The Spook Speaks
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The Spook Speaks
''The Spook Speaks'' is a 1940 film directed by Jules White. It is the sixth short subject starring Buster Keaton made for Columbia Pictures. Plot Buster and his wife Elsie Ames are temps sent to a house owned by a spiritualist/magician Professor Mordini (Lynton Brent), where they are to act as caretakers. Mordini leaves on a vacation and warns the couple not to let his former assistant in the house to steal his secrets. Spooky gags follow, along with a penguin on roller skates. A newlywed couple arrives (Dorothy Appleby and Don Beddoe), and the wife is fascinated by spiritualism. Mordini's vengeful former assistant Bruce Bennett breaks into the house and finds Mordini's master controls, scaring everyone out of the house at last. Cast * Buster Keaton as the caretaker * Elsie Ames as his wife * Lynton Brent as Professor Mordini * Dorothy Appleby as the newlywed wife * Don Beddoe as the newlywed husband * Bruce Bennett as the former assistant * Orson the penguin See also * Buster K ...
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Jules White
Jules White (born Julius Weiss; hu, Weisz Gyula; 17 September 190030 April 1985) was a Hungarian-American film director and producer best known for his short-subject comedies starring The Three Stooges Early years White began working in motion pictures in the 1910s, as a child actor, for Pathé Studios. He appears in a small role as a Confederate soldier in the landmark silent feature ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915). By the 1920s his brother Jack White had become a successful comedy producer at Educational Pictures, and Jules worked for him as a film editor. Jules became a director in 1926, specializing in comedies such as The Battling Kangaroo (1926). In 1930 White and his boyhood friend Zion Myers moved to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio. They conceived and co-directed M-G-M's gimmicky Dogville Comedies, which featured trained dogs in satires of recent Hollywood films (like ''The Dogway Melody'' and ''So Quiet on the Canine Front''). White and Myers co-directed the B ...
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Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Sony. On June 19, 1918, brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and their business partner Joe Brandt founded Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation, which would eventually become Columbia Pictures. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name on January 10, 1924 (operating as Columbia Pictures Corporation until December 23, 1968) went public two years later and eventually began to use the image of Columbia, the female personification of the United States, as its logo. In its early years, Columbia was a minor player in Hollywood, but began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra. With Capra and others such as the most successful two reel comedy series The Three Stooges, C ...
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American Comedy Short Films
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * ...
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Films Directed By Jules White
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound and, more rarely, other sensory stimulations. The word "cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film industry, and to the art form that is the result of it. Recording and transmission of film The moving images of a film are created by photographing actual scenes with a motion-picture camera, by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques, by means of CGI and computer animation, or by a combination of some or all of these techniques, and other visual effects. Before the introduction of digital production, series of still images were recorded on a strip of chemically sensitiz ...
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American Black-and-white Films
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soc ...
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Columbia Pictures Short Films
Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in the U.S. Pacific Northwest * Columbia River, in Canada and the United States ** Columbia Bar, a sandbar in the estuary of the Columbia River ** Columbia Country, the region of British Columbia encompassing the northern portion of that river's upper reaches ***Columbia Valley, a region within the Columbia Country ** Columbia Lake, a lake at the head of the Columbia River *** Columbia Wetlands, a protected area near Columbia Lake ** Columbia Slough, along the Columbia watercourse near Portland, Oregon * Glacial Lake Columbia, a proglacial lake in Washington state * Columbia Icefield, in the Canadian Rockies * Columbia Island (District of Columbia), in the Potomac River * Columbia Island (New York), in Long Island Sound Populated plac ...
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1940 Comedy Films
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 194 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus and Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Caesar become Roman Consuls. * Battle of Issus: Septimius Severus marches with his army (12 legions) to Cilicia, and defeats Pescennius Niger, Roman governor of Syria. Pescennius retreats to Antioch, and is executed by Severus' troops. * Septimius Severus besieges Byzantium (194–196); the city walls suffer extensive damage. Asia * Battle of Yan Province: Warlords Cao Cao and Lü Bu fight for control over Yan Province; the battle lasts for over 100 day ...
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1940 Films
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney films '' Pinocchio'' and ''Fantasia''. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1940 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * February 10 – Tom and Jerry make their debut in the animated cartoon ''Puss Gets the Boot''. *February 23 – Walt Disney's second animated feature film '' Pinocchio'' is released. Although not a box office success upon its initial release, the film receives critical acclaim and wins two Academy Awards, including one for Best Original Song for " When You Wish Upon a Star". Over the years, ''Pinocchio'' has gained a cult following and is now considered one of the greatest films of all time. * April 12 – Alfred Hitchcock's first American film ''Rebecca'' is released, under the production of David O. Selznick. It would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture the following year. * May 17 – '' My Favorite Wife'' ...
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International Buster Keaton Society
The International Buster Keaton Society Inc.— a.k.a. "The Damfinos"—is the official educational organization dedicated to comedy film producer-director-writer-actor-stuntman Buster Keaton. Mission According to the Damfinos, their mission is "to foster and perpetuate appreciation and understanding of the life, career and films of comedian/filmmaker Buster Keaton; to advocate for historical accuracy about Keaton's life and work; to encourage dissemination of information about Keaton; to endorse preservation and restoration of Keaton's films and performances; and to do all of the above with a sense of humor that includes an ongoing awareness of the surreal and absurd joy with which Keaton made his films." Statement of Purpose The International Buster Keaton Society Inc. (also known as “The Damfinos”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the world about comedian and filmmaker Buster Keaton. Activities Among other projects, the Damfinos publish a tri-ann ...
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Buster Keaton Filmography
This is a list of films by the American actor, comedian, and filmmaker Buster Keaton. Short films Starring Roscoe Arbuckle, featuring Buster Keaton Starring Buster Keaton under Buster Keaton Productions Starring Buster Keaton for Educational Pictures Starring Buster Keaton for Columbia Pictures Starring Buster Keaton for independent producers Directed by (but not featuring) Buster Keaton for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer With Buster Keaton in featured or cameo roles Feature films Starring Buster Keaton for Metro Pictures Starring Buster Keaton under Buster Keaton Productions Starring Buster Keaton for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Starring Buster Keaton for independent producers With Buster Keaton in featured or cameo roles Television appearances (incomplete) * '' The Ed Wynn Show'', (1949) as Buster * ''The Buster Keaton Show'', KKTV (1950) as Buster * ''Life with Buster Keaton'', KKTV (1951) as Buster * ''Douglas Fairbanks Presents ...
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Mel Thorsen
Mel Thorsen (1908-1971) was an American film editor active primarily in the 1930s and 1940s. Biography Mel was born in Los Angeles, California, to Michael Thorsen and Agnes Frautzen, both of whom were from Norway. He married June Waddell in 1932, and the pair had a son. Selected filmography * '' Sword of the Avenger'' (1948) * '' Klondike Kate'' (1943) * ''Doughboys in Ireland'' (1943) * ''Passport to Suez'' (1943) * ''Power of the Press'' (1943) * '' Bullets for Bandits'' (1942) * ''Pardon My Gun'' (1942) * '' Junior Army'' (1942) * ''Smith of Minnesota'' (1942) * ''Overland to Deadwood'' (1942) * ''Parachute Nurse'' (1942) * ''Not a Ladies' Man'' (1942) * '' Down Rio Grande Way'' (1942) * ''North of the Rockies'' (1942) * '' Bullets for Bandits'' (1942) * '' West of Tombstone'' (1942) * '' The Lone Star Vigilantes'' (1942) * ''Roaring Frontiers'' (1941) * ''The Son of Davy Crockett'' (1941) * ''The Medico of Painted Springs'' (1941) * ''Hands Across the Rockies'' (1941 ...
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Clyde Bruckman
Clyde Adolf Bruckman (June 30, 1894January 4, 1955) was an American writer and director of comedy films during the late silent era as well as the early sound era of cinema. Bruckman collaborated with such comedians as Buster Keaton, Monty Banks, W. C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, and Harold Lloyd. Hollywood chronicler Kenneth Anger considers Bruckman to have been one of the key figures in the history of American screen comedy. Early life Clyde Adolf Bruckman was born on June 30, 1894 in San Bernardino, California. In 1911, Bruckman's father Rudolph was in a car accident that left him with headaches and brain damage. Rudolph shot himself in 1912. Bruckman began writing for the sports pages of the ''San Bernardino Sun'' in the spring of 1912. In 1914, he moved to Los Angeles and got a job as a sportswriter for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He later worked for the Los Angeles Examiner and the Saturday Evening Post. On July 29, 1916, Bruckma ...
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