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The Palm Beach Story
''The Palm Beach Story'' is a 1942 screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, and starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallée. Victor Young contributed the musical score, including a fast-paced variation of the ''William Tell Overture'' for the opening scenes. Typical of a Sturges film, the pacing and dialogue of ''The Palm Beach Story'' are very fast. Plot Inventor Tom Jeffers and his wife Gerry are down on their luck financially. Married for five years, the couple are still waiting for Tom's ship to come in. Anxious for the finer things in a life she's no longer enjoying, Gerry decides that they both would be better off if they split. Before she can act she ends up entangled with the Wienie King, a strange old man being shown round her apartment with his wife by a building manager anxious to rent it out from beneath his delinquent tenants. Sympathetic to her plight - and utterly taken by her youth and charm - the man gives her $700 f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges (; born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. In 1941, he won the Academy Awards, Oscar for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay for the film ''The Great McGinty'' (1940), his first of three nominations in the category. Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations. It is not uncommon for a Sturges character to deliver an exquisitely turned phrase and take an elaborate pratfall within the same scene. Prior to Sturges, other figures in Hollywood (such as Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and Frank Capra) had directed films from their own scripts; however, Sturges is often regarded as the first Hollywood figure to establish success as a screenwriter and then move into directing his own scripts, at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Dudley (actor)
Robert Dudley (September 13, 1869 – September 15, 1955) was a dentist turned film character actor who, in his 35-year career, appeared in more than 115 films. Career Dudley was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and was educated at Lake Forest College in Evanston, Illinois and Chicago, where he majored in oral surgery. In 1917 he appeared in his first film, '' Seven Keys to Baldpate'', and then made three other silent films through 1921. After 1922 he worked consistently, appearing in three or four films a year, and making the transition to sound films in 1929 with '' The Bellamy Trial''. Dudley often played characters with a quick temper, including jurors, shopkeepers, ticket agents, court clerks and justices of the peace, as well as an occasional farmer, hobo, or laborer. His performances in these small parts were frequently uncredited. In the 1940s, Dudley was part of Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors, appearing in six films written and directed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Demarest
Carl William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 27, 1983) was an American character actor, known especially for his roles in screwball comedies by Preston Sturges and for playing Uncle Charley in the sitcom ''My Three Sons'' Demarest, who frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles, was a prolific film and television actor, appearing in over 140 films, beginning in 1926 and ending in the late 1970s. Before his career in motion pictures, he performed in vaudeville for two decades.Pareles, Jon (1983). "William Demarest, 91, Actor, Known for Roles in Comedies", obituary, ''The New York Times'', December 29, 1983, p. D19. Retrieved via subscription to ProQuest Historical Newspapers (Ann Arbor, Michigan), August 27, 2022. Early life Carl William Demarest was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the youngest of threes sons of Wilhelmina (née Lindgren) and Samuel Demarest. During William's infancy, the family moved to New Bridge, a hamlet in Bergen County, New Jersey. Demares ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Conlin
Jimmy Conlin (October 14, 1884 – May 7, 1962) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films in his 32-year career. Career Conlin was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1884, and his acting career started out in vaudeville, where he and his wife Myrtle Glass played the Keith-Albee-Orpheum circuits billed as "Conlin & Glass," a song-and-dance team.Erickson, HaBiography (Allmovie)/ref> They also starred together in two short films, ''Sharps and Flats'' (1928) and ''Zip! Boom! Bang!'' (1929) for Vitaphone. These early shorts display Conlin's musical talents, including his impressive skills at the piano. In later years Conlin became strictly a character comedian, with little opportunity to show his vaudeville skills. Jimmy Conlin made another comedy short without Glass in 1930 (''A Tight Squeeze''), but his film career started in earnest in 1933, and for the next 27 years, with the single exception of 1951, every year saw the release of at least one film in whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Potel
Victor Potel (October 12, 1889 – March 8, 1947) was an American film character actor who began in the silent era and appeared in more than 430 films in his 38-year career. Career Victor Potel was born in Lafayette, Indiana in 1889, and his acting career goes back almost to the beginning of the commercial film industry in the United States. He made his first silent film in 1910, a comedy short filmed in Chicago by Essanay Film Manufacturing Company called ''A Dog on Business''. Potel continued to make films for Essanay, appearing in dozens of films every year, including most of the Broncho Billy series, and played a character called "Slippery Slim" in 80 movies. He also appeared in Universal Pictures' "Snakeville" series.Erickson, HaBiography (Allmovie)/ref> Potel's first talking picture was ''Melody of Love'', starring Walter Pidgeon, made for Universal in 1928, and in the sound era he continued to work continuously and constantly, playing small parts and sometimes uncre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torben Meyer
Torben Emil Meyer (1 December 1884 – 22 May 1975) was a Danish-American character actor who appeared in more than 190 films in a 55-year career. He began his acting career in Europe before moving to the United States. Early life Meyer was born in either CopenhagenAllan R. Ellenberger, ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'', page 27, McFarland Publishing, 2001 or Aarhus, Denmark and began his career as a stage actor.Mette Hjort, Ursula Lindqvist, ''A Companion to Nordic Cinema'', page 408, Wiley, 2016 Starting in 1912 Meyer acted in 20 European silent movies, culminating with ''Don Quixote'' in 1926. He emigrated to the United States in 1927.Diane Kachar, David Goudsward, ''The Fly at 50: The Creation and Legacy of a Classic Science Fiction Film'' (Kindle), BearManor Media, 2015 Hollywood acting career Danish friends Benjamin Christensen and Jean Hersholt may have helped Meyer obtain his first roles in Hollywood films. For decades Meyer found roles playing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Warwick
Robert Warwick (born Robert Taylor Bien, October 9, 1878 – June 6, 1964) was an American stage, film and television actor with over 200 film appearances. A matinee idol during the silent film era, he also prospered after the introduction of sound to cinema. As a young man he had studied opera singing in Paris and had a rich, resonant voice. At the age of 50, he developed as a highly regarded, aristocratic character actor and made numerous "talkies". Early life Warwick was born Robert Taylor Bien in 1878 to Louis and Isabel (Taylor) Bien. Some sources say he was born in England; others say Sacramento, California. His father was of French ethnicity. Bien studied music in Paris and trained for two years to be an opera singer, but acting proved to be his greater calling. He met his future wife, Arline Peck in Paris; the American couple married in 1902. After his return to the United States, he started in theatre and then film. Stage Warwick (by then using his stage name) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Rosenthal
Harry Rosenthal (15 May c. 1893 – 10 May 1953) was an orchestra leader, composer, pianist and actor. Biography Rosenthal was born in Belfast in 1893, and by the 1920s he was in London where he had a thriving musical career as a composer, bandleader and pianist, including composing five operettas which met with great success. He came to the United States by 1929, when he wrote songs for Herbert Stothart's musical ''Polly'' on Broadway, and in 1930 acted in Ring Lardner and George S. Kaufman's play ''June Moon'', which was revived in 1933. After he met Edward, the Prince of Wales at a reception, he accompanied the heir to the British throne on a world tour. Rosenthal's film career began in 1931 and ended in 1948, during which time he worked on 19 films, playing pianists, orchestra leaders and also non-musical roles, as well as composing music (for ''The Sin of Harold Diddlebock'') and conducting (on '' For Me and My Gal''). In the early 1940s, Rosenthal was part of wr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Moran
Francis Charles Moran (18 March 1887 – 14 December 1967) was an American boxer and film actor who fought twice for the Heavyweight Championship of the World, and appeared in over 135 movies in a 25-year film career. Sports career Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Martin Moran and Mary Moran née McNally, immigrants from County Mayo, Ireland. Moran studied dentistry at the University of Pittsburgh where he also played football. He played professional football for the Pittsburgh Lyceums and Akron Pros as a guard and center. While Moran was serving in the U.S. Navy in 1908, he knocked out fighter Fred Cooley in the second round. While serving on the U.S.S. Mayflower, he served as a spar partner for President Theodore Roosevelt. He began his career as a prize-fighter that same year with a match against Fred Broad. Soon, Moran, who had a hard right hand punch which he called "Mary Ann", became known as the "White Hope" of the teens. In 1914 he fought Jack Johnson for the Heavy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles R
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "free man". The Old English descendant of this word was '' Ċearl'' or ''Ċeorl'', as the name of King Cearl of Mercia, that disappeared after the Norman conquest of England. The name was notably borne by Charlemagne (Charles the Great), and was at the time Latinized as ''Karolus'' (as in ''Vita Karoli Magni''), later also as '' Carolus''. Some Germanic languages, for example Dutch and German, have retained the word in two separate senses. In the particular case of Dutch, ''Karel'' refers to the given name, whereas the noun ''kerel'' means "a bloke, fellow, man". Etymology The name's etymology is a Common Germanic noun ''*karilaz'' meaning "free man", which survives in English as churl (< Old English ''ċeorl''), which developed its depr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Toones
Fred "Snowflake" Toones (January 5, 1906 – February 13, 1962) was an American actor and comedian. He appeared in over 200 films in his career spanning 23 years. Career He appeared in over 200 films between 1928 and 1951. His standard characterization was that of a middle-aged "colored" man with a high-pitched voice and childlike demeanor. Like ‘Curly’ Howard and Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister, who followed the black tradition of using an antonymous nickname as both their professional name and character name, "Snowflake" was the distinct stage name by which Toones was best known, and he used this name as his credit as early as his third film, 1931's ''Shanghaied Love''. Likewise, in ''Shanghaied Love'' and over 35 other films, “Snowflake” was also Toones’ character name. Toones acted in films such as ''Mississippi'' (1935), ''Hawk of the Wilderness'' (1938), and ''Daredevils of the Red Circle'' (1939) with Bruce Bennett and in many "B" westerns such as '' The Lawle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Bridge
Alfred Morton Bridge (February 26, 1891 – December 27, 1957) was an American character actor who played mostly small roles in over 270 films between 1931 and 1954. Bridge's persona was an unpleasant, gravel-voiced man with an untidy moustache. Sometimes credited as Alan Bridge, and frequently not credited onscreen at all, he appeared in many westerns, especially in the Hopalong Cassidy series, where he played crooked sheriffs and henchmen. Life and career Bridge and his sister, who became actress Loie Bridge, were raised by their mother and stepfather, a Philadelphia butcher. Bridge went into vaudeville with relatives when he was still a teenager Bridge served in the American infantry during World War I. Rejoining relatives in a theatrical troupe, Bridge toured the U.S. as an actor and wrote a few scripts. He broke into movies with a pair of minor screenplays (the comedy short ''Her Hired Husband'' in 1930 and a Western, ''God's Country and the Man'' (1931), in which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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