What A Life (film)
''What a Life'' is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Theodore Reed and starring Jackie Cooper, Betty Field, John Howard, Janice Logan, Vaughan Glaser, Lionel Stander, and Hedda Hopper. Written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, the film was released on October 6, 1939, by Paramount Pictures. This is the first in a series of eleven Henry Aldrich films (1939-1944) based on the leading character from the radio series The Aldrich Family ''The Aldrich Family'', a popular radio teenage situation comedy (July 2, 1939 – April 19, 1953), was also presented in films, television and comic books. In the radio series' opening exchange, awkward teen Henry's mother called, "Hen-''reeeee ... Plot Henry (Jackie Cooper) is falsely accused of making trouble at school. He must clear himself. Cast References External links * * 1939 films 1939 comedy-drama films The Aldrich Family films American black-and-white films American comedy-drama films American films based ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Theodore Reed
Theodore Reed (June 18, 1887 – February 22, 1959) was an American film director, producer and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Selected filmography * '' Say! Young Fellow'' (1918) * ''Arizona'' (1918) * '' When the Clouds Roll By'' (1919) * '' The Nut'' (1921) * ''Lady Be Careful'' (1936) * ''Double or Nothing'' (1937) * ''Tropic Holiday'' (1938) * '' What a Life'' (1939) * ''I'm from Missouri'' (1939) * ''Life with Henry'' (1941) * ''Her First Beau'' (1941) * ''Song of My Heart ''Song of My Heart'' is a 1948 American historical drama film directed by Benjamin Glazer and starring Frank Sundström, Audrey Long and Cedric Hardwicke. It is a highly fictionalised biopic of the nineteenth century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyic ...'' (1948) External links * 1887 births 1959 deaths Presidents of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences American film directors Artists from Cincinnati Film producers from Ohio {{US-fi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dorothy Stickney
Dorothy Stickney (June 21, 1896 – June 2, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actress, best known for appearing in the long running Broadway hit ''Life with Father''. Early years Stickney was born in Dickinson, North Dakota, but because of a medical condition, she was unable to go into bright places and spent most of her childhood indoors to protect her sensitive eyes. Her introduction to reading came from family members who read the classics to her. Because she had difficulty reading, she focused on skills like dancing and elocution. She was fond of going to the theater with her family, and this sparked her interest in being an actress. Because of several eye surgeries, by her teens, Stickney was able to continue her education and pursue a career in the theater. Stickney attended the North Western Dramatic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Career Stickney sang and danced as one of the four Southern Belles in vaudeville and began acting in summer stock compani ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1939 Comedy-drama Films
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]   |
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1939 Films
The year 1939 in film is widely considered the greatest year in film history. The ten Best Picture-nominated films that year include classics in multiple genres. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1939 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events Film historians often rate 1939 as "the greatest year in the history of Hollywood". Hollywood films produced in Southern California were at the height of their Golden Age (in spite of many cheaply made or undistinguished films also being produced, something to be expected with any year in commercial cinema), and during 1939 there are the premieres of an outstandingly large number of exceptional motion pictures, many of which become honored as all-time classic films. ** June 10 – MGM's first successful animated character, Barney Bear, made his debut in ''The Bear That Couldn't Sleep''. ** August 15 – ''The Wizard of Oz'' premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. ** October 17 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Inna Gest
Inna Gest (1921–1964) was a Ukrainian-born film actress. In Hollywood she played the female lead in several films, mainly westerns. Dixon p.117 Increasingly cast in smaller parts she retired from acting after 1948. Selected filmography * ''Fast and Furious'' (1939) * '' What a Life'' (1939) * ''Boys of the City'' (1940) * '' The Golden Trail'' (1940) * ''Gun Code'' (1940) * '' Hard Guy'' (1941) * ''Six Gun Gospel'' (1943) * ''You Can't Beat the Law'' (1943) * ''Ladies of Washington'' (1944) * ''No Minor Vices ''No Minor Vices'' is a 1948 American black-and-white comedy film written by Arnold Manoff and directed by Lewis Milestone with Robert Aldrich as 1st assistant director. Created for David Loew's Enterprise Productions, it was the first of three ...'' (1948) References Bibliography * Dixon, Wheeler. ''Producers Releasing Corporation: A Comprehensive Filmography and History''. McFarland, 1986. * Pitts, Michael R. ''Western Film Series of the Sound Era''. McFarland, 200 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nora Cecil
Nora Cecil (September 26, 1878 – May 1, 1951) was an English-born American actress whose 30-year career spanned both the silent and sound film eras. Career Stage Cecil's career began on the stage, when she debuted in London at age 19. She appeared in the Broadway production ''The Sleeping Beauty and the Beast'', which ran for more than 240 performances at the Broadway Theatre in 1901–1902. (A 1930 newspaper article says that Cecil "made her debut, three decades ago, on the London stage.") Film Cecil appeared in well over 100 feature films and film shorts. In 1915, she moved from the stage into films, her first appearance being in a starring role in ''The Arrival of Perpetua'', directed by Émile Chautard. She often played "thin-lipped, stern-visaged dowagers and forbidding mothers-in-law" and "welfare workers, landladies, schoolmistresses and maiden aunts". One of the most significant roles was in the W.C. Fields vehicle '' The Old Fashioned Way'' in 1934. Som ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sheila Ryan
Sheila Ryan (born Katherine Elizabeth McLaughlin, June 8, 1921 – November 4, 1975) was an American actress who appeared in more than 60 movies. Career Born in Topeka, Kansas, Ryan went to Hollywood in 1939 at the age of 18. Her acting career began when she tried out for a role on a program at television station W6XAO (later KCBS) in Los Angeles, California. An article in a contemporary magazine reported, "She proved to be a perfect television type and was given a role at once." At age 19, Ryan was selected by a group of Hollywood directors as one of 13 "baby stars of 1940." She was signed by 20th Century Fox in 1940 and was credited in her early films as Bettie McLaughlin. Adopting the name Sheila Ryan, she starred in the crime drama '' Dressed to Kill'' the following year. Ryan appeared in other memorable films, including two Laurel and Hardy movies, '' Great Guns'' (1941) and '' A-Haunting We Will Go'' (1942), and the Busby Berkeley musical '' The Gang's All Here'' (1943) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Janet Waldo
Janet Waldo (born Jeanette Marie Waldo; February 4, 1919 – June 12, 2016) was an American radio and voice actress. In animation, she voiced Judy Jetson in various Hanna-Barbera media, Nancy in ''Shazzan'', Penelope Pitstop, Princess from ''Battle of the Planets'', and Josie in ''Josie and the Pussycats''. On radio, she was the title character in ''Meet Corliss Archer''. Early life Jeanette Marie Waldo was born in Yakima, Washington on February 4, 1919. Other birthdates were also cited, including 1918 or 1920. Her mother, Jane Althea Blodgett, was a singer trained at the Boston Conservatory of Music, and her father, Benjamin Franklin Waldo, was, according to Waldo family lore, a distant cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson. She had three older siblings, one of whom, Elisabeth Waldo, is an authority on pre-Columbian music and an award-winning composer-violinist who appeared in the film ''Song of Mexico'' (1945). Janet attended the University of Washington, where her performance in a stud ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Benny Bartlett
Floyd B. Bartlett, known professionally as Benny Bartlett or Bennie Bartlett (August 16, 1924 – December 26, 1999), was an American child actor, musician, and later a member of the long-running feature-film series ''The Bowery Boys''. Biography Career Benny Bartlett's first stage role was when he was ten days old. He became a musical prodigy, playing the trumpet at age four, directing and singing with his own dance orchestra on radio. He made his debut in motion pictures in 1935, appearing in the RKO musical ''Millions in the Air'' (1935), in which he had a piano specialty. The next year he appeared in a short for Paramount, singing "An Old-Fashioned Mill," which he had composed at the age of nine. The studio signed him to a contract soon afterward. Paramount had plans for Bartlett: syndicated columnist Mollie Merrick reported that the "eight-year-old" Bartlett (he was really 11) would star in the title role of ''Tom Sawyer, Detective '' opposite co-star Elizabeth Patterso ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wilda Bennett
Wilda Bennett (December 19, 1894 – December 20, 1967) was an American actress in musical comedies and in film. Her tumultuous personal life also kept her in the headlines. Early life Bennett was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Bennett's father was John H. Bennett, a city building inspector."Praise Wilda Bennett" ''Asbury Park Press'' (October 17, 1914): 2. via Career Bennett's Broadway credits included ''Everywoman'' (1911-1912), ''A Good Little Devil'' (1913), ''The Only Girl'' (1914-1915), '' The Riviera Girl'' (1917), ''[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arthur Aylesworth
Arthur Preston Aylesworth (August 12, 1883 – June 26, 1946) was an American stage and film actor. Early years Aylesworth was born in Apponaug, Rhode Island, to a military family; his father and his grandfather graduated from the United States Military Academy. Aylesworth himself attended the academy for two years. Career Aylesworth's Broadway debut came in ''Over Night'' (1911). His other Broadway appearances included the musical ''Follow Thru'' (1929), and his last show there was ''Yankee Point'' (1942). He was on the stage for over a quarter of a century and acted in many productions. In the 1930s, he became a contract player at Warner Brothers working in character actors, often uncredited. Aylesworth played in over 130 films almost exclusively from the early 1930s onwards. His grave is located at Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles. Selected filmography * ''Over Night'' (1915) * '' The Key'' (1934) * ''Midnight Alibi'' (1934) * '' The Dragon Murder Case'' ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andrew Tombes
Andrew Tombes (29 June 1885 – 17 March 1976) was an American comedian and character actor. Biography The son of a grocer, originally from Ashtabula, Ohio, Tombes was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy. Early in his career, he worked as a vaudeville comic. By December 1914 he had appeared in the headlining act for the opening of the Kansas City Orpheum Theatre. He successfully ascended to Broadway comedies beginning in 1917, in the revue ''Miss 1917'', and appeared there consistently through the 1920s, for instance in ''Poor Little Ritz Girl'' in 1920, ''Tip-Toes'' in 1925, and the Ziegfeld Follies of 1922 and 1927. Tombes' first film appearances were in 1933, as he was already approaching 50 years old. He made a total of about 150 films for various studios. Selected filmography * ''The Bowery'' (1933) - Shill (uncredited) * ''Broadway Through a Keyhole'' (1933) - Sidney - Columnist (uncredited) * ''Moulin Rouge'' (1934) - McBride * ''Doubting Thomas'' (1935) - Huxley H ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |