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The Smallest Show On Earth
''The Smallest Show on Earth'' (US: ''Big Time Operators'') is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers and Margaret Rutherford. The supporting cast includes Bernard Miles, Leslie Phillips, Francis de Wolff, George Cross, June Cunningham and Sid James. The screenplay was written by William Rose and John Eldridge from an original story by William Rose. Plot Matt and Jean (Travers and McKenna) are a young couple with a longing to visit exotic places such as Samarkand. Matt inherits a cinema from his great uncle. When they look over their new property, they first mistake the modern Grand for it. They are soon disillusioned to learn that the cinema they actually own is the old decrepit Bijou Kinema (nicknamed "the flea pit"), which is sandwiched between two railway bridges. Along with the cinema come three long-time employees: Mrs. Fazackalee (Rutherford), the cashier and bookkeeper; Mr. Quill (Sellers), the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Dearden
Basil Dearden (born Basil Clive Dear; 1 January 1911 – 23 March 1971) was an English film director. Early life and career Dearden was born at 5, Woodfield Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex to Charles James Dear, a steel manufacturer, and his wife, Florence Tripp. Basil Dean Dearden graduated from theatre direction to film, working as an assistant to Basil Dean. He later changed his own name to Dearden to avoid confusion with his mentor. He wrote ''This Man Is News'' (1938), a hugely popular quota quickie and wrote and directed a film for TV ''Under Suspicion'' (1939). He was assistant director on ''Penny Paradise'' (1938), produced by Dean and directed by Carol Reed, and two George Formby comedies directed by Anthony Kimmins: ''George Takes the Air'' (1938), produced by Dean, and '' Come on George!'' (1939). Dearden was promoted to associate producer on two more George Formby films, which he also co-wrote: ''To Hell with Hitler'' (1940) aka ''Let George Do It'' and ''Spare a Coppe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis De Wolff
Francis Marie de Wolff (7 January 191318 April 1984) was an English character actor. Large, bearded, and beetle-browed, he was often cast as villains in both film and television. Life and career Born in Essex, he made his film debut in '' Flame in the Heather'' (1935), and made many other appearances in such films as ''Fire Over England'' (1937), ''Treasure Island'' (1950), '' Scrooge'' (1951), as the Ghost of Christmas Present, ''Ivanhoe'' (1952), ''Moby Dick'' (1956), '' Saint Joan'' (1957), '' From Russia with Love'' (1963), and ''Carry On Cleo'' (1964). He is perhaps best remembered, however, as a supporting player in horror movies of the 1950s and 1960s, many of them for Hammer Films. These include ''Corridors of Blood'' (1958), ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (1959), ''The Man Who Could Cheat Death'' (1959), ''The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll'' (1960), '' Devil Doll'' (1964), and ''The Black Torment'' (1964). His last film appearance was in ''The Three Musketeers'' (1973). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of film capsule reviews, ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published annually from 1969 to 2014. Early life Maltin was born in New York City, the son of singer Jacqueline ( née Gould; 1923–2012) and Aaron Isaac Maltin (1915–2002), a lawyer and immigration judge. Maltin was raised in a Jewish family in Teaneck, New Jersey. He graduated from Teaneck High School in 1968. Career Maltin began his writing career at age 15, writing for ''Classic Images'' and editing and publishing his own fanzine, ''Film Fan Monthly'', dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood. After earning a journalism degree at New York University, Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, newspapers, and magazines, including ''Variety'' and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alma Taylor
Alma Louise Taylor (3 January 1895 – 23 January 1974) was a British actress. Life Taylor was born in London. She made her first screen appearance as a child actor in the 1907 film ''His Daughter's Voice''. She went on to appear in more than 150 film roles, appearing in a number of larger-budget films such as '' Shadow of Egypt'' which was shot on location in Egypt in 1924. Taylor was one of the major British stars of the 1910s and early 1920s. In 1915 she was voted the most popular British performer by readers of ''Pictures and the Picturegoers'', comfortably beating Charlie Chaplin into second place. She acted only occasionally after 1932, appearing in films such as '' Lilacs in the Spring'', ''Blue Murder at St Trinian's'', and '' A Night to Remember'' during the 1950s. On television, she started twice in Armchair Theatre, in 1957: she played Mrs. Castor and Greta Stenbourg. She died in London at the age of 79.The Shadow of Egypt''. British Film Institute, retriev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comin' Thro The Rye (1923 Film)
''Comin' Thro the Rye'' is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor and Ralph Forbes. The film was based on the 1875 novel of the same name by Helen Mathers. The title alludes to the Robert Burns 1782 poem " Comin' Through the Rye". A clip of it is seen in the comedy ''The Smallest Show on Earth'' (1957), in which the elderly staff of the old fleapit cinema tearfully watch silent films on their evenings off. Plot The story of a young girl who is prevented from marrying the man she loves by the machinations of a designing woman. The plot centres on the heroine, Helen Adair, who is courted by George Tempest but who meets and falls in love with Paul Vasher. Vasher's former love Sylvia Fleming who has betrayed him, is jealous of his affections for Helen and manages by intercepting mail between the lovers to plot to win him back. While Vasher is abroad she places a false announcement of the marriage of Helen and George in the ''Times' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longton, Stoke-on-Trent
Longton is one of the six towns which Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, amalgamated to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910, along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Burslem and Stoke-upon-Trent. History Longton ('long village') was a market town in the parish of Stoke in the county of Staffordshire. The town still has a market housed in an attractively renovated market hall. Coal miners in the Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley and Longton area ignited the 1842 general strike and associated 1842 Pottery Riots, Pottery Riots. In March 1865, Longton and Lane End were incorporated as the Borough of Longton. On 1 April 1910, the town was Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, federated into the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. Arnold Bennett referred to Longton as ''Longshaw'', one of the "five towns" featured in his novels set in the Staffordshire Potteries. Industry The district has a long history as a base for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hammersmith Apollo
The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Hammersmith, London, it is an art deco Grade II* listed building. The venue has hosted numerous concerts by major stars, including the Beatles, Queen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Iron Maiden, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington amongst many others. History Designed by Robert Cromie, who also renovated the Prince of Wales Theatre, in the Art Deco style, it opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace, with a seating capacity of nearly 3,500 people, being renamed the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962. It has had a string of names and owners, most recently AEG Live and Eventim UK. It became a Grade II listed building in 1990. The venue was later refurbished and renamed Labatt's Apollo following a sponsorship deal with L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused with the Californian recording studio of the same name). History 1930s–1960s Shepperton Studios was built on the grounds of Littleton Park, which was built in the 17th century by local nobleman Thomas Wood. The old mansion still stands on the site. Scottish businessman Norman Loudon purchased Littleton Park in 1931 for use by his new film company, Sound Film Producing & Recording Studios; the facility opened in 1932. The studios, which produced both short and feature films, expanded rapidly. Proximity to the Vickers-Armstrongs aircraft factory at Brooklands, which attracted German bombers, disrupted filming during the Second World War, as did the requisitioning of the studios in 1941 by the government, who first used it for sugar stora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kilburn Tube Station
Kilburn is a London Underground station near Brondesbury Park in north-west London. It is on the Jubilee line, between Willesden Green and West Hampstead stations and is in Travelcard Zone 2. The station is on the A5 Kilburn High Road or Shoot-up Hill, approximately north of Brondesbury station. Metropolitan line trains typically bypass the station without stopping. The station was first opened on the Metropolitan line in 1879 as part of an extension to Willesden Green. The two-track line through the station was quadrupled in the 1910s. After merging to form the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, Metropolitan line services through the station were transferred to the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line, and was extensively rebuilt. This branch was then transferred again to the Jubilee line in 1979. The 1930s station building remains, and was refurbished in 2005. The station is now wheelchair accessible and has frequent train services to Central London. Location Kilburn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stringer Davis
James Buckley Stringer Davis, generally known as Stringer Davis (4 June 1899 – 29 August 1973), was an English character actor on the stage and in films, and a British army officer who served in both world wars. He was married to actress Margaret Rutherford. Early life Stringer Davis was born on 4 June 1899 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, son of Bank of England clerk George William Davis (1871–1948) and Ethel, daughter of J. Buckley Deakin, of Prince's Park, Liverpool. The Davis family were landed gentry, of Well Close, Brockworth, Gloucestershire; his first cousin was Admiral William Davis, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff from 1954 to 1957. The name "Stringer" came from a paternal great-grandfather, Miles Stringer, of Effingham Hill, Surrey, whose daughter Adelaide married William Davis, of Well Close. Davis attended the independent Uppingham School and received military basic training there. In August 1918, he volunteered for military service and was sent to the front in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercraft, or forests. The crime is typically classified as a felony, with instances involving a greater degree of risk to human life or property carrying a stricter penalty. Arson which results in death can be further prosecuted as manslaughter or murder. A common motive for arson is to commit insurance fraud. In such cases, a person destroys their own property by burning it and then lies about the cause in order to collect against their insurance policy. A person who commits arson is referred to as an arsonist, or a serial arsonist if arson has been committed several times. Arsonists normally use an accelerant (such as gasoline or kerosene) to ignite, propel and directionalize fires, and the detection and identification of ignitable liqui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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