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Our Betters
''Our Betters'' is a 1933 American pre-Code satirical comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Constance Bennett, Anita Louise and Gilbert Roland. The screenplay by Jane Murfin and Harry Wagstaff Gribble is based on the 1917 play of the same title by Somerset Maugham. Tommy Atkins worked as assistant director, while the sets were designed by the art director Van Nest Polglase. Plot Just after her wedding, American hardware heiress Pearl Saunders overhears her husband, Lord George Grayston, telling his mistress that he only married her for her money. Disillusioned, she grows hard and cynical. Five years later, she has made herself a force among the British upper class with her parties. Among her friends are divorced Duchess Minnie, gossip-loving Thornton Clay, philanthropic Princess Flora, and Arthur Fenwick, her wealthy and adoring lover. Arthur discreetly provides her with a much-needed regular allowance, as her now absent husband has squandered most of her fortune. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head of Production, assigned Cukor to direct several of RKO's major films, including ''What Price Hollywood?'' (1932), '' A Bill of Divorcement'' (1932), ''Our Betters'' (1933), and '' Little Women'' (1933). When Selznick moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933, Cukor followed and directed '' Dinner at Eight'' (1933) and ''David Copperfield'' (1935) for Selznick, and ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1936) and '' Camille'' (1936) for Irving Thalberg. He was replaced as one of the directors of ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), but he went on to direct '' The Philadelphia Story'' (1940), ''Gaslight'' (1944), ''Adam's Rib'' (1949), '' Born Yesterday'' (1950), '' A Star Is Born'' (1954), ''Bhowani Junction'' (1956), and won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Van Nest Polglase
Van Nest Polglase (August 25, 1898 – December 20, 1968) was an American art director. He was nominated for six Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. Best remembered as head of the design department at RKO Pictures, he worked on 333 films between 1925 and 1957. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and died in Los Angeles, California. His death notice noted that he was "survived by his son Dr. Van Nest Polglase and 2 grandchildren", his wife, Helen, having predeceased him six months earlier. Education and early career Polglase studied Beaux-Arts architecture and interior design in New York City where he entered practice with the architectural firm of Berg and Orchard, before moving to Havana in 1917 where he was an associate designer on the Presidential Palace.Donald Albrecht "The Art of RKO. Van Nest Polglase And The Modern Movie Set: A Pioneer Who Changed The Cinematic Landscape" ''Architectural Digest'' June 2009 http://www.architecturaldigest.com/resources/not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gossip Columnist
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities from show business (motion picture movie stars, theater, and television actors), politicians, professional sports stars, and other wealthy people or public figures. Some gossip columnists broadcast segments on radio and television. The columns mix factual material on arrests, divorces, marriages and pregnancies, obtained from official records, with more speculative gossip stories, rumors, and innuendo about romantic relationships, affairs, and purported personal problems. Gossip columnists have a reciprocal relationship with the celebrities whose private lives are splashed about in the gossip column's pages. While gossip columnists sometimes engage in (borderline) defamatory conduct, spreading innuendo about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elsa Maxwell
Elsa Maxwell (May 24, 1883 – November 1, 1963) was an American gossip columnist and author, songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality and professional hostess renowned for her parties for royalty and high society figures of her day. Maxwell is credited with the introduction of the scavenger hunt and treasure hunt for use as party games in the modern era. Her radio program, ''Elsa Maxwell's Party Line'', began in 1942; she also wrote a syndicated gossip column. She appeared as herself in the films ''Stage Door Canteen'' (1943) and ''Rhapsody in Blue'' (1945), as well as co-starring in the film ''Hotel for Women'' (1939), for which she wrote the screenplay and a song. Biography In spite of the persistent rumor that Elsa Maxwell was born at a theater in Keokuk, Iowa, during a performance of the opera ''Mignon'', she actually admitted late in life that the outlandish story was a fabrication that she went along with, since she was actually born at her maternal grandmother's h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
May Beatty
May Beatty (4 June 1880–1 April 1945) was a New Zealand singer and stage and screen actress. She was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 4 June 1880. Biography Beatty began her performing career at age seven, touring with Pollard's Lilliputian Opera Company. Her first performances in England were in 1908. In 1923 she toured Australia with Hugh J. Ward's company, performing in musical comedies. Beatty was married to Edward Lauri and had one daughter, Bonnie Beatty, a screen actress. She died in Hollywood. Partial filmography * '' Vanity Street'' (1932) * '' Horse Play'' (1933) * '' Rainbow Over Broadway'' (1933) * '' Our Betters'' (1933) * '' Love Is Dangerous'' (1933) * '' Mad Love'' (1935) * ''Becky Sharp'' (1935) * ''The Widow from Monte Carlo'' (1935) * '' The Girl Who Came Back'' (1935) * ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (1936) * '' Private Number'' (1936) * ''Lloyd's of London'' (1936) * ''If I Were King ''If I Were King'' is a 1938 American biographical and historic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyrell Davis
Tyrell Davis (1902–1970) was a British film actor, Cambridge educated, who appeared on the West End and Broadway stage, as well as in British and American films. Filmography * '' Lucky in Love'' (1929) * ''Mother's Boy'' (1929) * ''His Glorious Night'' (1929) * ''Strictly Unconventional'' (1930) * '' Love in the Rough'' (1930) * ''Let Us Be Gay'' (1930) * '' Rain or Shine'' (1930) * '' Prince of Diamonds'' (1930) * '' The Dancers'' (1930) * '' Paid'' (1930) * ''The Magnificent Lie'' (1931) * '' Parlor, Bedroom and Bath'' (1931) * ''The Road to Singapore'' (1931) * ''The Phantom of Paris'' (1931) * ''God's Gift to Women'' (1931) * '' Chances'' (1931) * '' Murder at Midnight'' (1931) * ''Temptation's Workshop'' (1932) * ''The Unexpected Father'' (1932) * ''Lady with a Past'' (1932) * '' Lovers Courageous'' (1932) * '' Call Her Savage'' (1932) * ''Love in High Gear'' (1932) * ''Our Betters'' (1933) * ''Blind Adventure'' (1933) * ''Pleasure Cruise'' (1933) * ''Peg o' My Heart'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray (born Alfred Ernest Allen; 18 August 1896 – 25 March 1969) was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood. Early life Mowbray was born in London, England. He served with distinction in the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal and the French Croix de Guerre for bravery in action. He applied for transfer to the Royal Air Force, which was granted just six days before the war ended. This placed him in London on Armistice Day. His service came to an end when the Royal Air Force wanted another seven years from him. Career Mowbray began his stage career in London in 1922, as an actor and stage manager. In 1923 he arrived in the United States and was soon acting with New York stock companies. He debuted on Broadway in ''The Sport of Kings'' (1926); in 1929 he wrote, directed and starred in the unsuccessful ''Dinner Is Served''. Mowbray made his film debut in ''God's Gift to Women'' (1931) playing a butler, a role in which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Sinclair (actor)
Hugh Sinclair (19 May 1903 – 29 December 1962) was a British actor born in London, the son of a clergyman. He was educated at Charterhouse School and was a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His first marriage was to the actress Valerie Taylor. In his book ''The Stage Struck Me!'' fellow actor Neville Phillips felt Sinclair always played variations of himself, handsome, debonair, suave and witty and excelled in light comedy. By contrast Phillips felt his wife, who Sinclair often appeared opposite, was a dramatic actress of tremendous power with a magnificent voice. Sinclair appeared both on Broadway and in the West End. His screen work began in British films. His most notable role possibly is Leslie Charteris's The Saint in ''The Saint's Vacation'' followed by ''The Saint Meets the Tiger''. Sinclair died in 1962 in Slapton, Devon, England at the age of 59. Marriages * 1) Valerie Taylor * 2) Rosalie Williams (two children) Selected filmography * ''Our Better ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minor Watson
Minor Watson (December 22, 1889 – July 28, 1965) was a prominent character actor. He appeared in 111 movies made between 1913 and 1956. His credits included '' Boys Town'' (1938), ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942), ''Kings Row'' (1942), '' Guadalcanal Diary'' (1943), ''Bewitched'' (1945), '' The Virginian'' (1946), and ''The Jackie Robinson Story'' (1950) Early years Watson was the son of Mrs. Alice Rodgers. He attended St. John's Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin, and Shurtleff College in Alton, Illinois. He said that, as a member of Sigma Phi at Shurtleff, he was encouraged to pursue a career in drama. Film Watson began his film career with Essanay Studios in 1913. He was described as "the new recruit that plays lover parts." Stage Watson's Broadway credits include ''State of the Union'', ''End of Summer'', ''Tapestry in Gray'', ''A Divine Drudge'', ''Reunion in Vienna'', ''Friendship'', ''This Thing Called Love'', ''These Modern Women'', ''Howdy King'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grant Mitchell (actor)
John Grant Mitchell Jr. (June 17, 1874 – May 1, 1957) was an American actor. He appeared on Broadway from 1902 to 1939 and appeared in more than 125 films between 1930 and 1948. Early years Mitchell was born John Grant Mitchell Jr. on June 17, 1874, in Columbus, Ohio, the only son of American Civil War general John G. Mitchell. His paternal grandmother, Fanny Arabella Hayes, was the sister of President Rutherford B. Hayes. He attended Yale University, where he served as feature editor of campus humor magazine ''The Yale Record''. Like his father, he became an attorney, graduating from the Harvard Law School. However, by his mid-to-late 20s, he tired of his legal practice and turned a long term dream into a reality by becoming an actor on Broadway. He played lead roles in plays such as ''It Pays to Advertise'', ''The Whole Town's Talking'', ''The Champion'', and ''The Baby Cyclone''. Mitchell was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter). Stage Mitc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Starrett
Charles Robert Starrett (March 28, 1903 – March 22, 1986) was an American actor, best known for his starring role in the ''Durango Kid'' westerns. Starrett still holds the record for starring in the longest series of theatrical features: 131 westerns, all produced by Columbia Pictures. Early years Starrett was born in Athol, Massachusetts, where his grandfather had built a prosperous tool works. He attended Worcester Academy, then graduated from Dartmouth College. Career A graduate of Worcester Academy in 1922, Starrett went on to study at Dartmouth College. While on the Dartmouth football team he was hired to play a football extra in the film ''The Quarterback'' (1926). Bitten by the acting bug, Starrett played minor roles in films and leading roles in stage plays. In 1928, he was a member of the Walker Company, a repertory theatre troupe headed by Stuart Walker. He played the romantic lead in his first movie, '' Fast and Loose'' (1930), which starred Frank Morgan, M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Violet Kemble-Cooper
Violet Kemble-Cooper (12 December 1886 – 17 August 1961) was an English-American stage and film actress who appeared on stage and in Hollywood film. Early life Born in London, she was a descendant from a well-known theatrical family, the Kemble family. Her father was actor Frank Kemble-Cooper. Her sisters Lillian Kemble-Cooper and Greta Kemble Cooper, and her brother Anthony Kemble Cooper were actors as well. Her uncle was thespian H. Cooper Cliffe. Career She made her first stage appearance in 1905 in her native England in a production of ''Charley's Aunt''. By 1912 she was in America, touring and in stock plays with actors including Blanche Bates and Laurette Taylor. She appeared with John and Ethel Barrymore in '' Claire de Lune'' on Broadway in 1921. Film As Violet spent her formative years acting in the theater she never appeared in the genre silent films. She appeared in talkies beginning with the Constance Bennett film ''Our Betters'' (1933). She appeared in several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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