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The Woods Are Full Of Cuckoos
''The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos'' is a 1937 '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. The short was released on December 4, 1937. Plot The cartoon starts with an owl named "Owl Kott" (satirizing Alexander Woolcott's ''Town Crier'' radio program) giving an introduction to the festivities. This is followed by a Ben Bernie caricature called "Ben Birdie", feuding with "Walter Finchell". The same spoof was used in the cartoon '' The CooCoo Nut Grove'' (1936). Walter Winchell had a well-publicized feud with Bernie at the time, which, like Jack Benny's "feud" with Fred Allen, was faked for publicity purposes – Bernie and Winchell were actually good friends. Next is "Milton Squirrel" ( Milton Berle, Master of Ceremony , M.C. of ''Gillette Community Sing'') introducing "Wendell Howl" ( Wendell Hall) and an audience trying to figure out which page to go to in their songbooks, which results in Wendell getting pelted by the audience's songbooks. Then, "Billy Goat and " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Bentley (animator)
Robert Jarvis Bentley (11 March 1907 – 28 November 2000) was an American animator who worked for Warner Bros. Cartoons, Fleischer Studios, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio, Tex Avery, Walter Lantz Productions, UPA (animation studio), UPA, Hanna-Barbera and Filmation among others. Early life Bentley was born in Philadelphia on March 11, 1907, the eldest child of three to John Harrison Bentley, Jr. and Hannah Helen Jarvis Bentley. John Harrison Bentley passed away in 1918, and later Hannah Helen married pioneer animator Leslie Elton, although this marriage did not last. Career Bentley started his animation career in 1929 as an assistant animator at The Van Beuren Corporation, the Van Beuren cartoon studio in New York City, later working for Les Elton's independent studio on his 1931 cartoon "Simon the Monk". He moved to the West Coast in 1935 to work briefly at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney's studio, then spent the next few years as a full-fledged animator in F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Allen
John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist, topically pointed radio program ''The Fred Allen Show'' (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the Golden Age of American radio. His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it was only part of his appeal; radio historian John Dunning (in ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio'') wrote that Allen was perhaps radio's most admired comedian and most frequently censored. A master ad libber, Allen often tangled with his network's executives (and often barbed them on the air over the battles) while developing routines whose style and substance influenced fellow comic talents, including Groucho Marx, Stan Freberg, Henry Morgan, and Johnny Carson; his avowed fans also included President Franklin D. Roosevelt, humorist James Thurber, and novel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer." Jolson was known for his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach" towards performing, as well as for popularizing many of the songs he sang. Jolson has been referred to by modern critics as "the king of blackface performers." Although best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927), he starred in a series of successful musical films during the 1930s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he was the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II. After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with ''The Jolson Story'' (1946), in which Larry Parks played Jolson, with the singer dubbing for Parks. The formula was repeat ... [...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] |
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film leading man began in 1935, but his most renowned role was in Billy Wilder's film noir '' Double Indemnity''. During 1959–1973, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including '' The Shaggy Dog'', ''The Absent-Minded Professor'', ''Follow Me, Boys!'', and ''The Happiest Millionaire''. He played Steve Douglas in the television series ''My Three Sons''. Early life and education Frederick Martin MacMurray was born on August 30, 1908, in Kankakee, Illinois, the son of Maleta (''née'' Martin) and concert violinist Frederick Talmadge MacMurray, both natives of Wisconsin. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irvin S
Irvin is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Irvin J. Borowsky (1924-2014), American publisher * Irvin Cobb (1876–1944), American author *Irvin Dorfman (1924–2006), American tennis player *Irvin Duguid (born 1969), Scottish musician *Irvin Feld (1918–1984), American impresario *Irvin Kershner (1923-2010), American film director * Irvin Khoza (born 1948), South African sports administrator *Irvin Mayfield (born 1977), American jazz musician *Irvin McDowell (1818–1885), American soldier *Irvin Shapiro (1906–1989), American film distributor *Irvin Talton, (dates unavailable), American politician * Earl Irvin West (1920–2011), American church historian * Irvin Westheimer (1879–1980), American philanthropist *Irvin Willat (1890–1976), American film director * Irvin Yalom (born 1931), American author *Irvin Yeaworth (1926–2004), German film director Surname *Britt Irvin (born 1984), Canadian actress *Bruce Irvin (born 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deanna Durbin
Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With the technical skill and vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano, she performed many styles from popular standards to operatic arias. Durbin was a child actress who made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in '' Every Sunday'' (1936), and subsequently signed a contract with Universal Studios. She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as ''Three Smart Girls'' (1936), ''One Hundred Men and a Girl'' (1937), and ''It Started with Eve'' (1941). Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy, and led to Durbin being awarded the Academy Juvenile Award in 1938. As she matured, Durbin grew dissatisfied with the girl-next-door roles assigned to her and attempted to move into sophisticated non-musical ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fats Waller
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. His best-known compositions, " Ain't Misbehavin'" and " Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999. Waller copyrighted over 400 songs, many of them co-written with his closest collaborator, Andy Razaf. Razaf described his partner as "the soul of melody... a man who made the piano sing... both big in body and in mind... known for his generosity... a bubbling bundle of joy". It is likely that he composed many more popular songs than he has been credited with: when in financial difficulties he had a habit of selling songs to other writers and performers who claimed them as their own. Waller started playing the piano at the age of six, and became a professional organist at 15. By the age of 18, he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American actor, musician, producer, director, and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility, and successfully transformed into a hardboiled leading man, starring in projects of a more dramatic nature. He was the first actor to portray private detective Philip Marlowe on screen. Early life Powell was born the middle of three sons of mother Sally Rowena in Mountain View, the seat of Stone County in northern Arkansas. His brothers were Luther (the eldest) and Howard (the youngest). The family moved the boys to Little Rock in 1914, where Powell sang in church choirs and with local orchestras, and started his own band. Powell attended the former Little Rock College, before he started his entertainment career as a singer with the Royal Peacock Band, which toured throughout the Midwest. During this time, he married Mildred Maund, a model, but she found being married ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century. She was known by the nickname "The Last of the Red-Hot Mamas". Early life Tucker was born Sofiya "Sonya" Kalish (in Russian, Софья «Соня» Калиш; ) in 1886 to a Jewish family in Tulchyn, Russian Empire, now Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. (Sonya is a pet name for Sofiya in both Russian and Ukrainian as well as for Sofya, the Yiddish form of the name Sophia.) They arrived in Boston on September 26, 1887. The family adopted the surname Abuza before immigrating, her father fearing repercussions for having deserted from the Imperial Russian Army. The family lived in Boston's North End for eight years, then settled in Hartford, Connecticut, and opened a restaurant. At a young ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, this "Apostle of Pep" was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five daughters. Some of his hits include "Makin' Whoopee", "Ida (Sweet as Apple Cider)", " If You Knew Susie", "Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me", “ Mandy”, " My Baby Just Cares for Me”, "Margie", and " How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?" He also wrote a few songs, including " Merrily We Roll Along", the ''Merrie Melodies'' Warner Bros. cartoon theme. His eye-rolling song-and-dance routines eventually led to his nickname "Banjo Eyes". In 1933, artist Frederick J. Garner caricatured Cantor with large round eyes resembling the drum-l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernie Hare
Thomas Ernest Hare (March 16, 1883 – March 9, 1939) was an American singer who recorded prolifically during the 1920s and 1930s, finding fame as a radio star on ''the Happiness Boys'' radio program. Career Hare's recording career began in 1918. He was Al Jolson's understudy in the Broadway musical '' Sinbad'' during 1919–20. He recorded with the Cleartone Four, the Crescent Trio, the Harmonizers Quartet, and the Premier Quartet. He made a series recordings with Al Bernard in the late 1910s and the start of the 1920s. As a soloist, he worked under a variety of names (Wallace Daniels, Arthur Grant, Henry Jones, Robert Judson, Walter Lang, Walter Leslie, Roy Roberts, Bob Thomas, Bob Thompson, "Hobo" Jack Turner, and Frank Mann).Gracyk, Tim. ''Popular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
