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Second Chorus
''Second Chorus'' is a 1940 Hollywood musical comedy film starring Paulette Goddard and Fred Astaire and featuring Artie Shaw, Burgess Meredith and Charles Butterworth, with music by Artie Shaw, Bernie Hanighen and Hal Borne, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by H. C. Potter and produced independently for Paramount Pictures by Boris Morros, with associate producers Robert Stillman and (uncredited) Fred Astaire. The film's copyright expired in 1968 and it is now in the public domain. Plot Danny O'Neill (Fred Astaire) and Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith) are friends and rival trumpeters with "O'Neill's Perennials", a college band. Both have managed to prolong their college careers by failing seven years in a row. At a performance, Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) catches both Danny's and Hank's eyes. However, she serves them a summons notice for her boss, a debt collector, but the fast-talking O'Neill and Taylor soon have her working as their manager, where her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boris Morros
Boris Morros (; January 1, 1891 - January 8, 1963) was an American Communist Party member, Soviet agent, and FBI double agent. He also worked at Paramount Pictures, where he produced films as well as supervising their music department. Life and career Morros was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He emigrated with his family in late in 1922, sailing from the Port of Constantinople to the Port of New York on the S/S ''Constantinople''. In 1934, he was enlisted as a Soviet spy, following which time Vasily Zarubin became his first contact in 1936. The mysterious "Mr Guver" letter, sent to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1943 from an anonymous source, who is now widely believed to be KGB Officer Vasily Mironov, named Morros as an agent working with Soviet intelligence and identified Elizabeth Zarubina as Morros' contact. In December 1943, Zarubina drove with Morros to Connecticut, where they met with Alfred Stern and his wife Martha Dodd Stern. Soviet intelligence wanted to use an inv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Butterworth (actor)
Charles Edward Butterworth (July 26, 1896 – June 14, 1946) was an American actor specializing in comedic roles, often in musicals. Butterworth's distinctive voice was the inspiration for the Cap'n Crunch commercials from the Jay Ward studio: voice actor Daws Butler based Cap'n Crunch on the voice of Butterworth. Early life Butterworth was the son of a physician in South Bend, Indiana. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1924 with a law degree. Career After graduating, Butterworth became a newspaper reporter at the South Bend News-Times and subsequently Chicago. One of Butterworth's more memorable film roles was in the Irving Berlin musical ''This Is the Army'' (1943) as the bugle-playing Private Eddie Dibble. He generally was a supporting actor, though he had top billing in '' We Went to College'' (1936), played the title role in ''Baby Face Harrington'' (1935), and shared top billing (as the Sultan) with Ann Corio in ''The Sultan's Daughter'' (1944). In his o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweet Sue, Just You
"Sweet Sue, Just You" is an American popular song of 1928, composed by Victor Young with lyrics by Will J. Harris. Popular versions in 1928 were by Earl Burtnett (vocal by the Biltmore Trio) and by Ben Pollack (vocal by Franklyn Baur). It has become a popular jazz standard, with versions recorded by many artists. It's also widely popular among jug bands. Other recordings *Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (vocal by Jack Fulton), recorded on September 18, 1928. *Django Reinhardt - recorded in March 1935. * Benny Goodman and His Quartet - recorded on November 18, 1936 for Victor Records, catalog No. 25473A. *The Mills Brothers had a hit with the song in 1932. * Bing Crosby recorded the song for Brunswick Records on October 25, 1932 but it was not released until 1968. * Fats Waller - recorded June 24, 1935 for Victor Records (catalog No. 25087). *Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (vocal by Jack Leonard) enjoyed success with the song in 1939. * Johnny Long and His Orchestra reached the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jitterbug
Jitterbug is a generalized term used to describe swing dancing. It is often synonymous with the lindy hop dance but might include elements of the jive, east coast swing, collegiate shag, charleston, balboa and other swing dances. Swing dancing originated in the African-American communities of New York City in the early 20th century. Many nightclubs had a whites-only or blacks-only policy due to racial segregation, however the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem had a no-discrimination policy which allowed whites and blacks to dance together and it was there that the lindy hop dance flourished, started by dancers such as George Snowden and Frank Manning. The term jitterbug was originally a ridicule used by black patrons to describe whites who started to dance the lindy hop, as they were dancing faster and jumpier than was intended, like "jittering bugs", although it quickly lost its negative connotation as the more erratic version caught on. Both the lindy hop and the "jitterbug" became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Hackett
Robert Leo Hackett (January 31, 1915 – June 7, 1976) was an American jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet, and guitar with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Hackett was a featured soloist on some of the Jackie Gleason mood music albums during the 1950s. Biography Bobby Hackett was born in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. He made his name as a follower of cornet player Bix Beiderbecke. Benny Goodman hired the talented 23 year old to recreate Bix's "I'm Coming Virginia" solo at his (Goodman's) 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. In the late 1930s, Hackett played lead trumpet in the Vic Schoen Orchestra which backed the Andrews Sisters. Hackett can be heard on the soundtrack to the 1940 Fred Astaire movie, '' Second Chorus''. In 1939, the talent agency MCA asked Bobby Hackett to form a big band with its backing. When the band failed, he was in substantial debt to MCA after it folded. He joined the bands of Horace Heidt and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sugar (Maceo Pinkard Song)
"Sugar", also known as "That Sugar Baby o' Mine", is a popular song by Maceo Pinkard, his wife Edna Alexander and Sidney D. Mitchell. Recorded by Ethel Waters on February 20, 1926, it soon achieved chart success. The song is not to be confused with a 1927 song titled "Sugar", written by Jack Yellen, Milton Ager, Frank Crum and Red Nichols. The song has been recorded by numerous artists, and is considered a jazz standard. Artists that have recorded the song include Adrian Rollini, Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa, Kenny Davern, Ralph Sutton, The Manhattan Transfer, Linnzi Zaorski, and Lee Wiley. Vic Damone enjoyed chart success with the song in 1953 reaching the No 13 spot. Film appearances The song has been included in numerous films: *''Second Chorus'' (1940), as an instrumental *'' Pete Kelly's Blues'' (1955), performed by Peggy Lee and Matty Matlock's Dixielanders ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermes Pan (choreographer)
Hermes Pan (born Hermes Joseph Panagiotopoulos, December 10, 1909 – September 19, 1990) was an American dancer and choreographer, principally remembered as Fred Astaire's choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s movie musicals starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He worked on nearly two dozen films and TV shows with Astaire. He won both an Oscar and an Emmy for his dance direction. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, as the son of a Greek immigrant and an American woman from the South, Pan moved to New York City with his family when he was 14. He started dancing in amateur productions and speakeasies. He was first paid to dance at age 19 and worked in several Broadway productions. In 1930 he moved to California, where he met Astaire in 1933 and began working with him; he choreographed 89 films. Early life Pan was born Hermes Joseph Panagiotopoulos in 1909 in Memphis, Tennessee, to Pantelis Panagiotopoulos, a Greek immigrant,John Franceschina, ''Hermes Pan: The Man Who Danced wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Butterfield
Charles William Butterfield (January 14, 1917 – March 18, 1988) was an American jazz bandleader, trumpeter, flugelhornist, and cornetist. Early years Charles William Butterfield was born in Middletown, Ohio and attended high school in Wyoming. Although he studied medicine at Transylvania College, he preferred playing in bands, and he studied cornet with Frank Simon. He discontinued his studies after finding success as a trumpeter. Career Early in his career he played in the band of Austin Wylie. He gained attention working with Bob Crosby (1937–1940), and later performed with Artie Shaw, Les Brown, and Benny Goodman. While with Bob Crosby, he initially played third trumpet behind Charlie Spivak and Yank Lawson. When those two left Crosby to join Tommy Dorsey's band in 1938, Butterfield was given the opportunity to solo on a song written by Crosby bassist Bob Haggart, initially titled "I'm Free." When lyrics were added, it became the well-known standard "What's New?". On ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willa Pearl Curtis
Willa Pearl Curtis (March 21, 1896 – December 19, 1970) was an American actress in film and television. She was active in the Negro Motion Picture Players Association in Los Angeles. Curtis started as a performer in theater and music in Texas."Pastor's Housekeeper is Mainstay of Rectory" ''Wilmington News-Journal'' (April 5, 1949): 17. via When Curtis first arrived in Los Angeles, she worked as a maid to a stage actress. Like many black actresses of her generation, Curtis was often cast as a maid or cook, often uncredited bit parts, in films during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Her credited appearances included roles in '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Barclay
Joan Barclay (born Mary Elizabeth Greear; August 31, 1914 – November 22, 2002) was an American film actress of the 1930s and 1940s, starring mostly in B-movies and cliffhangers, with her career starting during the silent film era. Biography Early life and career The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. P. H. Greear, Barclay was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A 1923 newspaper item reported that she was "a singer and player" whose bird imitations had been broadcast on radio. Her family moved to California when she was still a child due to her mother's wishing to escape the cold climate of the north. Moving to Hollywood to pursue acting, Barclay received her first role at the age of 12, which was credited with her billed as Geraine Greear, in the 1927 film ''The Gaucho'', starring Douglas Fairbanks and Lupe Vélez. It was her only silent film. In 1930, still billed as Geraine Greear, she had a minor role in '' King of Jazz''. From 1932–35 she had thirteen uncredited film roles. She w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marjorie Kane
Marjorie Kane (April 28, 1909 – January 8, 1992) was an American film and stage actress born in Chicago. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1929 and 1951, occasionally under the name Babe Kane. Career Kane appeared on stage for 11 years before she was signed to a five-year contract with Mack Sennett in 1929. Her contract was validated by Los Angeles superior Judge Keech, as she was under legal signing age (she was 20). Her long run in the play '' Good News'' garnered her favorable reviews and interested two studios in giving her screen tests in 1928. "When I took my screen tests," she said, "I was continually conscious of the fact that I was in front of a movie camera and had to act. I was scared to death and couldn't do a thing. I tried my best to be natural but failed terribly."Thomas, Dan. ''The Evening Independence''. April 26, 1929. p. 17 Partial filmography *''Border Romance'' (1929) – Nina *''The Dance of Life'' (1929) – Performer: 'The Flippity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Brodie
Don L. Brodie (May 29, 1904 – January 8, 2001) was an American film and television actor. Early years The son of Mrs. Lottie Brodie, he attended Hughes High School in Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati. Before becoming a professional actor, he worked in Procter & Gamble's main offices. Career As early as 1928, Brodie was acting on stage. A review in ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' listed him in the cast of the Civic Theater's production of ''The Pigeon''. Brodie worked with Cincinnati's Civic Repertory Theater for nine years. A veteran of over 250 film and television productions, Brodie signed his first film contract with Universal Pictures Corporation in 1931. He appeared as a callow, mustachioed actor in various utility roles in films from the early 1930s. Usually playing bit parts in features, his more notable credits include his voiceover work in the Disney cartoon features ''Pinocchio'' and ''Dumbo'' and his portrayal of a carefully used car lot owner in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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