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The Big Broadcast Of 1938
''The Big Broadcast of 1938'' is a Paramount Pictures musical comedy film starring W. C. Fields and featuring Bob Hope. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, the film is the last in a series of ''Big Broadcast'' movies that were variety show anthologies. This film featured the debut of Hope's signature song, "Thanks for the Memory" by Ralph Rainger. Plot In what is being billed as "The Race of the Ages," the new forty-million-dollar “radio powered” Streamlined Ocean Liner S.S. ''Gigantic'' (“America’s Challenge for Crossing Record”) is about to race its rival, the slightly smaller S.S. ''Colossal'' across the Atlantic from New York’s Pier 97 to Cherbourg in two-and-a-half days. ''Gigantic'' owner T. Frothingill “T.F.” Bellows (W. C. Fields) intends to send his nearly identical younger brother S.B. (also Fields) to sail aboard the ''Colossal'', hoping he will cause trouble and sabotage the rival ship, enabling the ''Gigantic'' and his own Bellows Line to win. However S.B., ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitchell Leisen
James Mitchell Leisen (October 6, 1898 – October 28, 1972) was an American director, art director, and costume designer. Film career He entered the film industry in the 1920s, beginning in the art and costume departments. He directed his first film in 1933 with '' Cradle Song'' and became known for his keen sense of aesthetics in the glossy Hollywood melodramas and screwball comedies he turned out. His best known films include Alberto Casella's adaptation of ''Death Takes a Holiday'' and ''Murder at the Vanities'', a musical mystery story (both 1934), as well as ''Midnight'' (1939) and ''Hold Back the Dawn'' (1941), both scripted by Billy Wilder. '' Easy Living'' (1937), written by Preston Sturges and starring Jean Arthur, was another hit for the director, who also directed ''Remember the Night'' (1940), the last film written by Sturges before he started directing his scripts as well. ''Lady in the Dark'' (1944), '' To Each His Own'' (1946), and '' No Man of Her Own'' (1950 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States (behind Universal Pictures), and the sole member of the Major film studio, "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor put 24 actors and actresses under contract and honored each with a star on the logo. In 1967, the number of stars was reduced to 22 and their hidden meaning was dropped. In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. The company's headquarters and studios are located at 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, California. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, Motion Picture Associ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Serry Sr
John Serry Sr. (born John Serrapica; January 29, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was an American concert accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, and educator. He performed on the CBS Radio and Television networks and contributed to Voice of America's cultural diplomacy initiatives during the Golden Age of Radio. He also concertized on the accordion as a member of several orchestras and jazz ensembles for nearly forty years between the 1930s and 1960s. Biography Serry's career spanned over seven decades. As a proponent of Latin American music and the free-bass accordion, he performed as the piano accordionist on the radio music program ''Viva América'', which was broadcast live to South America under the United States Department of State's Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs' cultural diplomacy initiative for Voice of America during World War II. Broadcasts of this show have been cited as helping to introduce Latin American music and the Mexican bolero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorna Gray
Virginia Pound (July 26, 1917 – April 30, 2017), known professionally as Lorna Gray and (after 1945) Adrian Booth, was an American film actress known for her comic roles, and later as a villainess. She is best known for her roles in Columbia Pictures comedy shorts and Republic Pictures serials. Early years Gray was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After her father's millinery business was a victim of the Great Depression, the family split up. Before appearing in films, Gray sang with a group in Cleveland called Ben Yost's Varsity Coeds, who performed primarily in movie theaters before the movie began. Career Although she had a film test at Universal Studios and a brief contract with Paramount Pictures, she made her first big film for Columbia Pictures. As a Columbia contract player she appeared in the studio's shorts and serials, including ''Flying G-Men'' (starring Robert Paige), ''Pest from the West'' (starring Buster Keaton), and ''You Nazty Spy!'' (starring The Thre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grace Bradley
Grace Bradley (September 21, 1913 – September 21, 2010) was an American film actress who was active in Hollywood during the 1930s. Early life Bradley was born in Brooklyn and was an only child. As a child, she took piano lessons and, by the age of six, she gave her first recital. She attended the Eastman School of Music near Rochester, New York by age 12, after winning a scholarship. Originally, she had wanted to become a professional pianist. While in school, she took dance lessons and played piano. As one obituary noted, she "played the piano, sang and danced, on stage and in nightclubs, from an early age to help support her widowed mother." Her grandfather had wanted her to be educated in Berlin, Germany so that she could receive more formal education but a Broadway producer discovered her during one of her dance recitals and hired her for a professional show. On December 22, 1930, she made her Broadway debut at New York's Hammerstein Theatre in ''Ballyhoo of 1930''. Her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alimony
Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial support to their spouse before or after marital separation or divorce. The obligation arises from the divorce law or family law of each country. In most jurisdictions, it is distinct from child support, where, after divorce, one parent is required to contribute to the support of their children by paying money to the child's other parent or guardian. Etymology The term alimony comes from the Latin word '' alimōnia'' ("nourishment, sustenance", from ''alere,'' "to nourish"), from which the terms alimentary (of, or relating to food, nutrition, or digestion), and aliment (a Scots Law rule regarding sustenance to assure the wife's lodging, food, clothing, and other necessities after divorce) are also derived. History The Code of Hammurabi (1754 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Hicks (actor)
Edward Russell Hicks (June 4, 1895 – June 1, 1957) was an American film character actor. Hicks was born in 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army in France. He later became a lieutenant Colonel in the California State Guard. Hicks was a prolific character actor appearing in bit parts and small supporting roles in nearly 300 films between 1933 and 1956. He often appeared as a smooth-talking confidence man, or swindler as in the W.C. Fields film ''The Bank Dick'' (1940). Distinguished, suave and a consummate actor, Hicks played a variety of judges, corrupt officials, crooked businessmen and attorneys, working in a variety of mediums almost until his death. Hicks appeared once in the syndicated western television series ''The Cisco Kid'' as an uncle of the Gail Davis character, whom he threatens to disinherit if she marries a known gangster. Broadway plays in which Hicks acted included ''The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial'' (1954), ''On Borrowed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cherbourg-Octeville
Cherbourg-Octeville () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.Commune de Cherbourg-Octeville (50129), commune déléguée INSEE It was formed when and Octeville merged on 28 February 2000.Décret 23 February 2000 On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of |
Streamlined Ocean Liner
The Streamlined Ocean Liner was a design by Norman Bel Geddes for a streamlined steam-powered ocean liner. The shape was compared by Pathé to that of a porpoise, blunt at the front and tapered at the rear. It first appeared in Geddes' 1932 book ''Horizons'' and an outline patent was filed in 1933 with a detailed patent following in 1934. An offer was made for the rights to the design in the late 1930s, which Geddes refused, as he still hoped to sell it to an American shipbuilder, but the ship was never built. Background Norman Bel Geddes was one of the first industrial designers in the United States. He was one of the pioneers of streamlining in design, producing ambitious and futuristic projects in the 1930s for vehicles, flying cars, aircraft, and consumer goods, only some of which were realized. Design The liner was designed by Norman Bel Geddes and his staff as an "office exercise", an ambitious or unusual project of the type that Geddes was in the habit of giving to his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Rainger
Ralph Rainger ( Reichenthal; October 7, 1901 – October 23, 1942) was an American composer of popular music principally for films. Biography Born Ralph Reichenthal in New York City, United States, Rainger initially embarked on a legal career, having obtained his law degree at Brown University in 1926. He had, however, studied piano from a young age and attended the Institute of Musical Art in New York. Public performances include radio broadcasts from New York and WOR (New Jersey) as early as 1922. These were as soloist, accompanist to singers, and as duo-pianist with Adam Carroll or "Edgar Fairchild" (the name Milton Suskind used for commercial work).“Round the Radio Circuit.” New York Telegram and Evening Mail, 2 July 1924. He also prepared piano rolls between 1922 and 1928 for Ampico, Standard, and DeLuxe. Some of these used the "Reichenthal" surname, others the "Rainger" name he was gradually adopting commercially. Other early musical activities include arranging for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thanks For The Memory
"Thanks for the Memory" (1938) is a popular song composed by Ralph Rainger with lyrics by Leo Robin. It was introduced in the 1938 film ''The Big Broadcast of 1938'' by Bob Hope and Shirley Ross, and recorded by Shep Fields and His Orchestra featuring John Serry Sr. on accordion in the film and vocals by Bob Goday on Bluebird Records (B-7318, 1937). Dorothy Lamour's solo recording of the song was also popular, and has led to many mistakenly believing over the years that it was she who sang the tune with Hope in the film (in which Lamour also appeared). In the film, Ross and Hope's characters are a divorced couple who encounter each other aboard a ship. Near the film's end, they poignantly sing one of the many versions of this song, recalling the ups and downs of their relationship (then they decide to get back together). In the fifth verse of the song for the film, Robin recalled the couple’s romantic weekend in Niagara. His original lyrics were: "That weekend at Niagara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthology Film
An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise, or author. Sometimes each one is directed by a different director or written by a different author, or may even have been made at different times or in different countries. Anthology films are distinguished from " revue films" such as ''Paramount on Parade'' (1930)—which were common in Hollywood in the early decades of sound film, composite films, and compilation films. Sometimes there is a theme, such as a place (e.g. ''New York Stories'', ''Paris, je t'aime''), a person (e.g. ''Four Rooms''), or a thing (e.g. '' Twenty Bucks'', '' Coffee and Cigarettes'', '' Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia''), that is present in each story and serves to bind them together. Two of the earliest films to use the form were Edmund Goulding's '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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