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Make 'Em Laugh
"Make 'Em Laugh" is a song first featured in the 1952 MGM musical film ''Singin' in the Rain'', performed by Donald O'Connor as the character Cosmo Brown. Written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, the song is closely based on Cole Porter's " Be a Clown" from the Freed-produced 1948 MGM musical film '' The Pirate'', in which it was sung by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland. In the song, Cosmo explains that he loves making people laugh, and quotes back to the inspiring words of a man named Samuel J. Snodgrass (as he was about to be led to the guillotine), his dad and his grandpa (though it's made unclear whether Cosmo refers to Snodgrass's or his own relatives). O'Connor's performance for "Make 'Em Laugh" is noted for its extreme physical difficulty, featuring dozens of jumps, pratfalls, and two backflips. Hollywood legend states that O'Connor, though only 27 years old at the time but a chain-smoker, was bedridden for several days after filming the sequence. The routine is often cited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald O'Connor
Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred, in succession, with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule. O'Connor was born into a vaudeville family, where he learned to dance, sing, play comedy, and perform slapstick. The most distinctive characteristic of his dancing style was its athleticism, for which he had few rivals. Yet it was his boyish charm that audiences found most engaging, and which remained an appealing aspect of his personality throughout his career. In his Universal musicals of the early 1940s, O'Connor was a wisecracking, fast-talking teenager, much like Mickey Rooney of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. But by 1952 and ''Singin' in the Rain'', MGM had cultivated a much more sympathetic sidekick persona for him, and that remained O'Connor's signature image. His best-known work was his "Make 'Em Laugh" dance routine in ''Singin' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Songs With Music By Nacio Herb Brown
A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usually made of sections that are repeated or performed with variation later. A song without instruments is said to be a cappella. Written words created specifically for music, or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics. If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in the classical tradition, it is called an art song. Songs that are sung on repeated pitches without distinct contours and patterns that rise and fall are called chants. Songs composed in a simple style that are learned informally by ear are often referred to as folk songs. Songs composed for the mass market, designed to be sung by professional singers who sell their recordings or live shows, are called popular songs. These songs, which have broad appeal, are of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1952 Songs
Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 195 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus has the Roman Senate deify the previous emperor Commodus, in an attempt to gain favor with the family of Marcus Aurelius. * King Vologases V and other eastern princes support the claims of Pescennius Niger. The Roman province of Mesopotamia rises in revolt with Parthian support. Severus marches to Mesopotamia to battle the Parthians. * The Roman province of Syria is divided and the role of Antioch is diminished. The Romans annex the Syrian cities of Edessa and Nisibis. Severus re-establishes his headquarters and the colo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Songs From Musicals
A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usually made of sections that are repeated or performed with variation later. A song without instruments is said to be a cappella. Written words created specifically for music, or for which music is specifically created, are called lyrics. If a pre-existing poem is set to composed music in the classical tradition, it is called an art song. Songs that are sung on repeated pitches without distinct contours and patterns that rise and fall are called chants. Songs composed in a simple style that are learned informally by ear are often referred to as folk songs. Songs composed for the mass market, designed to be sung by professional singers who sell their recordings or live shows, are called popular songs. These songs, which have broad appeal, are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer. He received the Honorary Academy Award in 70th Academy Awards, 1998, and the Golden Lion#Golden Lion – Honorary Award, Career Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2004. Four of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Donen began his career as a dancer in the chorus line on Broadway for director George Abbott. From 1943, he worked in Hollywood as a choreographer before collaborating with Gene Kelly where Donen worked as a contract director for MGM under producer Arthur Freed. Donen and Kelly directed the films ''On the Town (film), On the Town'' (1949), ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), and ''It's Always Fair Weather'' (1955). Donen's relationship with Kelly deteriorated during their final collaboration. His other films during this period include ''Royal Wedding'' (1951), ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' (1954), and ''Fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown Atlanta, Midtown business district of Atlanta, Georgia. The channel's programming consists mainly of Golden age (metaphor), classic theatrically released feature films from the Turner Entertainment, Turner Entertainment Co. film library – which comprises films from Warner Bros. (covering films released before 1950), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (covering films released before May 1986), and the North American distribution rights to films from RKO Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures. However, Turner Classic Movies also licenses films from other studios and occasionally shows more recent films. Unlike its sister networks TBS (American TV channel), TBS, TNT (American TV network), TNT, and TruTV, TCM does not carry any sports cove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment Company (formerly Rhino Records Inc.) is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originally a Novelty song, novelty and reissue label during the 1970s and 1980s. It released compilation albums of Pop music, pop, Rock and roll, rock & roll, and Rhythm and blues, rhythm & blues successes from the 1950s through the 1980s, as well as novelty-song LPs (compiled in-house or by Dr. Demento) and retrospectives of famous comedy performers, including Richard Pryor, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, and Spike Jones. Rhino started as a record shop on Westwood Boulevard, Los Angeles, in 1973, run by Richard Foos, and became a record distributor five years later thanks to the effort of then-store manager Harold Bronson. Their early releases were mostly novelty records (such as their first single, in 1975, Wild Man Fische ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolph Green
Adolph Green (December 2, 1914 – October 23, 2002) was an American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for musicals on Broadway (theatre), Broadway and in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Although they were not a romantic couple, they shared a unique comic genius and sophisticated wit that enabled them to forge a six-decade-long partnership. They received numerous accolades including four Tony Awards and nominations for two Academy Awards and a Grammy Award. Green was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981. Comden and Green received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1991. They started their career alongside Leonard Bernstein on stage where they received the New York Drama Critics' Circle for Best Musical for ''Wonderful Town'' (1953). On Broadway they wrote the music and lyrics to musicals such as ''On the Town (musical), On the Town'' (1944), ''Two on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Comden
Betty Comden (May 3, 1917 – November 23, 2006) was an American lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter who contributed to numerous Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century. Her writing partnership with Adolph Green spanned six decades: "the longest running creative partnership in theatre history." The musical-comedy duo of Comden and Green collaborated most notably with composers Jule Styne and Leonard Bernstein, as well enjoyed success with '' Singin' in the Rain'', as part of the famed " Freed unit" at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Early life Betty Comden was born Basya Cohen in Brooklyn, New York in 1917, the younger child of Leo Cohen (originally Astershinsky), a lawyer, and Rebecca ( Sadvoransky) Cohen, an English teacher. Both were Russian immigrants and observant Jews. She had an older brother, Nathaniel ("Nat"), born . Basya "attended Erasmus Hall High School and studied drama at New York University, graduating in 1938," according to ''The New York Times' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physical Comedy
Physical comedy is a form of comedy focused on manipulation of the body for a humorous effect. It can include slapstick, clowning, mime, physical stunts, or making funny faces. Physical comedy originated as part of the Commedia dell'arte. It is now sometimes incorporated into sitcoms; for example, in the sitcom '' Three's Company'', actor John Ritter frequently performed ''pratfalls''. Cartoons, particularly film shorts, also commonly depict an exaggerated form of physical comedy (incorporating cartoon physics), such as in ''Tom and Jerry'' and Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Examples Charlie Chaplin started his film career as a physical comedian; although he developed additional means of comic expression, Chaplin's mature works continued to contain elements of slapstick. In the movies, physical comedy is used by, for example, * Buster Keaton as the eponymous character in Steamboat Bill, Jr., * Jacques Tati as Monsieur Hulot, * Peter Sellers as Chief Inspector Clou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Showtune
A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context. Though show tunes vary in style, they do tend to share common characteristics—they usually fit the context of a story being told in the original musical, they are useful in enhancing and heightening choice moments. A particularly common form of show tune is the "I Want" song, which composer Stephen Schwartz noted as being particularly likely to have a lifespan outside the show that spawned it. Show tunes were a major venue for popular music before the rock and roll and television era; most of the hits of such songwriters as Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin came from their shows. (Even into the television and rock era, a few stage musicals managed to turn their show tunes into major pop music hits, sometimes aided by film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
