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Up In Central Park
''Up in Central Park'' is a Broadway musical with a book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and music by Sigmund Romberg. The musical, originally called "Central Park" before Broadway (see image of sheet music), was Romberg's last stage work produced during his lifetime. Produced by Michael Todd, the Broadway production, staged by John Kennedy, and choreographed by Helen Tamiris, opened on January 27, 1945 at the New Century Theatre, where it ran for 504 performances. The cast included Noah Beery Sr., Wilbur Evans and Betty Bruce. The musical is set in the Boss Tweed era of New York City in the 1870s. Wilbur Evans plays John Matthews, a ''New York Times'' reporter investigating the Tweed’s crooked political machine, especially the fraud connected with constructing Central Park. He falls in love with the daughter of one of the Boss’ ward heelers, who marries a politician, who is killed. She later rekindles her love for Matthews. The settings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Up In Central Park (film)
''Up in Central Park'' is a 1948 American musical comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Deanna Durbin, Dick Haymes and Vincent Price. Based on the play ''Up in Central Park'' by Herbert Fields with a screenplay by Karl Tunberg, the film is about a newspaper reporter and the daughter of an immigrant maintenance man who help expose political corruption in New York City in the 1870s. Plot In New York City in the 1870s, as the city prepares for the upcoming election, corrupt political boss William Tweed (Vincent Price) and his Tammany Hall political machine are working hard to re-elect their candidates, including Mayor Oakley (Hobart Cavanaugh), in order to continue exploiting the coffers of the city and state. The one voice opposing Boss Tweed's organization is John Matthews (Dick Haymes), a young naïve reporter for ''The New York Times''. When Irish immigrant Timothy Moore (Albert Sharpe) and his singing daughter Rosie (Deanna Durbin) arrive in New York City hoping ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his musicals and operettas, particularly ''The Student Prince'' (1924), ''The Desert Song'' (1926) and ''The New Moon'' (1928). Early in his career, Romberg was employed by the Shubert brothers to write music for their musicals and revues, including several vehicles for Al Jolson. For the Shuberts, he also adapted several European operettas for American audiences, including the successful '' Maytime'' (1917) and '' Blossom Time'' (1921). His three hit operettas of the mid-1920s, named above, are in the style of Viennese operetta, but his other works from that time mostly employ the style of American musicals of their eras. He also composed film scores. Biography Romberg was born in Hungary as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ward Heeler
{{More footnotes, date=September 2019 A ward heeler is an American urban political operative who works for a political party in a political ward, the smallest electoral subdivision of a city, usually to achieve an election result. A ward heeler may have controlling influence with a small clique in the ward organization. Often, ward heelers have been low-level operatives soliciting votes and performing campaign tasks on behalf of a political boss, including get-out-the-vote efforts, placing campaign signage, coordination of constituent support, etc. In many urban areas, ward heelers also serve as precinct captains. The term originated during the period of machine politics around the turn of the 20th century, when powerful political machines in major cities run by political bosses, such as the Tammany Hall organization in New York City, used corruption, such as graft and patronage to maintain their power. So "ward heeler" has the connotation of a ''corrupt'' political operative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Merrill
Robert Merrill (June 4, 1917 – October 23, 2004) was an American operatic baritone and actor, who was also active in the musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ... circuit. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1993. Early life Merrill was born Moishe Miller, later known as Morris Miller, in the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of tailor Abraham Miller, originally Milstein, and his wife, Lillian (née Balaban), Jewish immigrants from Pultusk, Poland, near Warsaw. His paternal grandparents were Berl Milstein and Chana (née Mlawski), both from Pultusk, Poland. His mother claimed to have had an operatic and concert career in Poland (a fact denied by her son in his biographies) and encouraged her son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and Actor, actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', ''Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow (1934 film), The Merry Widow'' and ''One Hour With You'') and Nelson Eddy (''Naughty Marietta (film), Naughty Marietta'', ''Rose Marie (1936 film), Rose-Marie'', and ''Maytime (1937 film), Maytime''). During the 1930s and 1940s she starred in 29 feature films, four nominated for Best Picture Academy Awards, Oscars (''The Love Parade'', ''One Hour with You'', ''Naughty Marietta (film), Naughty Marietta'' and ''San Francisco (1936 film), San Francisco''), and recorded extensively, earning three Music recording sales certification, gold records. She later appeared in opera, concerts, radio, and television. MacDonald was one of the most influential sopranos of the 20th century, introducing opera to film-going audiences and inspiring a generation of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Arista Records, and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, classical, rock, hip hop, afrobeat, electronic, R&B, blues, jazz, and country. Its name is derived from the initials of its defunct parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). RCA Records was fully acquired by Bertelsmann in 1987, making it a part of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and became a part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment after the 2004 merger of BMG and Sony; it was acquired by the latter in 2008, after the dissolution of Sony/BMG and the restructuring of Sony Music. RCA Records is the corporate successor of the Victor Talking Machine Company, founded in 1901, making it the second-oldest record label in American history, af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American stage, film and television actress. Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Elia Kazan's ''Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947), and was nominated for her roles in ''Come to the Stable'' (1949) and ''All About Eve'' (1950). She also is known for her performances in ''The Snake Pit'' (1948), ''A Letter to Three Wives'' (1949), and ''High Society'' (1956). She is also known for originating the role of Ado Annie in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Oklahoma!'' (1943). Early life Born and raised in Manhattan, Holm was an only child. Her mother, Jean Parke, was an American portrait artist and author. Her father, Theodor Holm, was a Norwegian businessman whose company provided marine adjustment services for Lloyd's of London. Because of her parents' occupations, she traveled often during her youth and attended various schools in the Netherlands, France and the United States. She began high school at the University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell (February 13, 1920 – March 23, 2002) was an American soprano who had a nearly 60-year-long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. NPR noted, "She possessed one of the largest and most radiant operatic voices of the 20th century." While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances. Her career was mainly based in the United States, although she did perform internationally. ''The Daily Telegraph'' stated that she "was one of the finest American sopranos of the 20th century; she had a voice of magnificent proportions which she used with both acumen and artistry in a wide variety of roles." And described as having a voice "like some unparalleled phenomenon of nature. She is to singers what Niagara is to waterfalls." Farrell began her career in 1940 as a member of the CBS Chorus on CBS Radio. In 1941 CBS Radio offered Farrell her own program, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. In 1937, anticipating Nazi Germany, Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca and the link between the U.K. and U.S. Decca labels was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group. The U.S. Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG (Universal Music Group). Label name The name dates back to a portable phonograph, gramophone called the "Decca Dulcephone" patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel and Sons. The name "Decca" was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Grant Price
Mary Grant Price (20 February 1917 – 2 March 2002) was a Welsh-American costume designer who worked in theatre and film. She worked professionally under the name Mary Grant. She began her career on Broadway in the mid-1930s, first as an assistant to Raoul Pene Du Bois, and later as a lead designer during the 1940s. In 1943 she began working in film and spent much of the 1940s and 1950s designing costumes for Hollywood motion pictures. She was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Biography Price was born Eleanor Mary Grant in Broad Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales. She studied dance for one semester at the University of Washington before moving to New York City to study design. She began her career as an assistant designer to Raoul Pene Du Bois in 1935 at the age of 18. She also worked during the late 1930s and early 1940s as an assistant to Miles White. She worked with these two men on several notable Broadway shows, including the original productions of ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and one for television. Price's first film role was as leading man in the 1938 comedy '' Service de Luxe''. He became well known as a character actor, appearing in films such as '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' Laura'' (1944), ''The Keys of the Kingdom'' (1944), ''Leave Her to Heaven'' (1945), '' Dragonwyck'' (1946), and ''The Ten Commandments'' (1956). He established himself as a recognizable horror-movie star after his leading role in '' House of Wax'' (1953). He subsequently starred in other horror films, including '' The Fly'' (1958), ''House on Haunted Hill'' (1959), ''Return of the Fly'' (1959), ''The Tingler'' (1959), '' The Last Man on Earth'' (1964), ''Witchfinder General'' (1968), '' The A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Haymes
Richard Benjamin Haymes (September 13, 1918 – March 28, 1980) was an Argentinian singer and actor. He was one of the most popular male vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s. He was the older brother of Bob Haymes, an actor, television host, and songwriter. Background Haymes was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1918. His mother, who survived her elder son, was Marguerite Haymes (1894–1987), a well-known Irish-born vocal coach and instructor of English descent. His father, also of English descent, worked as a rancher. The Haymes family traveled extensively before settling in the United States when Haymes was an infant. Career At the age of 17, Haymes moved to Los Angeles where he initially worked as a stunt man and film double. At the age of 19, he moved to New York City where he worked as a vocalist in a number of big bands. On September 3, 1942, Frank Sinatra introduced Haymes on radio as Sinatra's replacement in the Tommy Dorsey band. Prior to joining Dorsey's g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
