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The CooCoo Nut Grove
''The CooCoo Nut Grove'' is a 1936 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' short animated film, set in the famed Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The cartoon was directed by Friz Freleng, with animation by Robert McKimson and Sandy Walker, caricature design by T. Hee, and musical score by Carl Stalling. The short was released on November 28, 1936. Plot Master of ceremonies Ben Birdie (bandleader Ben Bernie, voiced by Tedd Pierce) is accosted in the opening scene by Walter Windpipe (Walter Winchell, voiced by Danny Webb). The short then proceeds to showcase many Hollywood stars in the form of Ralph Barton-esque caricatures, including Katharine Hepburn (as a horse named Miss Heartburn), Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, Ned Sparks (voiced by Dave Barry), W. C. Fields (voiced by Tedd Pierce), Clark Gable, Groucho and Harpo Marx, Johnny Weissmuller (in character as Tarzan) and Lupe Vélez, Mae West (voiced by Verna Deane), Wallace Beery, John Barrymore, Laurel and H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. In total he created more than 300 cartoons. He introduced and/or developed several of the studio's biggest stars, including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam (to whom he was said to bear more than a passing resemblance), and Speedy Gonzales. The senior director at Warners' Termite Terrace studio, Freleng directed more cartoons than any other director in the studio (a total of 266), and is also the most honored of the Warner directors, having won five Academy Awards and three Emmy Awards. After Warner closed down the animation studio in 1963, Freleng and business partner David H. DePatie founded DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, which produced cartoons (including ''The Pink Panthe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Stalling
Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years. Biography Stalling was born to Ernest and Sophia C. Stalling. His parents were from Germany; his father arrived in the United States in 1883. The family settled in Lexington, Missouri where his father was a carpenter. He started playing piano at six. By the age of 12, he was the principal piano accompanist in his hometown's silent movie house. For a short period, he was also the theatre organist at the St. Louis Theatre, which eventually became Powell Symphony Hall. By his early 20s, he was conducting his own orchestra and improvising on the organ at the Isis Movie Theatre in Kansas City. His actual job at the time was to play "organ accompaniment" for silent films ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lupe Vélez
María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez (July 18, 1908 – December 13, 1944), known professionally as Lupe Vélez, was a Mexican actress, singer and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States, she made her first film appearance in a short in 1927. By the end of the decade, she was acting in full-length silent films and had progressed to leading roles in ''The Gaucho'' (1927), ''Lady of the Pavements'' (1928) and ''Wolf Song'' (1929), among others. Vélez made the transition to sound films without difficulty. She was one of the first successful Latin-American actresses in Hollywood. During the 1930s, her explosive screen persona was exploited in successful comedic films like ''Hot Pepper'' (1933), '' Strictly Dynamite'' (1934) and '' Hollywood Party'' (1934). In the 1940s, Vélez's popularity peaked while appearing as Carmelita Fuentes in eight ''Mexican Spitfire'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan first appeared in the novel ''Tarzan of the Apes'' (magazine publication 1912, book publication 1914), and subsequently in 23 sequels, several books by Burroughs and other authors, and innumerable works in other media, both authorized and unauthorized. Character biography Tarzan is the son of a British lord and lady who were marooned on the coast of Africa by mutineers. When Tarzan was an infant, his mother died, and his father was killed by Kerchak, leader of the ape tribe by whom Tarzan was adopted. Soon after his parents' death, Tarzan became a feral child, and his tribe of apes is known as the Mangani, great apes of a species unknown to science. Kala is his ape mother. Burroughs adde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller (born Johann Peter Weißmüller; June 2, 1904 – January 20, 1984) was an American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He was known for having one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century. He set numerous world records alongside winning five gold medals in the Olympics. He won the 100m freestyle and the relay team event in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Weissmuller also won gold in the 400m freestyle, as well as a bronze medal in the water polo competition in Paris. Following his retirement from swimming, Weissmuller played Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan in twelve feature films from 1932 to 1948; six were produced by MGM, and six additional films by RKO. Weissmuller went on to star in sixteen ''Jungle Jim'' movies over an eight year period, then filmed 26 additional half-hour episodes of the Jungle Jim TV series. Early life Johann Peter Weißmüller was born on June 2, 1904, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harpo Marx
Arthur "Harpo" Marx (born Adolph Marx; November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, mime artist, and harpist, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. In contrast to the mainly verbal comedy of his brothers Groucho and Chico, Harpo's comic style was visual, being an example of vaudeville, clown and pantomime traditions. He wore a curly reddish blond wig and was silent in all his movie appearances, instead blowing a horn or whistling to communicate. Marx frequently employed props such as a horn cane constructed from a lead pipe, tape, and a bulbhorn. Early life Harpo was born on November 23, 1888, in Manhattan, New York City. He grew up in a neighborhood now known as Carnegie Hill (known at the time as Yorkville) on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, on East 93rd Street off Lexington Avenue. The turn-of-the-century tenement that Harpo later called "the first real home I can remember" was situated in a neighborhood populated with European immig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit and one of America's greatest comedians. He made 13 feature films as a team with his siblings the Marx Brothers; he was the third-born of the brothers. He also had a successful solo career primarily on radio and television, most notably as the host of the game show ''You Bet Your Life''. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, spectacles, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. These exaggerated features resulted in the creation of one of the most recognizable and ubiquitous novelty disguises, known as Groucho glasses: a one-piece mask consisting of horn-rimmed glasses, a large plastic nose, bushy eyebrows and mustache. Early life Julius H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades of which was as a leading man. Gable died of a heart attack at the age of 59; his final on-screen appearance was as an aging cowboy in '' The Misfits'', released posthumously in 1961. Born and raised in Ohio, Gable traveled to Hollywood where he began his film career as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926. He progressed to supporting roles for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and his first leading role in ''Dance, Fools, Dance'' (1931) was alongside Joan Crawford, who requested him for the part. His role in the romantic drama '' Red Dust'' (1932) with reigning sex symbol Jean Harlow, made him MGM's biggest male star. Gable won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Frank Capra's romantic comedy ''It Happened One Night'' (1934), co-starring C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ned Sparks
Ned Sparks (born Edward Arthur Sparkman, November 19, 1883 – April 3, 1957) was a Canadian-born character actor of the American stage and screen. He was known for his deadpan expression and comically nasal, monotone delivery. Life and career Sparks was born in Guelph, Ontario, but moved to St. Thomas, Ontario, where he grew up. He left home at 16 and attempted prospecting in the Klondike Gold Rush. After running out of money, he began performing. Billed as a "Singer of Sweet Southern Songs" and costumed in a straw hat, short pants and bare feet, he won a spot as a singer on a traveling musical company's tour. At 19, he returned to Canada and briefly attended a Toronto seminary. He then worked for the railroad and in theater in Toronto. In 1907, he moved to New York City to try his hand in the Broadway theatre, where he appeared in his first show in 1912. On Broadway, Sparks developed his trademark deadpan expression while portraying a hotel clerk in the play ''Little Miss B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical films, suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greater successes were in romantic dramas. A recipient of two Academy Awards, she was the first thespian to accrue ten nominations. Bette Davis appeared on Broadway in New York, then the 22-year-old Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930. After some unsuccessful films, she had her critical breakthrough playing a vulgar waitress in ''Of Human Bondage'' (1934) although, contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. The next year, her performance as a down-and-out actress in ''Dangerous'' (1935) did land Davis her first Best Actress nomination, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the pre-Code era of American cinema. Often nicknamed the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde", Harlow was popular for her "Laughing Vamp" screen persona. Harlow was in the film industry for only nine years, but she became one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars, whose image in the public eye has endured. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Harlow 22 on its greatest female screen legends of classical Hollywood cinema list. Harlow was first signed by business magnate Howard Hughes, who directed her first major role in '' Hell's Angels'' (1930). After a series of critically failed films, and Hughes' loss of interest in her career, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought out Harlow's contract in 1932 and cast her in leading roles in a string ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work was in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute. Raised in Connecticut by wealthy, progressive parents, Hepburn began to act while at Bryn Mawr College. Favorable reviews of her work on Broadway brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Her early years in film brought her international fame, including an Academy Award for Best Actress for her thir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
