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William Gaxton
William Gaxton (né Arthur Anthony Gaxiola, December 2, 1893 – February 2, 1963) was an American star of vaudeville, film, and theatre. Gaxton was president of The Lambs Club from 1936 to 1939, 1952 to 1953, and 1957 to 1961. He and Victor Moore became a popular theatre team in the 1930s and 1940s; they also appeared in a film together. Biography Gaxton was born Arthur Anthony Gaxiola. He was of Spanish ancestry and a cousin of actor Leo Carrillo. He attended Boone Military Academy, Lowell High School, Santa Clara College, and the University of California. Gaxton appeared on film and onstage. He debuted on Broadway in the '' Music Box Revue'' on October 23, 1922. On radio Gaxton starred in ''Broadway Showtime'', a 30-minute musical drama that ran on CBS from December 27, 1943 to June 26, 1944. In 1961 and 1962, he and Arthur Treacher starred in Guy Lombardo's production of the musical '' Paradise Island'' at Jones Beach Marine Theater. He died from cancer on February 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Best Foot Forward (1943 Film)
''Best Foot Forward'' is a 1943 American musical film adapted from the 1941 Broadway musical comedy of the same title. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Edward Buzzell, and starred Lucille Ball, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler, Chill Wills, June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, and Nancy Walker. The actors did their own singing, except for Lucille Ball, whose singing was dubbed by Gloria Grafton; Virginia Weidler, whose singing was dubbed by Jeanne Darrell; and Jack Jordan, whose singing was dubbed by Ralph Blane. Weidler, then 16 years old, retired from acting after this film was made, making ''Best Foot Forward'' her final screen appearance. Plot The story centers around Lucille Ball, who plays herself against the backdrop of a military academy full of frisky boys. Ball is the reluctant guest of a diminutive cadet, Bud Hooper, who wrote her a "mash note" and invitation to be his date at a school prom. Ball's publicity man, Jack O'Riley, seizes upon the si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diamond Horseshoe
''Diamond Horseshoe'' (also billed as ''Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe'') is a 1945 Technicolor musical film starring Betty Grable and Dick Haymes, directed by George Seaton, and released by 20th Century Fox. It was filmed in Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe, a nightclub located in the basement of the Paramount Hotel. The film's score is by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon.Monahan, PatricThe Diamond Horseshoe, the World War II-Era Nightclub Resurrected by Randy Weiner and Simon Hammerstein '' Vanity Fair''. January 24, 2014. Retrieved May 12, 2020. Background ''Diamond Horseshoe'' is a remake of two previous films derived from the same story, ''The Barker'' (1928) and ''Hoop-La'' (1933). Grable played the role previously played by Dorothy Mackaill in ''The Barker'' and Clara Bow in ''Hoop-La''. All are based on the 1928 play ''The Barker'' by Kenyon Nicholson. Plot Joe Davis Sr. performs in a big nightclub called Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe in the Paramount Hotel in Manhattan. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louisiana Purchase (musical)
''Louisiana Purchase'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and book by Morrie Ryskind based on a story by B. G. DeSylva. Set in New Orleans, the musical lightly satirises Louisiana Governor Huey Long and his control over Louisiana politics.Bordman, 573 An honest U.S. senator travels to Louisiana to investigate corruption in the Louisiana Purchase Company; the company's lawyer attempts to divert him via the attentions of two beautiful women, but the senator maintains his integrity and ends up marrying one of them. In 1941 it was adapted for the film ''Louisiana Purchase'' directed by Irving Cummings. The show opened at the Shubert Brothers' Imperial Theatre, New York City on May 28, 1940 and ran for 444 performances. It was produced by Buddy De Sylva, who also wrote the story, and staged by Edgar MacGregor. The musical orchestrations were by Robert Emmett Dolan and N. Lang Van Cleve, with the ballets by George Balanchine and the musical staging and dances by Car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leave It To Me!
''Leave It to Me!'' is a 1938 musical produced by Vinton Freedley with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The book was a collaborative effort by Samuel and Bella Spewack, who also directed the Broadway production. The musical was based on the play ''Clear All Wires'' by the Spewacks, which was performed on Broadway for 93 performances in 1932, and which was filmed in 1933, starring Lee Tracy, Benita Hume, Una Merkel and James Gleason. Set in Stalinist Russia in the 1930s, with Stalin himself appearing at the end, in the Cold War era after World War II its comic treatment of Soviets and Nazis seemed misplaced, and the show was not revived until the late 1980s. Mary Martin made her Broadway debut in this musical,Ewen, David"Cole Porter: The Great Sophisticate"theatrehistory.com (originally published in ''The Story of America's Musical Theater'', 1961), accessed January 11, 2011 which introduced the songs "Get Out of Town" and " My Heart Belongs to Daddy." Productions The musical ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Horse Inn
''The White Horse Inn'' (or ''White Horse Inn'') (German title: ''Im weißen Rößl'' ) is an operetta or musical comedy by Ralph Benatzky and Robert Stolz in collaboration with a number of other composers and writers, set in the picturesque Salzkammergut region of Upper Austria. It is about the head waiter of the White Horse Inn in St. Wolfgang who is desperately in love with the owner of the inn, a resolute young woman who at first only has eyes for one of her regular guests. Sometimes classified as an operetta, the show enjoyed huge successes in the West End (651 performances at the Coliseum starting 8 April 1931), as a Broadway version, and was filmed several times. In a way similar to ''The Sound of Music'' and the three '' Sissi'' movies, the play and its film versions have contributed to the popular image of Austria as an alpine idyll—the kind of idyll tourists have been seeking for almost a century now. Today, ''Im weißen Rößl'' is mainly remembered for its son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American actress and singer, known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and for leading roles in musical theatre.Obituary ''Variety'', February 22, 1984. She has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage". Over her distinguished career in theater she became known for her performances in shows such as ''Anything Goes'', '' Annie Get Your Gun'', ''Gypsy'', and '' Hello, Dolly!'' She is also known for her film roles in ''Anything Goes'' (1936), ''Call Me Madam'' (1953), ''There's No Business Like Show Business'' (1954), and ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' (1963). Among many accolades, she received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in ''Call Me Madam'', a Grammy Award for ''Gypsy'' and Drama Desk Award for '' Hello, Dolly!'' Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm" (from ''Girl Crazy''); ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anything Goes
''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap antics aboard an ocean liner bound from New York to London. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy Number 13, "Moonface" Martin, aid Billy in his quest to win Hope. The musical introduced such songs as "Anything Goes", "You're the Top", and "I Get a Kick Out of You." Since its 1934 debut at the Alvin Theatre (now known as the Neil Simon Theatre) on Broadway, the musical has been revived several times in the United States and Britain and has been filmed three times. The musical has long been a popular choice for school and community productions. History The original idea for a musical set on board an ocean liner came from producer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Of Thee I Sing
''Of Thee I Sing'' is a musical with a score by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical lampoons American politics; the story concerns John P. Wintergreen, who runs for President of the United States on the "love" platform. When he falls in love with the sensible Mary Turner instead of Diana Devereaux, the beautiful pageant winner selected for him, he gets into political hot water. The original Broadway production, directed by Kaufman, opened in 1931 and ran for 441 performances, gaining critical and box office success. It has been revived twice on Broadway and in concert stagings in the U.S. and in London. In 1932, ''Of Thee I Sing'' was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Background The Gershwins and George S. Kaufman had collaborated on the satirical 1927 musical '' Strike up the Band,'' which played in Philadelphia. The show concerned a cheese manufacturer who sponsors a war against Switze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
You Do Something To Me (Cole Porter Song)
"You Do Something to Me" is a song written by Cole Porter. It is notable in that it was the first number in Porter's first fully integrated-book musical ''Fifty Million Frenchmen'' (1929). In the original production, the song was performed by Genevieve Tobin and William Gaxton, performing the roles of Looloo Carroll and Peter Forbes, respectively. Background There are two verses and two rounds of the chorus. The song has been described as "a tender prequel" to "Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love," Porter's first popular song Recorded versions The song has been revived and recorded by artists including: * Clicquot Club Eskimos, Harry Reser 1929 *Lena Horne on the album '' It's Love'' (1955) * Perry Como on "So Smooth" (RCA Victor album, 1955) * Howard McGillin and Susan Powell in 1991. *Mario Lanza *Frank Sinatra *Marlene Dietrich *Doris Day *Sonny Rollins *Susannah McCorkle *Bryan Ferry on '' As Time Goes By'' (1999) *Sinéad O'Connor on '' Red Hot + Blue'' (1990) *Ella Fitzgeral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fifty Million Frenchmen
''Fifty Million Frenchmen'' is a musical comedy with a book by Herbert Fields and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It opened on Broadway in 1929 and was adapted for a film two years later. The title is a reference to the hit 1927 song "Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" by Willie Raskin, Billy Rose, and Fred Fisher, which compared free attitudes in 1920s Paris with censorship and prohibition in the United States. The musical's plot is consistent with the standard boy-meets-girl plots of musical comedies of the first half of the twentieth century. History ''Fifty Million Frenchmen'' was the first of seven Porter musicals to have the book written or co-written by Herbert Fields. This was also the first musical directed by Monty Woolley. Synopsis Peter Forbes, a young American millionaire, journeys to Paris and bets his friends Billy Baxter and Michael Cummins that he can live without his money for a month and, while doing so, get engaged to Looloo Caroll, a young woman he ado ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, Porter defied his grandfather's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn to musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs. After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain, but he continued to work. His shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 1930s, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback with his most successful musical, ''Kiss Me, Kate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thou Swell
"Thou Swell" is a show tune, a popular song and a jazz standard written in 1927. History The music was written by Richard Rodgers, with words by Lorenz Hart, for the 1927 musical '' A Connecticut Yankee''. The lyric is notable, as indicated by the title, for its mix of archaic English and modern slang as the story takes place in both contemporary times and in King Arthur's court. Recordings *An early recorded version featured The Broadway Nitelites conducted by Ben Selvin with vocals by Franklyn Baur (Columbia 1928). *There are many popular and jazz vocal renditions, including those by Nat King Cole (and later Natalie Cole), Bing Crosby for his 1976 album '' At My Time of Life'', Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Eydie Gormé, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams. Bix Beiderbecke, Fats Waller, Harry James, J.J.Johnson and Billy May all recorded the song instrumentally. *In the MGM Technicolor biopic about Rodgers and Hart called '' Words and Music'' (1948), June Allyson sings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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