The Joker Is Wild
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The Joker Is Wild
''The Joker Is Wild'' is a 1957 American Musical film, musical drama film directed by Charles Vidor, starring Frank Sinatra, Mitzi Gaynor, Jeanne Crain, and Eddie Albert, and released by Paramount Pictures. The film is about Joe E. Lewis, the popular singer and comedian who was a major attraction in nightclubs from the 1920s to the early 1950s. Plot In 1929 Joe E. Lewis is a successful night-club singer in Chicago while working for the American Mafia, Mob during the Prohibition in the United States, Prohibition era. His decision to work elsewhere displeases his mob employer who has his thugs assault him by slashing his face and throat, preventing him from continuing his career as a singer. After many years he eventually recovers and turns his acerbic and witty sense of humor into an act when given a break as a stand-up comedian from singer Sophie Tucker. Soon, Lewis makes a career for himself as a comic, but heavy drinking and a self-destructive behavior leads him to question wh ...
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Charles Vidor
Charles Vidor (born Károly Vidor; July 27, 1900June 4, 1959) was a Hungarian film director. Among his film successes are ''The Bridge'' (1929), ''The Tuttles of Tahiti'' (1942), ''The Desperadoes'' (1943), ''Cover Girl'' (1944), '' Together Again'' (1944), '' A Song to Remember'' (1945), ''Over 21'' (1945), ''Gilda'' (1946), '' The Loves of Carmen'' (1948), ''Rhapsody'' (1954), '' Love Me or Leave Me'' (1955), ''The Swan'' (1956), ''The Joker Is Wild'' (1957), and '' A Farewell to Arms'' (1957). Life and career Born Károly Vidor in Budapest, Hungary, he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. He first came to prominence during the final years of the silent film era, working with Alex Korda among others. Contrary to common belief, he is not related to fellow director King Vidor (1894–1982). Early Hollywood career In 1922, Vidor emigrated to the United States. He worked as a basso for the English Grand Opera Company. He was a chorus boy in ''Love Song'' an ...
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Beverly Garland
Beverly Lucy Garland (née Fessenden; October 17, 1926 – December 5, 2008) was an American actress. Her work in feature films primarily consisted of small parts in a few major productions or leads in low-budget action or science-fiction movies. On television, however, she had prominent recurring roles on several popular series. She may be best remembered as Barbara Harper Douglas, the woman who married widower Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray) in the latter years of the sitcom ''My Three Sons''. She played in that role from 1969 until the series concluded in 1972. In the 1980s, she co-starred as Dotty West, the mother of Kate Jackson's character, in the CBS television series ''Scarecrow and Mrs. King''. She had a recurring role as Ginger Jackson on '' 7th Heaven''. In 1957–1958, she starred in the TV crime-drama ''Decoy'', which ran for 39 episodes. Early life and career Beverly Lucy Fessenden was born on October 17, 1926, in Santa Cruz, California, the daughter of Amelia R ...
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Jimmy Van Heusen
James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and career Born in Syracuse, New York, Van Heusen began writing music while at high school. He renamed himself at age 16, after the shirt makers Phillips-Van Heusen, to use as his on-air name during local shows. His close friends called him "Chet".Coppula, C. (2014). ''Jimmy Van Heusen: Swinging on a Star''. Nashville: Twin Creek Books. Jimmy was raised Methodist. Studying at Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University, he became friends with Jerry Arlen, the younger brother of Harold Arlen. With the elder Arlen's help, Van Heusen wrote songs for the Cotton Club revue, including "Harlem Hospitality". He then became a staff pianist for some of the Tin Pan Alley publishers, and wrote "It's the Dreamer in Me" (1938) with lyrics by Jimmy Dorsey. Colla ...
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All The Way (Frank Sinatra Song)
"All the Way" is a song published in 1957 by Maraville Music Corporation. The music was written by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Frank Sinatra recording In 1957, a recording of "All the Way", was made famous by Frank Sinatra It was introduced in the film ''The Joker Is Wild.'' Sinatra also had the best-selling recorded version of the song. Aside from this song, he also sang " Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)" for the movie. It wound up as the flipside of "All the Way" when Capitol Records released the song as a single. The single reached #15 in sales and #2 in airplay in Billboard's charts. The track peaked at #3 in the UK Singles Chart. The song in its orchestral arrangement by Nelson Riddle received the 1957 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Sinatra rerecorded the song, with a Nelson Riddle arrangement, for his 1963 album ''Sinatra's Sinatra''. Translations Mina performed "Si, amor", the Italian version of the song, in ''Canzonissima'', a 1968 RAI musical variety ...
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Academy Award For Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed the best ''original'' song written specifically for a film. The performers of a song are not credited with the Academy Award unless they contributed either to music, lyrics, or both in their own right. The songs that are nominated for this award are typically performed during the ceremony and before this award is presented. The award category was introduced at the 7th Academy Awards, the ceremony honoring the best in film for 1934. Nominations are made by Academy members who are songwriters and composers, and the winners are chosen by the Academy membership as a whole. Fifteen songs are shortlisted before nominations are announced. Eligibility , the Academy's rules stipulate that "an original song consists of words and music, both of whic ...
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Variety Magazine
''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based in Los Angeles, to cover the motion-picture industry. ''Variety.com'' features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, cover stories, videos, photo galleries and features, plus a credits database, production charts and calendar, with archive content dating back to 1905. History Foundation ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. As a result, he decided to start his own publication "that ouldnot be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father- ...
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Films And Filming
''Films and Filming'' was the longest-running British gay magazine prior to the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales.Bengry, Justin"The Queer History of Films and Filming."''Little Joe: A magazine about queers and cinema, mostly'' 2 (2011): 31–41. Launched in 1954, the magazine included gay-themed articles and images (including profiles and images of actors such as Dirk Bogarde and Rock Hudson, whose sexualities were ambiguous at the time), commercial and personal advertisements featuring same-sex desire, and included articles on the censorship of gay themes in film and theatre. ''Films and Filming'' was considered a mainstream and internationally-respected magazine throughout the 1950s and 1960s. It was widely available in bookshops and newsagents, and was the most successful title of Hansom Books. Following the Sexual Offences Act 1967, when gay sex was partially decriminalised in England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three le ...
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Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States. The publication has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes. It is owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by the Times Mirror Company. The newspaper’s coverage emphasizes California and especially Southern California stories. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. In recent decades the paper's readership has declined, and it has been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff reductions, and other controversies. In January 2018, the paper's staff voted to unionize and final ...
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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 media, digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as ''The Daily (podcast), The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones (publisher), George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won List of Pulitzer Prizes awarded to The New York Times, 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national "newspaper of record". For print it is ranked List of newspapers by circulation, 18th in the world by circulation and List of newspapers in the United States, 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is Public company, publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 189 ...
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 and based in Beverly Hills, California. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Productions, Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious film studio, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of ''Ben-Hur (1959 film), Ben Hur''. After that, it divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain, and, in the 1960s, diversified ...
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Hank Henry
Hank Henry (July 9, 1906 – March 31, 1981) was an American comedian, known for his stage work on the Las Vegas Strip for decades. He was also a film and television actor. Henry got his start in American burlesque and was the comic to straightman Robert Alda, Alan Alda's father. Biography Henry was born Henry Rosenthal in New York City; the son of Anna (née Richards), and Franklin Rosenthal. Henry's mother came from England, and his father was German-American descended from the Pennsylvania Dutch. Hank Henry made his screen debut in 1937, in a comedy short, ''Dime a Dance'', produced in New York by Educational Pictures. The film also featured up-and-coming performers Imogene Coca, Danny Kaye, June Allyson, and Barry Sullivan. It was a one-shot assignment, which Henry filmed during a burlesque engagement. Henry relocated to California and resumed his movie career in 1943. He acted in films such as ''This Is the Army'', ''Junior Prom'', ''The Joker Is Wild'', '' Pal Joey'', ''O ...
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Leonard Graves
Leonard Graves (1927-2000) was an American actor and singer best known for narrating the 1952 television documentary ''Victory at Sea.'' Graves was the only voice on the 26-part series, which won multiple awards, including a 1954 Emmy for Best Public Affairs Program, a special Peabody award and the Freedoms Foundation's George Washington Medal. Graves was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1927 and began his performing career in radio. He joined the Broadway cast of ''The King and I'' as the Interpreter and also understudied for Yul Brynner as the King, filling in on many occasions. Graves took over the lead when Brynner left the show, and after a two-year run on Broadway, he joined a national tour.Ask Vance: Leonard Graves
Vance Lauderdale, Memphis Magazine, January 11, 2018
Graves appeared in several motion pictures ...
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