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The Robert Mitchell Boy Choir
Robert Mitchell (October 12, 1912 – July 4, 2009) was an American organist and choir director whose career spanned 85 years, from 1924 to 2009. He was one of the last original silent film accompanists, having accompanied films from 1924 to 1928. Mitchell revived the art from 1992 until his death in 2009, usually to wild acclaim. During the 1930s, he organized the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir, who were cast in many films from the 1930s to the 1960s. Early life and career Mitchell's Victorian-era mother found the new art form of silent film "cheap and vulgar". However, as an avid music lover, she allowed him to take music lessons with the reasoning he could accompany church services. At the age of 12 he was allowed to take a stint at The Strand Theatre in Pasadena, California to play Christmas carols between showings of films. However, he did not stop playing once the film started, and his career as an accompanist began. He played for four years until the arrival ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sierra Madre, California
Sierra Madre ( Spanish for "mother range") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, whose population was 10,917 at the 2010 U.S. Census, up from 10,580 at the time of the 2000 U.S. Census. The city is in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley below the southern edge of the Angeles National Forest. Pasadena and Altadena are to its west, with Arcadia to its south and east. Sierra Madre is known as " Wisteria City", and its city seal is decorated with a drawing of the now widely known vine. It is also called the "Village of the Foothills" and was an All-America City in 2007. History Early history In approximately 500 CE, Tongva Indians, the native people migrated from the Mojave area to what would become Los Angeles County (including the San Gabriel Valley). Their name means "People of the Earth". Their primary language was Uto-Aztecan Shoshonean. In the 16th century, there were about 25 Tongva villages, with a population of approximately 400 people. By 1769, the fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Guild Of Organists
The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is an international organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the US, headquartered in New York City with its administrative offices in the Interchurch Center. Founded as a professional educational association, it was chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York in 1896, with the authority to grant certificates of associate or fellow to members who passed examinations. Membership is not limited to professional organists, but is open to anybody with an interest in organs and organ music. As of 2020, there are approximately 14,000 voting members in all categories of membership. The AGO's current president is Michael Bedford, elected in 2016. The guild seeks to set and maintain high musical standards and to promote understanding and appreciation of all aspects of organ and choral music. Founders Among the 145 founding members of the guild were Benjamin Dwight Allen, John W. Bischoff, Dudley ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lettermen
The Lettermen are an American male pop vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959. They have had two Top 10 singles (both No. 7), 16 Top 10 singles on the Adult Contemporary chart (including one No. 1), 32 consecutive ''Billboard'' chart albums, 11 gold records, and five Grammy nominations. History In 1958, the stage revue ''Newcomers of 1928'' was produced, a nostalgia act which starred 1920s stars Paul Whiteman, Buster Keaton, Rudy Vallée, Harry Richman, and Fifi D'Orsay. The show required three male singers to impersonate The Rhythm Boys, the vocal group that traveled with Whiteman and his orchestra in the late 1920s, and gave Bing Crosby his initial fame. The three singers selected were Mike Barnett, Dick Stewart, and Tony Butala. Jackie Barnett, who was chief comedy writer for the Jimmy Durante TV show, had auditioned the singers, and he decided to name the group "The Lettermen" for the show. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Butala
Anthony Francis Butala (born November 20, 1940) is an American singer. Ratko Martinović: Loš PR u dijaspori - Koje su svjetski poznate osobe podrijetlom Hrvati, a da to niste ni znali, 28. listopada 2012. (Croatian) He was the lead singer of the vocal group since 1958, although he has been retired since 2019. Butala is the last surviving of the original three members. The Lettermen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February 2020. Early life Butala was born in |
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City after the Russian Revolution. In 1929, after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, stock market crash, he moved to Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, where he became best known for his scores for Western (genre), Western films, including ''Duel in the Sun (film), Duel in the Sun'', ''Red River (1948 film), Red River'', ''High Noon'', ''The Big Sky (film), The Big Sky'', ''Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (film), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'', and ''Last Train from Gun Hill''. Tiomkin received 22 Academy Awards, Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars, three for Academy Award for Best Original Score, Best Original Score for ''High Noon'', ''The High and the Mighty (film), The High and the Mighty'', and ''The Old Man and the Sea (1958 film), The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men from the 1930s until the mid-1960s. Grant was born and brought up in Bristol, England. He became attracted to theater at a young age when he visited the Bristol Hippodrome. At 16, he went as a stage performer with the Pender Troupe for a tour of the US. After a series of successful performances in New York City, he decided to stay there. He established a name for himself in vaudeville in the 1920s and toured the United States before moving to Hollywood in the early 1930s. Grant initially appeared in crime films and dramas such as ''Blonde Venus'' (1932) with Marlene Dietrich and '' She Done Him Wrong'' (1933) with Mae West, but later gained renown for his performances in romantic screwball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bishop's Wife
''The Bishop's Wife'' (also known as ''Cary and the Bishop's Wife'') is a 1947 American romantic comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven. The plot is about an angel who helps a bishop with his problems. The film was adapted by Leonardo Bercovici and Robert E. Sherwood from the 1928 novel of the same name by Robert Nathan. It was remade in 1996 as '' The Preacher's Wife'' starring Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston, and Courtney B. Vance. Plot Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven), troubled with funding the building of a new cathedral, prays for divine guidance. His plea is seemingly answered by a suave angel named Dudley (Cary Grant), who reveals his identity only to the clergyman. However, Dudley's mission is not to help construct a cathedral, but to spiritually guide Henry and the people around him. Henry has become obsessed with raising funds, to the detriment of his family life. His relationships with wife Julia (Lorett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat O'Brien (actor)
William Joseph Patrick O'Brien (November 11, 1899 – October 15, 1983) was an American film actor with more than 100 screen credits. Of Irish descent, he often played Irish and Irish-American characters and was referred to as "Hollywood's Irishman in Residence" in the press. One of the best-known screen actors of the 1930s and 1940s, he played priests, cops, military figures, pilots, and reporters. He is especially well-remembered for his roles in '' Knute Rockne, All American'' (1940), '' Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), and ''Some Like It Hot'' (1959). He was frequently paired onscreen with Hollywood star James Cagney. O'Brien also appeared on stage and television. Early life O'Brien was born in 1899 to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All four of his grandparents had come from Ireland. The O'Briens were originally from County Cork. His grandfather, Patrick O'Brien, for whom he was named, was an architect who was killed while trying to break up a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angels With Dirty Faces
''Angels with Dirty Faces'' is a 1938 American crime drama film directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Brothers. It stars James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, The Dead End Kids, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and George Bancroft. The screenplay was written by John Wexley and Warren Duff based on the story by Rowland Brown. The film chronicles the relationship of the notorious gangster William "Rocky" Sullivan with his childhood friend and now priest Father Jerry Connolly. After spending fifteen years in prison for armed robbery, Rocky intends to collect $100,000 from his co-conspirator Jim Frazier, a mob lawyer. All the while, Father Connolly tries to prevent a group of youths from falling under Rocky's influence. Brown wrote the scenario in August 1937. After pitching the film to a number of studios, he made a deal with Grand National Pictures, who wanted Cagney to star in the lead role. However, the film never came to fruition, owing to Grand National's financial troubles that led ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He starred in more than 10 Broadway and West End musicals, made 31 musical films, four television specials, and numerous recordings. As a dancer, he was known for his uncanny sense of rhythm, creativity, and tireless perfectionism. Astaire's most memorable dancing partnership was with Ginger Rogers, whom he co-starred with in 10 Hollywood musicals during the classic age of Hollywood cinema. Astaire and Rogers starred together in ''Top Hat'' (1935), '' Swing Time'' (1936), and ''Shall We Dance'' (1937). Astaire's fame grew in films like ''Holiday Inn'' (1942), '' Easter Parade'' (1948), '' The Band Wagon'' (1953), '' Funny Face'' (1957), and ''Silk Stockings'' (1957). The American Film Institute named Astaire the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carefree (film)
''Carefree'' is a 1938 musical film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. With a plot similar to screwball comedies of the period, ''Carefree'' is the shortest of the Astaire-Rogers films, featuring only four musical numbers. ''Carefree'' is often remembered as the film in which Astaire and Rogers shared a long on-screen kiss at the conclusion of their dance to " I Used to Be Color Blind," all previous kisses having been either quick pecks or simply implied. ''Carefree'' was a reunion for the team of Astaire and Rogers after a brief hiatus following ''Shall We Dance'' and six other previous RKO pictures. The next film in the series, '' The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle'' (1939), would be their final RKO film together, although they would reunite in 1949 for MGM's '' The Barkleys of Broadway''. Plot Psychiatrist Dr. Tony Flagg (Fred Astaire) does his friend Stephen Arden (Ralph Bellamy) a favor by taking on his fiancée, Amanda Cooper (Ginger Rogers), as a patient. Amanda, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1926 to 1977. He made over 70 feature films and recorded more than 1,600 songs. His early career coincided with recording innovations that allowed him to develop an intimate singing style that influenced many male singers who followed, such as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Dick Haymes, Elvis Presley, and John Lennon. ''Yank'' magazine said that he was "the person who had done the most for the morale of overseas servicemen" during World War II. In 1948, American polls declared him the "most admired man alive", ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. In 1948, ''Music Digest'' estimated that his recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
