The Singing Fool
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The Singing Fool
''The Singing Fool'' is a 1928 American musical drama part-talkie motion picture directed by Lloyd Bacon which was released by Warner Bros. The film stars Al Jolson and is a follow-up to his previous film, ''The Jazz Singer''. It is credited with helping to cement the popularity of American films of both sound and the musical genre. Plot After years of hopeful struggle, Al Stone (Jolson) is on his way to stardom. He plays a blackface minstrel. "I'm Sittin' on Top of the World", he sings to an appreciative speakeasy crowd. But, as Al discovers, getting there is one thing. Staying there is another. Singing waiter Stone gets his huge break on a magical night when his song wows a big-time producer ''and'' a gold-digging showgirl he fancies. Broadway success and marriage follow, but sure enough, hard times are on the way. Al's fickle wife abandons him, taking the beloved son he calls Sonny Boy with her. Heartbroken, Al becomes a devastated loner until friends from the speakeasy t ...
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Lloyd Bacon
Lloyd Francis Bacon (December 4, 1889 – November 15, 1955) was an American screen, stage and vaudeville actor and film director. As a director he made films in virtually all genres, including westerns, musicals, comedies, gangster films, and crime dramas. He was one of the directors at Warner Bros. in the 1930s who helped give that studio its reputation for gritty, fast-paced "torn from the headlines" action films. And, in directing Warner Bros.' ''42nd Street (film), 42nd Street'', he joined the movie's song-and-dance-number director, Busby Berkeley, in contributing to "an instant and enduring classic [that] transformed the musical genre." Early life Lloyd Bacon was born on December 4, 1889 in San Jose, California, the son of actor/playwright Frank Bacon (actor), Frank Bacon - the co-author and star of the long-running Broadway show Lightnin' (play), Lightnin' (1918) - and Jennie Weidman. Lloyd Bacon was not, contrary to some accounts, related to actor Irving Bacon, althoug ...
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Reed Howes
Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (other) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Reed reaction, in chemistry * Reed receiver, an outdated form of multi-channel signal decoding * Reed relay, one or more reed switches controlled by an electromagnet * Reed switch, an electrical switch operated by an applied magnetic field * Reed valve, restricts the flow of fluids to a single direction * Reed (weaving), a comb like tool for beating the weft when weaving * Reed's law, describes the utility of large networks, particularly social networks * Reed–Solomon error correction, a systematic way of building codes that can be used to detect and correct multiple random symbol errors * Reed–Sternberg cell, related to Hodgkin's disease Organizations * Reed (company), offering employment-related services (UK) * Reed and Stem, forme ...
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Film Daily
''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, information on court cases and union difficulties, and equipment breakthroughs. Publication history The publication was originated by Wid Gunning in 1913 (though not as a daily) and was known as ''Wid's Film and Film Folk'' (1915–1916) and ''Wid's Independent Review of Feature Films'' (1916–1918). Gunning was previously film editor at the ''New York Evening Mail''. He also published ''Wid's Weekly'', and ''Wid's Year Book''. In 1918, Joseph ("Danny") Dannenberg and Jack Alicoate purchased an interest in ''Wid's Weekly''. On March 8, 1918 they released a daily publication, ''Wid's Daily''. In 1921, Dannenberg and Alicoate took control of Wid's Films & Film Folk Inc., with Dannenberg as president and editor, and the publication changed name, in 1 ...
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Sergeant York (film)
''Sergeant York'' is a 1941 American biographical film about the life of Alvin C. York, one of the most decorated American soldiers of World War I. Directed by Howard Hawks and starring Gary Cooper in the title role, the film was a critical and commercial success, and became the highest-grossing film of 1941. The film was based on York's diary, as edited by Tom Skeyhill, and adapted by Harry Chandlee, Abem Finkel, John Huston, Howard E. Koch, and Sam Cowan (uncredited). York refused, several times, to authorize a film version of his life story, but finally yielded to persistent efforts to finance the creation of an interdenominational Bible school. The story that York insisted on Cooper for the title role comes from a telegram that producer Jesse L. Lasky wrote to Cooper pleading with him to accept the part, to which he signed York's name. Cooper went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, while the film also won Best Film Editing and was nominate ...
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Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937 Film)
''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' is a 1937 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the 1812 German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, it is the first full-length traditionally animated feature film and the first Disney animated feature film. The story was adapted by storyboard artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears and Webb Smith. David Hand was the supervising director, while William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen directed the film's individual sequences. ''Snow White'' premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California on December 21, 1937. It was a critical and commercial success and, with international earnings of more than $8 million during its initial release (compared to its $1.5 million budget), it briefly held the record of highest-grossing sound film ...
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Say It With Songs
''Say It with Songs'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical drama film, directed by Lloyd Bacon and released by Warner Bros. The film stars Al Jolson and Davey Lee and was a follow-up to their previous film, ''The Singing Fool'' (1928). Plot Joe Lane, radio entertainer and songwriter, learns that the manager of the studio, Arthur Phillips, has made improper advances to his wife, Katherine. Infuriated, Lane engages him in a fight, and the encounter results in Phillips' accidental death. Joe goes to prison and soon insists that Katherine divorce him, for her and their son's sake, and marry her employer, Dr. Merrill, since Joe has learned the doctor has feelings for Katherine and would provide for them well. When Joe is released he visits his son, Little Pal, at school and they embrace during outdoor recess. Joe says goodbye when recess is over, but Little Pal follows Joe downtown and is soon struck by a truck, causing the paralysis of his legs and loss of his voice. Joe takes the bo ...
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Silent Film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when necessary, be conveyed by the use of title cards. The term "silent film" is something of a misnomer, as these films were almost always accompanied by live sounds. During the silent era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist—or even, in large cities, a small orchestra—would often play music to accompany the films. Pianists and organists would play either from sheet music, or improvisation. Sometimes a person would even narrate the inter-title cards for the audience. Though at the time the technology to synchronize sound with the film did not exist, music was seen as an essential part of the viewing experience. "Silent film" is typically used as a historical term to describe an era of cinema pri ...
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Melodrama
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or excessively sentimental, rather than action. Characters are often flat, and written to fulfill stereotypes. Melodramas are typically set in the private sphere of the home, focusing on morality and family issues, love, and marriage, often with challenges from an outside source, such as a "temptress", a scoundrel, or an aristocratic villain. A melodrama on stage, filmed, or on television is usually accompanied by dramatic and suggestive music that offers cues to the audience of the drama being presented. In scholarly and historical musical contexts, ''melodramas'' are Victorian dramas in which orchestral music or song was used to accompany the action. The term is now also applied to stage performances without incidental music, novels, films, tel ...
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Robert Perry (actor)
Bob Perry (December 26, 1878 – January 8, 1962) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 190 films between 1912 and 1965. Selected filmography *'' The Devil Within'' (1921) * ''Iron to Gold'' (1922) * '' Volcano!'' (1926) * ''Jaws of Steel'' (1927) * ''The Fortune Hunter'' (1927) * ''The Singing Fool'' (1928) * ''Shadows of the Night'' (1928) * '' Sin Town'' (1929) * ''Noisy Neighbors'' (1929) * '' The Sea God'' (1930) * ''The Finger Points'' (1931) * '' The Lawyer's Secret'' (1931) * '' The Fighting Marshal'' (1931) * '' Hideaway'' (1937) * ''Manhattan Merry-Go-Round ''Manhattan Merry-Go-Round'' is an NBC musical variety radio program that was broadcast from November 6, 1932, until April 17, 1949. The musical revue was produced by Frank and Anne Hummert. Sponsored by Dr. Lyons Tooth Powder, the radio series wa ...'' (1937) References External links * 1878 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male film actors Male actors fr ...
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The Yacht Club Boys
The Yacht Club Boys were a quartet of American comic singers, popular in the 1920s and 1930s. The best-known set of Yacht Club Boys consisted of Charlie Adler, George Kelly, Billy Mann, and Jimmie Kern. They made recordings from the 1920s and appeared as a specialty act in several feature films and short subjects of the 1930s. The Yacht Club Boys' screen career and on-screen behavior paralleled those of The Ritz Brothers, a musical-comedy trio doing the same type of musical burlesques. The Yacht Club Boys began in 1926 as a "smart set" nightclub act: Chick Endor (lead vocalist and guitarist), George Walsh (piano), Tommy Purcell (violin), and Billy Mann (comedian). They earned high billing and high salaries almost immediately, and embarked on a European tour within their first year. In 1929 Jimmie Kern replaced Purcell, who had retired from show business, and the act became "collegiate." The group now dressed in varsity-styled sweaters and slacks, and sang novelty tunes in breezy fas ...
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Helen Lynch
Helen Lynch (April 6, 1900 – March 2, 1965) was an American silent film actress, mainly known for her roles playing gun molls and other morally dubious characters. Biography Lynch was born in 1900 in Billings, Montana, where she was also raised. When she was one year old, her father died, and Lynch was raised along with her sister, Agnes, by their mother, Christian Fraser. When she was 9 years old, the family relocated to Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, California, which at the time was a small suburb of Los Angeles situated amongst orchards. After working as a film extra, Lynch was chosen as one of thirteen WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1923. During her career, she was mostly cast in comedies, and often portrayed gun molls and other controversial female characters. She acted in a number of films throughout the 1920s and four small roles in the 1930s. It appears she returned one last time to the screen in the 1940 film ''Women Without Names''. She was married to actor Carroll Ny ...
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