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An American In Paris (film)
''An American in Paris'' is a 1951 American musical romantic comedy film inspired by the 1928 jazz-influenced symphonic poem (or tone poem) ''An American in Paris'' by George Gershwin. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron (her film debut), Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner. The music is by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira, with additional music by Johnny Green, and Saul Chaplin, the music directors. The story of the film is interspersed with dance numbers choreographed by Gene Kelly and set to Gershwin's music. MGM executive Arthur Freed bought the Gershwin musical catalog from George's brother Ira in the late 1940s, since George died in 1937. Some of the tunes in this catalog were included in the movie, such as "I Got Rhythm" and " Love Is Here to Stay". Other songs in the movie include " I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise" and " 'S Wonderful". The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincente Minnelli
Vincente Minnelli (; born Lester Anthony Minnelli; February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986) was an American Theatre director, stage director and film director. From a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovation and artistry in musical films. , six of his films have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Minnelli made his stage debut as an actor in a production of ''East Lynne'', staged by the Minnelli Brothers' Tent Theater (co-founded by his father and paternal uncle). After graduating from high school, he worked as an apprentice window designer at Marshall Field's department store in Chicago. There, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago and became a costume designer for the Balaban and Katz theater chain. By the early 1930s, he moved to New York City and served as the art director for the Radio City Music Hall. In 1935, Minnelli became a theatre director with ''At Home Abroad'' (1935), starring Beatr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musical Film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate "production numbers". The musical film was a natural development of the musical theater, stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if a live audience were watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the diegesis, diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it. With the Sound film, advent of sound in the late 1920s, musicals gained popularity with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The Oscars are widely considered to be the most prestigious awards in the film industry. The major award categories, known as the Academy Awards of Merit, are presented during a live-televised Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood ceremony in February or March. It is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929. The 2nd Academy Awards, second ceremony, in 1930, was the first one broadcast by radio. The 25th Academy Awards, 1953 ceremony was the first one televised. It is the oldest of the EGOT, four major annual American entertainment awards. Its counterparts—the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hays Office
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945. Under Hays's leadership, the MPPDA, later the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), adopted the Production Code in 1930 and began rigidly enforcing it in 1934. The Production Code spelled out acceptable and unacceptable content for motion pictures produced for a public audience in the United States. From 1934 to 1954, the code was closely associated with Joseph Breen, the administrator appointed by Hays to enforce the code in Hollywood. The film industry followed the guidelines set by the code well into the late 1950s, but it began to weaken, owing to the combine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul O'Grady
Paul James O'Grady (14 June 1955 – 28 March 2023) was an English comedian, broadcaster, drag queen, actor, and writer. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his drag persona Lily Savage, through which he gained wider popularity in the 1990s. O'Grady subsequently dropped the character and in the 2000s became the presenter of various television and radio shows, including ''The Paul O'Grady Show''. Born to a working-class Irish migrant family in Tranmere, Cheshire, O'Grady moved to London in the late 1970s, initially working as a peripatetic care officer for Camden Council. He developed his drag act in 1978, basing the character of Lily Savage upon traits found among female relatives. Touring England as part of drag mime duo the Playgirls, O'Grady then went solo as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s. Performing as Savage for eight years at a South London gay pub, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT), he gained a popular following among London's g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
'S Wonderful
"S Wonderful" is a 1927 popular song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics written by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced in the Broadway musical '' Funny Face'' (1927) by Adele Astaire and Allen Kearns. The song is considered a standard and has been recorded by many artists, especially jazz artists. In 1928, Adele Astaire, who introduced the song on stage the previous year, recorded one of the earliest versions with Bernard Clifton. The most successful recordings in 1928 were however by Frank Crumit and by the Ipana Troubadors. Other recordings Other vocal versions include those of Bing Crosby (recorded in 1954 for use on his radio show and subsequently included in the box set ''The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56)'' issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009), Sun Ra, Brian Wilson, Anita O'Day, Gene Kelly, Ella Fitzgerald (for her album ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book''), Michael Feinstein (for his album '' Pure Gershwin''), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stairway To Paradise
"Stairway to Paradise", also known as "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise", is a song composed in 1922 by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin (under the name Arthur Francis) and Buddy DeSylva (under the name of B. G. De Sylva) for the Broadway revue ''George White's Scandals''. Popular recordings in 1922–23 were by Carl Fenton; Paul Whiteman; and by Ben Selvin. Background The lyrics make it clear that the "steps" on the stairway are dance steps. Other recordings *Sarah Vaughan – '' Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin'' (1958) *Pat Boone on his 1958 album '' Yes Indeed!'' * Frankie Vaughan – ''Frankie Vaughan at the London Palladium'' (1959). *Liza Minnelli – '' There Is a Time'' (1966) *Joel Grey – ''Only the Beginning'' (1967). *Featured on the tribute album '' The Glory of Gershwin'' (1994), a compilation of Gershwin tunes produced by "Fifth Beatle" George Martin to honour Larry Adler, a lifelong friend of Gershwin, on his 80th birthday. Issy Van Randwyck perf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Love Is Here To Stay
"Love Is Here to Stay" is a popular song and jazz standard composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin for the movie ''The Goldwyn Follies'' (1938). History "Love Is Here to Stay" was first performed by Kenny Baker in ''The Goldwyn Follies'' but became popular when it was sung by Gene Kelly to Leslie Caron in the film ''An American in Paris'' (1951); however, it was not included in the 2015 Broadway musical ''An American in Paris''. The song appeared in '' Forget Paris'' (1995) and ''Manhattan'' (1979). It can also be heard in the film '' When Harry Met Sally...'' (1989) sung by Harry Connick Jr. An instrumental version of the song is sometimes heard in certain episodes of the American television sitcom The Honeymooners when Ralph Kramden apologizes to his wife Alice. The song is also used in the musical '' The 1940's Radio Hour''. Composition "Love Is Here to Stay" was the last musical composition George Gershwin completed before his death on July 11, 1937 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Got Rhythm
"I Got Rhythm" is a piece composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and published in 1930, which became a jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the " rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes such as Charlie Parker's and Dizzy Gillespie's bebop standard "Anthropology (Thrivin' on a Riff)". Composition The song came from the musical '' Girl Crazy'', which also includes two other hit songs, " Embraceable You" and " But Not for Me", and has been sung by many jazz singers since. It was originally written as a slow song for '' Treasure Girl'' (1928) and found another, faster setting in ''Girl Crazy''. Ethel Merman sang the song in the original Broadway production and Broadway lore holds that George Gershwin, after seeing her opening reviews, warned her never to take a singing lesson. The piece was originally penned in the key of D major. The song melody uses four notes of the five-note pentatonic scale, first rising, then fallin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, fourth-most populous city in the European Union and the List of cities proper by population density, 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, Fashion capital, fashion, and gastronomy. Because of its leading role in the French art, arts and Science and technology in France, sciences and its early adoption of extensive street lighting, Paris became known as the City of Light in the 19th century. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants in January 2023, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An American In Paris
''An American in Paris'' is a jazz-influenced symphonic poem (or tone poem) for orchestra by American composer George Gershwin first performed in 1928. It was inspired by the time that Gershwin had spent in Paris and evokes the sights and energy of the French capital during the '. Gershwin scored the piece for the standard instruments of the symphony orchestra plus celesta, saxophones, and automobile horns. He brought back four Parisian taxi horns for the New York premiere of the composition, which took place on December 13, 1928, in Carnegie Hall, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Philharmonic. It was Damrosch who had commissioned Gershwin to write his Concerto in F following the earlier success of '' Rhapsody in Blue'' (1924). He completed the orchestration on November 18, less than four weeks before the work's premiere. He collaborated on the original program notes with critic and composer Deems Taylor. On January 1, 2025, ''An American in Paris'' entered the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tone Poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement (music), movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term (tone poem) appears to have been first used by the composer Carl Loewe in 1828. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt first applied the term to Symphonic poems (Liszt), his 13 works in this vein, which commenced in 1848. Background While many symphonic poems may compare in size and scale to symphony, symphonic movement (music), movements (or even reach the length of an entire symphony), they are unlike traditional classical symphonic movements, in that their music is intended to inspire listeners to imagine or consider scenes, images, specific ideas or moods, and not (necessarily) to focus on following traditional patterns of musical form such as sonata form. This intention to inspire listeners was a direct consequence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
