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Too Many Girls (musical)
''Too Many Girls'' is a Broadway musical comedy which was adapted for a 1940 film version starring Lucille Ball. The original Broadway production is noteworthy for advancing the career of musician Desi Arnaz. The music was composed by Richard Rodgers, the lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and the book was by George Marion, Jr. Broadway ''Too Many Girls'' opened on Broadway on October 18, 1939, at the Imperial Theatre, running to April 21, 1940, and transferred to the Broadway Theatre on April 22, 1940, closing on May 18, 1940. The cast featured Desi Arnaz, Diosa Costello, Marcy Westcott, Eddie Bracken, Richard Kollmar, Van Johnson, and Hal Le Roy. Directed by George Abbott, the Musical Staging was by Robert Alton, scenery by Jo Mielziner, and costumes by Raoul Pène Du Bois.''Too Many Girls'' ibdb.com, accessed May 15, 2016 The musical takes plac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music. Rodgers is known for his songwriting partnerships, first with lyricist Lorenz Hart and then with Oscar Hammerstein II. With Hart he wrote musicals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including ''Pal Joey (musical), Pal Joey'', ''A Connecticut Yankee (musical), A Connecticut Yankee'', ''On Your Toes'' and ''Babes in Arms.'' With Hammerstein he wrote musicals through the 1940s and 1950s, such as ''Oklahoma!'', ''Flower Drum Song'', ''Carousel (musical), Carousel'', ''South Pacific (musical), South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebrated for brin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Alton
Robert Alton (2 January 1902 – 12 June 1957) was an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in dance choreography of Broadway and Hollywood musicals from the 1930s through to the early 1950s. He is principally remembered today as the discoverer of Gene Kelly, for his collaborations with Fred Astaire, and for choreographic sequences he designed for Hollywood musicals such as ''The Harvey Girls'' (1946), ''Till the Clouds Roll By'' (1946), ''Show Boat'' (1951), and '' White Christmas'' (1954). Biography Born Robert Alton Hart in Bennington, Vermont, United States, Alton studied dance with Ralph McKernan in Springfield, Massachusetts and spent his summers in New York studying with Bert French and Mikhail Mordkin, formerly of the Bolshoi Ballet and Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. His Broadway stage dancing début was with Mordkin's company in ''Take It from Me'' (1919), followed by ''Greenwich Follies'' (1924) and ''Some Day'' (1925) which failed to make it to Broad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1939 Musicals
This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to work with Germans. *** The Youth Protection Act was passed on April 30, 1938 and the Working Hours Regulations came into effect. *** The Jews name change decree has gone into effect. ** The rest of the world *** In Spain, it becomes a duty of all young women under 25 to complete compulsory work service for one year. *** First edition of the Vienna New Year's Concert. *** The company of technology and manufacturing scientific instruments Hewlett-Packard, was founded in a garage in Palo Alto, California, by William (Bill) Hewlett and David Packard. This garage is now considered the birthplace of Silicon Valley. *** Sydney, in Australia, records temperature of 45 ˚C, the highest record for the city. *** Philipp Etter took over as Swi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influential figure in pop culture and in horror films. He often played distinctive villainous roles in film, though he was most renowned for his romantic leads. Perkins represented an era of vulnerable actors who straddled the line between masculinity and femininity, and he distinguished himself by playing unconfident characters. Born in New York City, Perkins got his start as an adolescent in summer stock programs, although he acted in films before he set foot on a professional stage. His first film, ''The Actress'', costarring Spencer Tracy and Jean Simmons and directed by George Cukor, was a disappointment save for an Oscar nod for its costumes, and Perkins returned to the boards instead. He made his Broadway debut in the Elia Kazan-directed '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estelle Parsons
Estelle Margaret Parsons (born November 20, 1927) is an American actress, singer and stage director. After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program ''Today'' and made her stage debut in 1961. During the 1960s, Parsons established her career on Broadway before progressing to film. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Blanche Barrow in ''Bonnie and Clyde'' (1967), and was also nominated for her work in ''Rachel, Rachel'' (1968). She worked extensively in film and theatre during the 1970s and later directed several Broadway productions. Later work included perhaps her best known role, as Beverly Harris, mother of the title character, on the sitcom ''Roseanne'', and, later, on its spinoff ''The Conners''. She has been nominated five times for the Tony Award (four times for Lead Actress of a Play and once for Featured Actress). In 2004, Parsons was inducted into the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
"I Didn't Know What Time It Was" is a popular song composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the 1939 musical '' Too Many Girls''. Introduced by Richard Kollmar and Marcy Westcott in the stage musical, early hit versions were recorded by Benny Goodman (vocal by Louise Tobin) and by Jimmy Dorsey (vocal by Bob Eberly). It was then performed by Trudy Erwin (dubbing for Lucille Ball) and Richard Carlson in the 1940 film adaptation produced by RKO. The song was later interpolated into the score of the 1957 film '' Pal Joey,'' sung by Frank Sinatra. Recordings * Artie Shaw - Shadows / I Didn't Know What Time It Was (1939) * Charlie Parker – ''Charlie Parker with Strings'' (1949) * Peggy Lee – '' Black Coffee'' (1953) * Louis Jordan (1954) * Ella Fitzgerald - ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook'' (1956) * Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan – ''Gerry Mulligan Meets Stan Getz'' (1957) * Billie Holiday – ''Songs for Distingué Lovers'' (1957) * Benny G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Like To Recognize The Tune
"I Like to Recognize the Tune" is an American popular song written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The song was introduced by Eddie Bracken, Marcy Wescott, Mary Jane Walsh, Richard Kollmar and Hal Le Roy in the 1939 Broadway musical '' Too Many Girls''. Background The lyrics lament the distortions of melody inherent in Jazz and Swing: "I like to recognize the tune / I want to savvy what the band is playing / I keep saying, "Must you bury the tune?" In his autobiography, ''Musical Stages'', Richard Rodgers described the motivations that inspired the song: "we voiced objection to the musical distortions, then so much a part of pop music because of the swing-band influence." The 1940 film version of ''Too Many Girls'', which starred RKO contract star Lucille Ball and the Broadway hit's cast member Desi Arnaz (who met and fell in love on the set, and married soon afterwards), did not feature the song. The song would appear in a later musical revue turned into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Miller
Ann Miller (born Johnnie Lucille Collier; April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004) was an American retired actress and former dancer. She is best remembered for her work in the Classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Her early work included roles in Frank Capra's '' You Can't Take It with You'' (1938) and the Marx Bros. film ''Room Service'' (1938). She later starred in the movie musical classics Charles Walters' '' Easter Parade'' (1948), Stanley Donen's '' On the Town'' (1949) and George Sidney's ''Kiss Me Kate'' (1953). Her final film role was in David Lynch's ''Mulholland Drive'' (2001). In 1960, Miller received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2017, ''The Daily Telegraph'' named her one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Early life Johnnie Lucille Collier (other sources give other birthnames, such as Lucille Collier and Lucy Ann Collier) was born in Chireno, Texas, to Clara Emma (née Birdwell) and John Alfred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Carlson (actor)
Richard Dutoit Carlson (April 29, 1912 – November 25, 1977) was an American actor, television and film director, and screenwriter. Early life Carlson was the son of a Danish-born lawyer in Albert Lea, Minnesota. He majored in drama at the University of Minnesota, where he wrote and directed plays and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated ''cum laude'' with a Master of Arts degree. Carlson then opened his own repertory theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota. When the theater failed, Carlson moved to New York City. Career Broadway In 1935, Carlson made his acting debut on Broadway in ''Three Men on a Horse'', and appeared with Ethel Barrymore in ''Ghost of Yankee Doodle'' (1937-8) and ''Whiteoaks'' (1938). In 1937, he wrote and staged the play ''Western Waters'', which ran for only seven performances. He also appeared in ''Now You've Done It'' (1937). Early films Carlson then moved to California, where he joined the Pasadena Playhouse. His first film role was in ''The Youn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum (KAO) theater chain and Joseph P. Kennedy's Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) studio were brought together under the control of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in October 1928. RCA chief David Sarnoff engineered the merger to create a market for the company's sound-on-film technology, RCA Photophone, and in early 1929 production began under the RKO name (an abbreviation of Radio-Keith-Orpheum). Two years later, another Kennedy holding, the Pathé studio, was folded into the operation. By the mid-1940s, RKO was controlled by investor Floyd Odlum. RKO has long been renowned for its cycle of musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the mid-to-late 1930s. Actors Katharine Hepburn and, later, Robert Mitchum had their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skowhegan, Maine
Skowhegan () is the county seat of Somerset County, Maine. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 8,620. Every August, Skowhegan hosts the annual Skowhegan State Fair, the oldest continuously-held state fair in the United States. Skowhegan was originally inhabited by the indigenous Abenaki people who named the area Skowhegan, meaning "watching place or fish" and were mostly dispersed by the end of the 4th Anglo-Abenaki War. History Original inhabitants For thousands of years prior to European settlement, this region of Maine was the territory of the Kinipekw (later known as Kennebec) Norridgewock tribe of Abenaki. The Norridgewock village was located on the land now known as Madison. The Abenaki relied on agriculture (corn, beans, and squash) for a large part of their diet, supplemented by hunting, fishing, and the gathering of wild foods. The Skowhegan Falls (which have since been replaced by the Weston Dam) descended 28 feet over a half-mile on the Kennebec River. Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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