in 1932, who later became a music producer in the UK. Biography Early life Roy Rowland was born in Brooklyn, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. The family moved to Edendale, Los Angeles, Edendale, California, when Roy was ten. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a law degree before beginning his career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) as a script clerk. He then began working as a prop man, grip, and assistant cameraman. In 1927 he m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballerina
A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancers are at a high risk of injury due to the demanding technique of ballet. Training and technique Ballet dancers typically begin training at an early age if they desire to perform professionally and often take part in international competitions such as YAGP and Prix de Lausanne. At these events, scholarships are being granted to the most talented dancers, enabling them to continue their training at renowned ballet schools around the world, such as the John Kranko Schule in Germany and the Académie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monaco. Pre-professional ballet dancers can audition to enroll at a vocational ballet school such a ... [...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] |
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood. Horne advocated for human rights and took part in the March on Washington in August 1963. Later she returned to her roots as a nightclub performer and continued to work on television while releasing well-received record albums. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, '' Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music'', which ran for more than 300 performances on Broadway. She then toured the country in the show, earning numerous awards and accolades. Horne continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, retreating from the public eye in 2000. Early life Lena Horne was born in Bedford–S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Henreid
Paul Henreid (November 10, 1908 – March 29, 1992) was an Austrian-British-American actor, director, producer, and writer. He is best remembered for two film roles; Victor Laszlo in ''Casablanca'' and Jerry Durrance in ''Now, Voyager'', both released between 1942 and 1943. Early life Born Paul Georg Julius Hernried in the city of Trieste, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Henreid was the son of Maria-Luise (Lendecke) and Karl Alphons Hernried, an ennobled Viennese banker, born as Carl Hirsch, who had converted in 1904 from Judaism to Catholicism, due to anti-semitism. Henreid's father died in April 1916, and the family fortune had dwindled by the time he graduated from the exclusive Theresianische Akademie. Stage and film careers Henreid trained for the theatre in Vienna, over his family's objections, and debuted there on the stage under the direction of Max Reinhardt. He began his film career acting in German and Austrian films in the 1930s. During that period, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Colonna (entertainer)
Gerardo Luigi Colonna (September 17, 1904 – November 21, 1986), better known as Jerry Colonna, was an American musician, actor, comedian, singer, songwriter and trombonist who played the zaniest of Bob Hope's sidekicks in Hope's popular radio shows and films of the 1940s and 1950s. He also voiced the March Hare in Disney's 1951 animated film '' Alice in Wonderland.'' With his pop-eyed facial expressions and large handlebar moustache, Colonna was known for singing loudly in what Gerald Nachman called a "comic caterwaul", and for his catchphrase, " Who's Yehudi?", uttered after many an old joke, though it usually had nothing to do with the joke itself. The line was believed to be named for violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, and "the search for Yehudi" became a running gag on Hope's show. Colonna played a range of nitwitted characters, the best-remembered of which was a moronic professor, of which Nachman wrote: :Colonna brought a whacked-out touch to Hope's show. In a typica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Brascia
John F. Brascia (May 11, 1932 – February 19, 2013) was an American actor and dancer, best known for his dancing partnerships on film with Vera-Ellen in '' White Christmas'' (1954) and with Cyd Charisse and Liliane Montevecchi in ''Meet Me in Las Vegas'' (1956). Early life John Frank Brascia was born on May 11, 1932 in California, to Italian immigrants Gaetano Brascia and Caterina Napolitano. The Brascia clan including his Uncle Mike and Aunt Concetta Brascia moved from Brooklyn, New York, before John Frank was born. He had two siblings, Cecilia and Vincent. Brascia was a high-school basketball player beginning in his sophomore year at Colton High School as co-captain. At 5’11" he took the position of guard in his junior year; he was a starter for the Colton Yellowjackets. He played for Colton on the football squad as the starting quarterback in his junior and senior years. Career Film Brascia was a featured dancer with Vera-Ellen in '' White Christmas'' (1954) and with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pete Rugolo
Pietro "Pete" Rugolo (December 25, 1915 – October 16, 2011) was an American jazz composer, arranger and record producer. Life and career Rugolo was born in San Piero Patti, Sicily. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920 and settled in Santa Rosa, California. He began his career in music playing the baritone horn, like his father, but he quickly branched out into other instruments, notably the French horn and the piano. He received a bachelor's degree from San Francisco State College and then went on to study composition with Darius Milhaud at Mills College in Oakland, California and earn his master's degree. After he graduated, he was hired as an arranger and composer by guitarist and bandleader Johnny Richards. He spent World War II playing with altoist Paul Desmond in an Army band. After the war, Rugolo worked for Stan Kenton. He and songwriter Joe Greene collaborated on songs that made Kenton's band one of America's most popular. While Rugolo continued to work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Slate
Henry Sonken (July 15, 1910 – August 11, 1996) was an American film, television and theatre actor. He was known for his appearances in the films ''Miss Sadie Thompson'', ''Loan Shark'', '' Hey Boy! Hey Girl!'', ''Somebody Loves Me'' and ''Rock Around the Clock'', and for playing the role of Bulldog Lovey in the American television series '' Adventures in Paradise''. Slate died in August 1996 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 86. He was cremated. Partial filmography *''College Swing'' (1938) - Hangout Waiter (credited as "The Slate Brothers") *''Winged Victory'' (1944) - Andrews Sister *''You're in the Navy Now'' (1951) - Chief Engineer Ryan *''Fourteen Hours'' (1951) - Cab Driver (uncredited) *''The Frogmen'' (1951) - Sleepy *'' Rhubarb'' (1951) - Dud Logan *'' The Belle of New York'' (1952) - Police Sgt. Clancy (uncredited) *'' Just This Once'' (1952) - Jeff Parma *''Loan Shark'' (1952) - Paul Nelson *''Down Among the Sheltering Palms'' (1952) - Pvt. Thompson (uncre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Lynn
Elizabeth Ann Theresa Lynn (August 29, 1926 – October 16, 2021) was an American actress. She played Thelma Lou, Deputy Barney Fife's girlfriend, on ''The Andy Griffith Show''. During the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in many films, including '' Sitting Pretty'' (1948), ''June Bride'' (1948), the original ''Cheaper by the Dozen'' (1950), and ''Meet Me in Las Vegas'' (1956). She also played a major role in an episode of the television series ''Little House on the Prairie''. Early life Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1926, Betty Lynn was the only child of Elizabeth Ann (née Lynn) and George A. Dailey. Her father was a civil engineer, who worked initially as a municipal employee for Kansas City and later as a private contractor. Her mother, described as "an accomplished mezzo-soprano", taught Betty in her early childhood to sing and enrolled her in the Kansas City Conservatory of Music when she was only five years old. Prior to that, according to federal census records, her par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Chakiris
George Chakiris (born September 16, 1932) is an American actor. He is best known for his appearance in the 1961 film version of ''West Side Story'' as Bernardo Nunez, the leader of the Sharks gang, for which he won both the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. Life and career Early life Chakiris was born on September 16, 1932 in Norwood, Ohio to Stelianos (Steve) and Zoe (''née'' Anastasiadou) Chakiris, Greek immigrants from Turkey. He is one of eight siblings.Hamilton County Recorder’s Office, Cincinnati, Ohio.Chakiris, George. My West Side Story. Lyons Press, 2021. Page 3. His family moved to Long Beach, California in 1944. He attended Jefferson Junior High school and graduated in 1950 from Woodrow Wilson Classical High School, both in Long Beach.Greeks Have a Word for It---Chakiris, ''Los Angeles Times'', December 10, 1961: Q4.Chakiris, George. My West Side Story. Lyons Press, 2021. Page 10. Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cara Williams
Cara Williams (born Bernice Kamiat; June 29, 1925 – December 9, 2021) was an American film and television actress. She was best known for her role as Billy's Mother in ''The Defiant Ones'' (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and for her role as Gladys Porter on the 1960–62 CBS television series ''Pete and Gladys'', for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy. At the time of her death, Williams was one of the last surviving actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Personal life Williams was born Bernice Kamiat to a Romanian Jewish mother and an Austrian Jewish father.She began making impersonations of all the screen stars she watched in the movies there, and knew she wanted to be an actress. Her parents divorced, and her mother relocated her to Los Angeles, where she chose Cara Williams as her stage name and attended the Hollywood Professional School. Soon she began performing in radio, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
