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Henry Halstead
Henry Halstead (November 16, 1897 – March 19, 1984) was an American bandleader. His orchestra began in early 1922 and over the next twenty years had regular engagements at hotels in New York and California. Halstead had from 15 to 20 band members at any given time. His orchestra appeared in numerous short subjects on the screen and made over 100 records, mainly with Victor Records. He appeared in short films released by RKO Radio. After rising to fame on radio and on the west coast, his orchestra was named the Favorite Band of Movieland. His fans included Marion Davies, Sylvia Sidney, Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Kay Francis, Rudolph Valentino, Roscoe Arbuckle, Maurice Chevalier, Clark Gable, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Clive Brook, Gary Cooper, Marian Nixon, Jack Oakie, Buddy Rogers, and Ruth Chatterton. Career Henry Halstead was born November 16, 1897, in El Paso, Texas, and died on March 19, 1984, in California. As a young boy, he learned to play violi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of United States cities by population, 22nd-most populous city in the U.S., the most populous city in West Texas, and the List of cities in Texas by population, sixth-most populous city in Texas. Its metropolitan statistical area covers all of El Paso and Hudspeth County, Texas, Hudspeth counties in Texas, and had a population of 868,859 in 2020. El Paso stands on the Rio Grande across the Mexico–United States border from Ciudad Juárez, the most populous city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. On the U.S. side, the El Paso metropolitan area forms part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces, Texas–New Mexico combined statistical area, El Paso–Las Cruces combined statistical area with Las Cruces, New Mexico, which has a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marian Nixon
Marian Nixon (born Marja Nissinen; October 20, 1904 – February 13, 1983) was an American film actress. Sometimes credited as Marion Nixon, she appeared in more than 70 films. Career Born in Superior, Wisconsin, in 1904, to parents of Finnish descent, Nixon began her career as a teen dancing in choruses in vaudeville. She began appearing in bit part in films in 1922 and landed her first substantial role in the 1923 film '' Cupid's Fireman'' opposite Buck Jones. The following year, she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star. Nixon continued to work steadily throughout the mid to late 1920s appearing in ''Riders of the Purple Sage'' (1925), '' Hands Up!'' (1926), and ''The Chinese Parrot'' (1927). In 1929, she made her talkie debut as the lead in ''Geraldine''. Later that same year, Nixon appeared opposite Al Jolson in '' Say It with Songs'' followed by '' General Crack'' in 1930. In 1931, Nixon's Beauty Arts Institute moved into the Equitable Building of Hollywood; Nixon was president of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinema Of The United States
The cinema of the United States, primarily associated with major film studios collectively referred to as Hollywood, has significantly influenced the global film industry since the early 20th century. Classical Hollywood cinema, a filmmaking style developed in the 1910s, continues to shape many American films today. While French filmmakers Auguste and Louis Lumière are often credited with modern cinema's origins, American filmmaking quickly rose to global dominance. As of 2017, more than 600 English-language films were released annually in the U.S., making it the fourth-largest producer of films, trailing only India, Japan, and China. Although the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand also produce English-language films, they are not directly part of the Hollywood system. Due to this global reach, Hollywood is frequently regarded as a transnational cinema with some films released in multiple language versions, such as Spanish and French. Contemporary Hollyw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lew Ayres
Lewis Frederick Ayres III (December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film ''All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film), All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Johnny Belinda (1948 film), Johnny Belinda'' (1948). Early life and career Ayres was born in Minneapolis to Irma Bevernick and Louis Ayres, who divorced when he was four. Louis, an amateur musician and court reporter, remarried soon afterwards. As a teen, he and his mother moved with his step-father, William Gilmore, and half brother and sister to San Diego, California. Leaving high school before graduating, he started a small band which traveled to Mexico. He returned months later to pursue an acting career, but continued working full-time as a musician. He play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leatrice Joy
Leatrice Joy (born Leatrice Johanna Zeidler; November 7, 1893 – May 13, 1985) was an American actress most prolific during the silent film era. Early life Joy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to dentist Edward Joseph Zeidler. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, where she had planned on becoming a nun, but left when her father was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was forced to give up his dental practice. She tried out for the New Orleans–based Nola Film Company in 1915 and was hired as an actress. Her mother disapproved of her becoming an actress, but the family needed the money, so her mother accompanied her to California, where she began working in plays and films. Career Silent films Joy began her acting career in stock theater companies and soon made her film debut; between April 1916 and by November 1917, she was the star of about 20 one-reel Black Diamond Comedies produced by the United States Motion Picture Corporation in Wilkes-Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gus Edwards (vaudeville)
Gustave Edwards (August 18, 1878 – November 7, 1945) was an American composer, songwriter and film director. He also was a vaudevillian, organized his own theater companies and was a music publisher. Early life Edwards was the son of Morris and Johanna Simon. He was born Gustav Schmelowsky in Inowrazlaw, German Empire (present-day Inowrocław, Poland). His family boarded the steamship ''Spaarndam'' as steerage passengers; they arrived at the Port of New York on July 29, 1891, ending up in Williamsburg. During the day, he worked in the family cigar store, and in the evenings, he wandered looking for any sort of show business job. He found work as a singer at various lodge halls, on ferry boat lounges, in saloons, and even between bouts at the athletic clubs. As a very young boy, Edwards worked as a song plugger at Koster and Bial's, at Tony Pastor's theatre, and at the Bowery Theatre. In those old vaudeville days, song publishers would often hire a very young boy to sit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was a Russian-born American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century. She was known by the nickname "the Last of the Red-Hot Mamas". Early life and education Tucker was born Sofiya "Sonya" Kalish ( Ukrainian: Соня Калиш; ) in 1886 to a Jewish family in Tulchyn, Russian Empire, now Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. (Sonya is a pet name for Sofiya in Ukrainian as well as for Sofya, the Yiddish form of the name Sophia.) They arrived in Boston on September 26, 1887. The family adopted the surname Abuza before immigrating, her father fearing repercussions for having deserted from the Imperial Russian Army. The family lived in Boston's North End for eight years, then settled in Hartford, Connecticut, and opened a restaurant. At a young age, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson, ; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-born American singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. Self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," Jolson was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, as well as the first openly Jewish man to become an entertainment star in the United States. He was known for his "shamelessly sentimental, melodramatic approach" towards performing, along with popularizing many of the songs he sang. According to music historian Larry Stempel, "No one had heard anything quite like it before on Broadway." Stephen Banfield wrote that Jolson's style was "arguably the single most important factor in defining the modern musical." Jolson has been referred to by modern critics as "the king of blackface performers". Although best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927), he starred in a series of successful musical films during the 1930 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King's Jesters
The King's Jesters began as a comic vocal trio that also played instruments along with an accompanist. It comprised John Ravencroft - sax and clarinet, Francis "Fritz" Bastow - banjo and guitar, George Howard - drums and vibraphone, along with Ray McDermott - piano, accordion, and arranger. They were hired by Paul Whiteman to replace The Rhythm Boys and sang with him from 1930 to 1931. When they left Whiteman, they added vocalist Marjorie Whitney (whom they called their queen). These five were the core of the King's Jesters. The group most often appeared on Billboard's Music Popularity Charts in the '40s. Discovery Ray McDermott became interested in the boys and their story - in their ambition to strike the big time with their singing and vocal orchestra ideas. He listened to them. Became more interested. Trained them, gave them hope, encouragement, ideas. "And when he hit Cincinnati with Whiteman, he waited for his opportunity to arrange for an audition for the boys. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Nichols
Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. He was one of the most prolific and influential jazz musicians in the late 1920s and early 1930s, appearing on over 4,000 recordings. In 1959, a biopic was made of his life and career, '' The Five Pennies'', starring Danny Kaye. Biography Early life and career Nichols was born in Ogden, Utah, United States. He was of the Mormon faith. His father was a college music professor, and Nichols was something of a child prodigy, playing difficult set pieces for his father's brass band by the age of 12. Young Nichols heard the early recordings of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and later those of Bix Beiderbecke, and these had a strong influence on him. His style became polished, clean, and incisive. In the early 1920s, Nichols moved to the Midwest and joined a band called the Syncopating Seven. When that band broke up, he joined the Johnny Johnson Orchestra an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gus Arnheim
Gus Arnheim (September 4, 1897 – January 19, 1955) was an American pianist and an early popular band leader. He is noted for writing several songs with his first hit being " I Cried for You" from 1923. He was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. He also had a few small acting roles. Career Arnheim was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. In 1919, three men who all would become famous band leaders played together at the Sunset Inn in Santa Monica, California. Arnheim played piano, Abe Lyman played the drums, and Henry Halstead played violin. Arnheim grew up in Chicago and at one point was accompanist to vaudevillian Sophie Tucker. When Lyman organized a full dance orchestra, Arnheim came along as pianist, leaving to start his own group in 1927. Arnheim's orchestra made at least three film short subjects for Warner Brothers' Vitaphone Corporation in 1928–29. Arnheim first recorded for OKeh in 1928–1929, when he signed with Victor in 1929 and stayed through 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abe Lyman
Abe Lyman (born Abraham Simon; August 4, 1897 – October 23, 1957) was a bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including '' Your Hit Parade''. Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 4, 1897, to an Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant family, Lyman's name at birth was Abraham Simon. He and his brother, Mike, changed their last name to Lyman because they both thought it sounded better. Abe learned to play the drums when he was young, and at the age of 14 he had a job as a drummer in a Chicago café. Around 1919, he was regularly playing music with two other notable future big band leaders, Henry Halstead and Gus Arnheim, in California. In Los Angeles Mike Lyman opened the Sunset, a night club popular with such film stars as Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. When Abe's nine-piece band first played at the Sunset, it was a success, but the club cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
