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Melody Time
''Melody Time'' is a 1948 American live-action and animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney. It was released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of seven segments set to popular music and folk music, the film is, like '' Make Mine Music'' before it, the popular music version of '' Fantasia''. ''Melody Time'', while not meeting the artistic accomplishments of ''Fantasia'', was mildly successful. Vignettes According to Disney, the film's plot is as follows: "In the grand tradition of Disney's greatest musical classics, such as FANTASIA, MELODY TIME features seven classic stories, each enhanced with high-spirited music and unforgettable characters... feast for the eyes and ears ull ofwit and charm... a delightful Disney classic with something for everyone". Rose Pelswick, in a 1948 review for ''The News-Sentinel'', described the film as an "adventure into the intriguing make-believe world peopled by Walt Disney's Cartoon characters". It also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clyde Geronimi
Clito "Clyde" Geronimi (June 12, 1901 – April 24, 1989), known as Gerry, was an American animation director. He is best known for his work at Walt Disney Productions. Biography Geronimi was born in Chiavenna, Kingdom of Italy, Italy, immigrating to the United States as a young child. Geronimi's earliest work in the animation field was for the Bray Productions, J.R. Bray Studios, where he worked with Walter Lantz. Upon the dissolution of the Bray Studio in 1928, Geronimi followed Lantz to his own studio, Walter Lantz Productions, producing cartoons for Universal Pictures. Geronimi left Lantz in 1931 to join Walt Disney Productions, where he remained until 1959. Geronimi started off in the shorts department as an animator, eventually becoming a director. His 1941 short, ''Lend a Paw'', won the Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, Best Animated Short Film. During World War II, he directed several propaganda films, like ''Education for Death'' (1943) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Day
Dennis Day (born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty; May 21, 1916 – June 22, 1988) was an American actor, comedian and singer. He was of Irish descent. Early life Day was born and raised in the Throggs Neck Clason Point section of Bronx in New York City, the second of five children born to Irish immigrants Patrick McNulty and Mary (née Grady) McNulty. His father was a factory electric power engineer. Day graduated from the Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary and attended Manhattan College in the Bronx, where he sang in the glee club. In 1939, Gene McNulty, as Day was then known, sang on network radio with bandleader Larry Clinton. The Clinton broadcasts were aimed at the collegiate audience, and were often broadcast from a college campus. The 23-year-old McNulty won an audience poll as a favorite vocalist. Radio Day appeared for the first time on Jack Benny's radio show on October 8, 1939, taking the place of another tenor, Kenny Baker. He remained associated with Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RKO Radio Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain and Joseph P. Kennedy's Film Booking Offices of America studio were brought together under the control of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in October 1928. RCA executive 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 initialism of Radio-Keith-Orpheum). Two years later, another Kennedy concern, 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 Mitchu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walt Disney Productions
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, as an animation studio, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it later operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film ''Steamboat Willie.'' The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon. After becoming a success by the early 1940s, Disney diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks in the 1950s. However, following Walt Disney's death in 1966, the company's profits, especially in the animation sector, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Driscoll
Robert Cletus Driscoll (March 3, 1937 – March 30, 1968) was an American actor who performed on film and television from 1943 to 1960. He starred in some of the The Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios' best-known live-action pictures of that period: ''Song of the South'' (1946), ''So Dear to My Heart'' (1949), and ''Treasure Island (1950 film), Treasure Island'' (1950), as well as RKO Pictures, RKO's ''The Window (1949 film), The Window'' (1949). He served as the animation model and provided the voice for the title role in ''Peter Pan (1953 film), Peter Pan'' (1953). He received an Academy Juvenile Award for outstanding performances in ''So Dear to My Heart'' and ''The Window''. In the mid-1950s, Driscoll's acting career began to decline, and he turned primarily to guest appearances on Anthology series#Television, anthology TV series. He became addicted to narcotics, and was sentenced to prison for illicit drug use. After his release, he focused his attention on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luana Patten
Luana Patten (July 6, 1938 – May 1, 1996) was an American actress who appeared in films produced by Walt Disney Pictures, such as ''Song of the South'' (1946), ''Fun and Fancy Free'' (1947), and ''Melody Time'' (1948). Later in life, she played roles in television. Early years Patten attended Burbank High School and Hollywood Professional School. Career At the age of 3, she was a model and later was hired by Walt Disney. Patten made her first film appearance in the 1946 musical ''Song of the South'' with Bobby Driscoll. They also appeared together in ''Song of the Souths sister film '' So Dear to My Heart''. In 1947, she appeared again with Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, and Mortimer Snerd during the live action scenes in ''Fun and Fancy Free''. She appeared with Bobby Driscoll in the ''Pecos Bill'' segment of Disney's ''Melody Time''. When she grew up, she played Jody Weaver in '' Joe Dakota'' and Priscilla Lapham in Disney's 1957 '' Johnny Tremain''. In 1958, Patten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Fina
Jack Fina (August 13, 1913 – May 14, 1970) was a bandleader, songwriter, and pianist. Fina was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and educated at the New York College of Music and was a student of August Fraemcke and Elsa Nicilini. He started out playing piano in Clyde McCoy's band sometime in the 1930s, but it wasn't until he joined Freddy Martin’s band in 1936 that he gained real fame, when he was featured on Martin’s famous recording of "Tonight We Love". In 1946, Jack Fina formed his own 16-piece band, with Freddy Martin's blessing and financial backing.Ken Alden, "Facing the Music," ''Radio Mirror'', August 1946, p. 4. His first appearance was at the Claremont Hotel. The vocals were handled by Harry Prime and Gil Lewis. With good air time and good recordings, Fina became a national figure. Following up on the success of "Tonight We Love," Fina again turned to the classics and composed a boogie-woogie variation on Rimsky-Korsakov's " Flight of the Bumblebee." Fina's ver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dinning Sisters
The Dinning Sisters were an American sisters singing group, active from the late 1930s to 1955. They made a handful of film appearances and had several hit records at the height of their popularity in the late 1940s. The trio originally consisted of Ella Lucille "Lou" Dinning (1920–2000), Eugenia Doy "Jean" Dinning (1924–2011), and Virginia Moy "Ginger" Dinning (1924–2013). Jean and Ginger were twins. Lou Dinning left the group in 1946 to be replaced by Jayne Bundesen (1921–2010). Beginning in 1949, another Dinning sister was added to the lineup, replacing Bundsen: Dolores May "Tootsie" Dinning (1929-2015). This version of the Dinning Sisters lasted through about 1953, before Dolores left to continue her musical career as a session singer. Ginger and Jean continued to release material through 1955, before breaking up the act. Jean and Dolores both remained in the music business. Jean co-wrote the 1959 hit single " Teen Angel" for her brother Mark Dinning, while D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sons Of The Pioneers
The Sons of the Pioneers are one of the United States' earliest Western singing groups. Known for their vocal performances, their musicianship, and their songwriting, they produced innovative recordings that have inspired many Western music performers and remained popular through the years. Since 1933, through many changes in membership, the Sons of the Pioneers have remained one of the longest-surviving country music vocal groups. Origins In the spring of 1931, Ohio-born Leonard Slye, the cowboy singer who would later change his name to Roy Rogers, arrived in California and found work as a truck driver, and later as a fruit picker for the Del Monte company in California's Central Valley. He entered an amateur singing contest on a Los Angeles radio show called ''Midnight Frolics'' and a few days later got an invitation to join a group called the Rocky Mountaineers. In September 1931, Canadian-born Bob Nolan answered a classified ad in the ''Los Angeles Herald-Examiner'' that r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Waring
Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, choral director, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also a promoter, financial backer and eponym of the Waring Blendor, the first modern electric blender on the market. Waring was elected Shepherd (president) of The Lambs in November 1939, succeeding William Gaxton. He led the theatrical club until 1942. Biography Fredrick Malcolm Waring was born in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, Tyrone, Pennsylvania, on June 9, 1900, to Jesse Calderwood and Frank Waring. During his teen years, Waring, his brother Tom ''(né'' Thomas Lincoln Waring; 1902–1960), and their friend Poley McClintock founded the Waring-McClintock Snap Orchestra, which evolved into Fred Waring's Banjo Orchestra. The band often played at fraternity parties, proms, and dances, and achieved local success. Waring attended ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddy Clark
Buddy Clark (born Samuel Goldberg, July 26, 1912 – October 1, 1949) was an American popular singer of the Big Band era. He had some success in the 1930s, but his career truly blossomed in the late 1940s, after his return from service in World War II, and he became one of the nation's top crooners. He died in a plane crash in 1949. Life and career Clark was born to Jewish parents in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Tillie (Leibowitz), from Romania, and Nathan Goldberg, from Russia. He made his Big Band singing debut in 1932 as a tenor, with Gus Arnheim's orchestra, but was not successful. Singing baritone, he gained wider notice in 1934, with Benny Goodman on the '' Let's Dance'' radio program. In 1936 he began performing on the show '' Your Hit Parade'', and remained until 1938. In the mid-1930s he signed with Vocalion Records, having a top-20 hit with "Spring Is Here". He continued recording, appearing in movies, and dubbing other actors' voices until he entered the military, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethel Smith (organist)
Ethel Smith (born Ethel Goldsmith; November 22, 1902 – May 10, 1996) was an American organist who played primarily in a pop or Latin style on the Hammond organ. In the 1940s, she had founded the Ethel Smith Music Corporation for the publication of songs sheets. She had a long recording career and appeared in many films. Early life and career Born Ethel Goldsmith, to parents Elizabeth Bober and Max Goldsmith, she performed from a fairly young age and traveled widely, after studying both music and several languages at Carnegie Institute of Technology. She became proficient in Latin music while staying in South America, and it is the style of music with which she is now most associated. Film and recording career Smith performed in several Hollywood films such as ''George White's Scandals'' (1945) and ''Melody Time'' (1948). In these appearances, she was known for her colorful, elaborate costumes, especially her hats. She was married to Hollywood actor Ralph Bellamy from 1945 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
