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Waikiki Wedding
''Waikiki Wedding'' is a 1937 American musical film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Martha Raye, and Shirley Ross. Crosby plays the part of Tony Marvin, a PR man charged with extolling the virtues of the Territory of Hawaii. The female lead, played by Shirley Ross is a local beauty queen who makes unhelpful comments about the islands. Bob Burns, along with Martha Raye, are the "comic relief". Amongst the supporting cast was a young Anthony Quinn. It was made by Paramount Pictures as a rival to the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films then being made by RKO Pictures. The film is best remembered for the song "Sweet Leilani" with words and music by Harry Owens, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1937. Other songs included "Blue Hawaii", "In a Little Hula Heaven", "Nani Ona Pua", "Okolehao", and "Sweet Is the Word for You". Plot Crosby is cast in a romantic Hawaiian setting as Tony Marvin, a publicity agent for Imperial Pineapple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Tuttle
Frank Wright Tuttle (August 6, 1892 – January 6, 1963) was a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 (''The Cradle Buster'') to 1959 (''Island of Lost Women''). Biography Frank Tuttle was educated at Yale University, where he edited campus humor magazine ''The Yale Record''."Frank Wright Tuttle". ''The twelfth general catalogue of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity''. New York: Psi Upsilon. May 1917. p. 203. After graduation, he worked in New York City in the advertising department of the Metropolitan Music Bureau. He later moved to Hollywood, where he became a film director for Paramount Pictures, Paramount. His films are largely in the comedy and film noir genres. In 1947, his career ground to a temporary halt with the onset of the first of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on Communist infiltration of the movie industry. Tuttle had joined the American Communist Party in 1937 in reaction to Hitler's rise to p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Quinn
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in numerous critically acclaimed films both in Hollywood and abroad. His notable films include ''La Strada'', '' The Guns of Navarone'', ''Guns for San Sebastian'', ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''The Shoes of the Fisherman'', '' The Message'', ''Lion of the Desert'', and '' Jungle Fever''. He also had an Oscar-nominated titular role in ''Zorba the Greek''. Quinn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice: for ''Viva Zapata!'' in 1952 and '' Lust for Life'' in 1956. In addition, he received two Academy Award nominations in the Best Leading Actor category, along with five Golden Globe nominations and two BAFTA Award nominations. In 1987, he was presented with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. Thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitchell Lewis (actor)
Mitchell Lewis (June 26, 1880 – August 24, 1956) was an American film actor whose career as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player encompassed both silent and sound films. Born in 1880, Lewis appeared in more than 175 films between 1914 and 1956, although many of the roles in his later films were uncredited. He played supporting roles, such as Sheihk Idrim in 1925's '' Ben Hur'' in the silent era and Ernest Defarge in ''A Tale of Two Cities'' (1935) in the sound era, but his career would diminish to small uncredited roles like the Captain of the Winkie Guards in '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939). His last film was ''The Fastest Gun Alive'', starring Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford, which was released shortly before Lewis' death in 1956. Mitchell also served as one of the original board members of the Motion Picture Relief Fund, now known as the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Selected filmography * ''The Million Dollar Mystery'' (1914, Serial) - Gang Leader * ''Zudora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Granville Bates
Granville Bates (January 7, 1882 – July 8, 1940) was an American character actor and bit player, appearing in over ninety films. Biography Bates was born in Chicago in 1882 to Granville Bates, Sr., a developer and builder, and Adaline Bates (née Gleason). He grew up in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago on the southeast corner of Evanston (now Broadway) Ave. and Oakdale Ave. in a townhouse that his father later demolished, along with all of the others on the block, to redevelop as a four-story commercial building with apartments above. Bates began his film career in the 1910s with Essanay Studios of the Chicago film industry, and his World War I draft Registration Card listed him as a travelling actor for Francis Owen & Co. He appeared on Broadway in the late 1920s and early 1930s, notably in the original production of '' Merrily We Roll Along'' (1934) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. He was also the Conductor in the original production of ''Twentieth Century'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grady Sutton
Grady Harwell Sutton (April 5, 1906 – September 17, 1995) was an American film and television character actor from the 1920s to the 1970s. He appeared in more than 180 films. Early years Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Sutton was raised in Florida where he attended St. Petersburg High School. Career Sutton began his career during the silent film era and made the transition to sound films with the college themed shorts ''The Boy Friends''. He moved on to countless character roles, where he frequently played dimwitted country boys. His best-known roles were as Frank Dowling, Katharine Hepburn's dancing partner, in '' Alice Adams'' (1935) and as a foil to W.C. Fields in four films, '' The Pharmacist'' (1933), ''Man on the Flying Trapeze'' (1935), ''You Can't Cheat an Honest Man'' (1939), and ''The Bank Dick'' (1940). Film historian William J. Mann characterizes Sutton as a typical "Hollywood Sissy," that is as a homosexual actor who ordinarily portrayed an effeminate ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leif Erickson (actor)
Leif Erickson (born William Wycliffe Anderson; October 27, 1911 – January 29, 1986) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early life Erickson was born in Alameda, California, near San Francisco. He worked as a soloist in a band as vocalist and trombone player, performed in Max Reinhardt's productions, and then gained a small amount of stage experience in a comedy vaudeville act. Initially billed by Paramount Pictures as Glenn Erickson, he began his screen career as a leading man in Westerns. Military service Erickson enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II. Rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer in the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit, he served as a military photographer, shooting film in combat zones, and as an instructor. He was shot down twice in the Pacific, and received two Purple Hearts. Erickson was in the unit that filmed and photographed the Japanese surrender aboard the in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. Over four years service, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Barbier (actor)
George W. Barbier (November 19, 1864 – July 19, 1945) was an American stage and film actor who appeared in 88 films. Early life and education Barbier was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He entered the Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania to study for the ministry but gave it up to go on the stage. Career Barbier began his career in light opera and spent several years in repertory and stock companies. He eventually played on Broadway, where he appeared in seven productions between 1922 and 1930, among them ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', The Front Page and ''The Man Who Came Back''. He signed a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1929 and later worked as a character actor for most of the major studios. His first film was ''The Big Pond'' (1930). The weighty, white-haired Barbier often played pompous, but mostly kind-hearted businessmen or patriarchs in supporting roles. George Barbier appeared in 88 films until his death in 1945. Personal life Barbier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Hawaii (song)
"Blue Hawaii" is a popular song written by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger for the 1937 Paramount Pictures film ''Waikiki Wedding'', starring Bing Crosby and Shirley Ross. Crosby recorded a version with backing by Lani McIntyre and His Hawaiians, which was released in 1937 as the B-side of "Sweet Leilani." This reached the No. 5 spot in the charts of the day during a 13-week-stay The song subsequently received numerous cover versions, most successfully as the title track of the 1961 Elvis Presley film, the soundtrack of which stayed at #1 on the album chart for twenty consecutive weeks. Other recordings *Al Bowlly – (1937) *Bing Crosby – Decca 1175 (1937). Crosby also recorded the song for the album '' Bing: A Musical Autobiography'' in 1954. *Patti Page – ''Page 3 – A Collection of Her Most Famous Songs'' (1957 album) *Billy Vaughn – Dot Records 45-15879 (1958): This recording peaked at No.37 on the US Hot 100. *Frank Sinatra – '' Come Fly with Me'' (1958) *Andy Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Award For Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed the best ''original'' song written specifically for a film. The performers of a song are not credited with the Academy Award unless they contributed either to music, lyrics, or both in their own right. The songs that are nominated for this award are typically performed during the ceremony and before this award is presented. The award category was introduced at the 7th Academy Awards, the ceremony honoring the best in film for 1934. Nominations are made by Academy members who are songwriters and composers, and the winners are chosen by the Academy membership as a whole. Fifteen songs are shortlisted before nominations are announced. Eligibility , the Academy's rules stipulate that "an original song consists of words and music, both of whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry worldwide. Given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the awards are an international recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette as a trophy, officially called the "Academy Award of Merit", although more commonly referred to by its nickname, the "Oscar". The statuette, depicting a knight rendered in the Art Deco style, was originally sculpted by Los Angeles artist George Stanley from a design sketch by art director Cedric Gibbons. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929 at a private dinner hosted by Douglas Fairbanks in The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The Academy Awards cerem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Owens
Harry Robert Owens (18 April 1902 – 12 December 1986) was an American composer, bandleader and songwriter best known for his song "Sweet Leilani." Biography Harry Robert Owens was born April 18, 1902, in O'Neill, Nebraska. He learned to play the cornet in a small band on an Indian reservation in Montana. Early years Owens was working the vaudeville circuit by age 14. He studied for a career in law, but then started a band in 1926, when he was booked into the Lafayette Cafe in Los Angeles and auditioned a young Bing Crosby. Hawaii The big turning point in his career came in 1934 with his arrival in Hawaii and his appointment as music director of The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki. He tried to learn all he could about the local culture by mixing and working with native Hawaiians. He learned many traditional and more modern Hawaiian songs and tunes which he wrote down and orchestrated using Western notation for the first time. Many had never been written down bef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweet Leilani
"Sweet Leilani" is a song featured in the 1937 film, ''Waikiki Wedding''. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Bing Crosby's record became one of the biggest hits of 1937. Harry Owens wrote the song on October 20, 1934 for his daughter Leilani, who was born the previous day. Leilani is a popular Hawaiian name, meaning "heavenly garland of flowers" (not "heavenly flower"). It also has a figurative meaning: Small Hawaiian children were carried on their parents' shoulders like a '' lei'' (garland), so the name took on the meaning "heavenly child." Prior to ''Waikiki Wedding'', the song had been recorded by Sol Hoʻopiʻi under the title "Leilani" as the B-side of "Hawaiian Honeymoon" (Brunswick Records 55085). Harry Owens and his Royal Hawaiians performed "Sweet Leilani" in the 1938 film '' Cocoanut Grove'' starring Fred MacMurray. Other versions "Sweet Leilani" became a standard of popular and Hawaiian music, easy listening, and to some extent jazz; and has occasi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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