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The Chocolate Soldier (film)
''The Chocolate Soldier'' is a 1941 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth. It uses original music from the The Chocolate Soldier, Oscar Straus 1908 operetta of the same name, which was based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1894 play ''Arms and the Man''. Unable to come to terms with Shaw, the studio used a story to which it already had rights: the Ferenc Molnár play ''The Guardsman'', (originally ''The Guardsman, Testőr) .'' The plot centers on the romantic misunderstandings and professional conflicts between two recently married opera singers, played by Metropolitan Opera star Risë Stevens (in her film debut) and Nelson Eddy, who perform excerpts from the operetta during the film. This screenplay was written bLeonard LeeanKeith Winter ''The Guardsman—''a huge hit on Broadway in 1924— The Guardsman, was brought to the screen in 1931, with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne reprising their stage roles as married actors. Plot The opening panel reads: “This story takes plac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Del Ruth
Roy Del Ruth (October 18, 1893, Delaware – April 27, 1961) was an American filmmaker. Early career Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack Sennett in 1915, Del Ruth later directed his first short film ''Hungry Lions'' (1919) for the producer. By the early 1920s, he had moved over to features including ''Asleep at the Switch'' (1923), ''The Hollywood Kid'' (1924), '' Eve's Lover'' (1925) and ''The Little Irish Girl'' (1926). Following several more titles, many now lost, he directed ''The First Auto'' (1927), a charming look at the introduction of the first automobile to a small rural town. Also once believed lost, the film's almost entirely unsynchronised soundtrack features several elaborate sound effects for the time. Del Ruth directed another half dozen projects before the musical ''The Desert Song'' (1929), the first color film ever released by Warner Bros. That same year, Del Ruth directed ''Gold Diggers of Broadway'' (1929), Warner's second two-strip Tec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Lunt
Alfred David Lunt (August 12, 1892 – August 3, 1977) was an American actor and director, best known for his long stage partnership with his wife, Lynn Fontanne, from the 1920s to 1960, co-starring in Broadway theatre, Broadway and West End theatre, West End productions. After their marriage, they nearly always appeared together. They became known as "the Lunts" and were celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic. Although they appeared in classics including ''The Taming of the Shrew'', ''The Seagull'' and ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'', and dark comedy by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Lunts were best known for their stylish performances in light comedies by Noël Coward, S. N. Behrman, Terence Rattigan and others, and romantic plays by writers such as Robert E. Sherwood. Lunt directed some of the couple's productions, and staged plays for other managements. Though they rarely acted for the camera, The Lunts each received an Emmy Award and were nominated for an Academy Award. The Lu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bronisław Kaper
Bronisław Kaper (; February 5, 1902 – April 26, 1983) was a Polish film composer who scored films and musical theater in Germany, France, and the USA. The American immigration authorities misspelled his name as Bronislau Kaper. He was also variously credited as Bronislaw Kaper, Bronislaw Kapper, Benjamin Kapper, and Edward Kane. Kaper is perhaps best remembered as the composer of the jazz standards " On Green Dolphin Street" (lyrics by Ned Washington) and " Invitation" (lyrics by Paul Francis Webster) which were the respective title songs for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films '' Green Dolphin Street'' (1947) and '' Invitation'' (1952). He also scored the MGM film musical ''Lili'' (1953) for which he received the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Kaper's later works include ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1962) and the TV series ''The F.B.I.'' (1965–1974). Biography Bronisław Kaper was born in Warsaw, Poland, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family, and began playing the piano at the age o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gus Kahn
Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", "Ain't We Got Fun?", "Carolina in the Morning", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' Bye!)", " My Buddy" " I'll See You in My Dreams", " It Had to Be You", " Yes Sir, That's My Baby", " Love Me or Leave Me", "Makin' Whoopee", " My Baby Just Cares for Me", "I'm Through with Love", "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and "You Stepped Out of a Dream". Life and career Kahn was born in 1886 in Bruschied, in the Rhine Province of the Kingdom of Prussia, the son of Theresa (Mayer) and Isaac Kahn, a cattle farmer. The Jewish family emigrated to the United States and moved to Chicago in 1890. After graduating from high school, he worked as a clerk in a mail order business before launching one of the most successful and prolific careers from Tin Pan Alley. Kahn married Grace LeBoy in 1916 and they had two children, Donald and Irene. In hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Song Of The Flea
''The Song of the Flea'' () is a song with piano accompaniment, composed by Modest Mussorgsky in 1879. The lyrics are from the Russian translation of Goethe's ''Faust''. Background In 1879, Mussorgsky quit a civil service job, and, from August to November, accompanied contralto Darya Leonova ( Дарья Леонова, 1829-1896) on a tour to Southern Russia, as her piano accompanist. He was much impressed by Leonova's singing, and composed ''The Song of the Flea'' during this trip or soon after he had returned to St. Petersburg, dedicating it to Leonova. It is unknown when the song was played in a public recital for the first time, but it is recorded that this song was sung in recitals by Leonova in April and May 1880. The music score of ''the Song of the Flea'' was published after Mussorgsky's death, in 1883 with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov as the editor. Its orchestration by Igor Stravinsky became available in 1914. ''The Song of the Flea'' is probably the best known of the 65 o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samson And Delilah (opera)
''Samson and Delilah'' (french: Samson et Dalila, links=no), Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the (Grand Ducal) Theater (now the Staatskapelle Weimar) on 2 December 1877 in a German translation. The opera is based on the Biblical tale of Samson and Delilah found in Chapter 16 of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. It is the only opera by Saint-Saëns that is regularly performed. The second act love scene in Delilah's tent is one of the set pieces that define French opera. Two of Delilah's arias are particularly well known: "" ("Spring begins") and "" ("My heart opens itself to your voice", also known as "Softly awakes my heart"), the latter of which is one of the most popular recital pieces in the mezzo-soprano/contralto repertoire. Composition history In the middle of the 19th century, a revival of interest in choral music swept France, and Saint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mon Cœur S'ouvre à Ta Voix
"" is a popular mezzo-soprano aria from Camille Saint-Saëns's opera ''Samson and Delilah'', known in English as "Softly awakes my heart", or more literally "My heart opens itself to your voice". It is sung by Delilah in act 2 as she attempts to seduce Samson into revealing the secret of his strength. Music In the opera, Delilah is responding to Samson's words "" (Delilah! Delilah! I love you!) which he repeats between the first and second verses of her aria; these interjections are omitted in recital performances or sometimes sung to the changed words ""; Samson's part in the final 22 bars of the stage aria where he joins Delilah in a duet is also omitted in a recital, although some performers, notably Marilyn Horne and Jessye Norman, have sung Samson's final words – changed as above, rising to a high B-flat. A performance takes between 5 1/2 and 6 1/2 minutes. The aria is notated in D-flat major with time signatures of 3/4 for the verse and common time (4/4) for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were perceived as unnecessarily mean. Crowther was an advocate of foreign-language films in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly those of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini. Life and career Crowther was born Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. in Lutherville, Maryland, the son of Eliza Hay (née Leisenring, 1877–1960) and Francis Bosley Crowther (1874–1950). As a child, Crowther moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he published a neighborhood newspaper, ''The Evening Star''. His family moved to Washington, D.C., and Crowther graduated from Western High School in 1922. After two years of prep school at Woodberry Forest School, he entered Princeton University, where he majored in h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Judels
Charles Judels (August 17, 1882 - February 14, 1969) was a Dutch-born American actor. Early years Judels was born on August 17, 1882, in Amsterdam as a third generation in a family of actors. His grandfather owned several theatres throughout the Netherlands and starred in his own plays. Judels' father combined his love of theatre and music and was a stage manager for the Metropolitan Opera in New York for 35 years. Career Judels appeared in more than 130 films from 1915 to 1949. In 1928, he was signed by 20th Century Fox to direct Movietone and did extensive work as a voice-over actor in animated films, including the voices of Stromboli and The Coachman in Walt Disney's ''Pinocchio'' (1940). In 1909, he became a member of The Lambs. Judels died in San Francisco, California in 1969, aged 86. Selected filmography * '' My Old Dutch'' (1915) - Jules Joubert * '' The Commuters'' (1915) - Prof. Anatole 'Sammy' Vermouth * '' Little Old New York'' (1923) - Delmonica * '' Under the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nydia Westman
Nydia Eileen Westman (February 19, 1902 – May 23, 1970) was an American actress and singer of stage, screen, and television. Early years Westman's parents, Theodore and Lily (Wren) Westman were active in vaudeville in her native New York City. In addition to their working together on stage, her mother was a writer and her father was a composer. She attended the Professional Children's School. Until 1921, she performed on stage only with her family. Her sisters, Lolita and Neville, were actresses, and her brother, Theodore, was an actor and playwright. Career Westman's career ranged from episodic appearances on TV series such as ''That Girl'' and ''Dragnet (series), Dragnet'' and uncredited bit roles in movies to appearances in groundbreaking films such as ''Craig's Wife'', which starred Rosalind Russell, and the first film version of ''Little Women''. Westman's screen debut came in ''Strange Justice'' (1932). She appeared in 31 films in the 1930s. She appeared as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florence Bates
Florence Bates ( Rabe; April 15, 1888 - January 31, 1954), was an American film and stage character actress who often played grande dame characters in supporting roles. Life and career Bates was the second child born to Jewish immigrant parents, in San Antonio, Texas, where her father was the owner of an antique store. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in mathematics, after which she taught school. In 1909, she met and married her first husband, Joseph Ramer, and gave up her career to raise their daughter. When the marriage ended in divorce, she began to study law and, in 1914 at the age of 26, passed the bar examination. She was one of the first female lawyers in her home state and practiced law for four years in San Antonio. After the death of her parents, Bates left the legal profession to help her sister operate their father's antique business. She became a bilingual (English—Spanish) radio commentator whose program was designed to fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as '' Singspiel'' and '' Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
