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The Phantom President
''The Phantom President'' is a 1932 American pre-Code musical comedy and political satire film. It was directed by Norman Taurog, starred George M. Cohan, Claudette Colbert, and Jimmy Durante, with songs by Richard Rodgers (music) and Lorenz Hart (lyrics). According to Rodgers, Cohan deeply resented having to work with Rodgers and Hart on the film. Cohan was bitter that his type of musical theatre had gone out of fashion, supplanted by the more literate and musically sophisticated shows of Rodgers and Hart, among others. During the filming, Cohan would sarcastically refer to Rodgers and Hart as "Gilbert and Sullivan". However, in 1937 Cohan starred in ''I'd Rather Be Right'', a musical with songs by Rodgers and Hart. (In the Cohan biopic ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'', the segments dealing with ''I'd Rather Be Right'' only mention librettists George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, not Rodgers and Hart.) Plot ''The Phantom President'' tells the fictional story of American presidential cand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Norman Taurog
Norman Rae Taurog (February 23, 1899 – April 7, 1981) was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Skippy (film), Skippy'' (1931), becoming the youngest person to win the award for eight and a half decades until Damien Chazelle won for ''La La Land'' in 2017. He was later nominated for Best Director for the film ''Boys Town (film), Boys Town'' (1938). He directed some of the best-known actors of the twentieth century, including his nephew Jackie Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Deborah Kerr, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley and Vincent Price. Taurog directed six Martin and Lewis films, and nine Elvis Presley films, more than any other director. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Taurog has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1600 Vine Street. Early life ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
I'd Rather Be Right
''I'd Rather Be Right'' is a 1937 musical with a book by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and music by Richard Rodgers. The story is a Depression-era political satire set in New York City about Washington politics and political figures such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The plot centers on Peggy Jones ( Joy Hodges) and her boyfriend Phil (Austin Marshall), who needs a raise in order for them to get married. The President steps in and solves their dilemma. Production ''I'd Rather Be Right'' premiered on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on November 2, 1937, produced by Sam H. Harris.Atkinson, Brooks.George M. Cohan as the United States President in 'I'd Rather Be Right", ''The New York Times''. November 3, 1937. 28. It transferred to the Music Box Theatre, and ran for 290 performances. It starred George M. Cohan as Franklin D. Roosevelt. In such pieces as "Off the Record", Cohan, as FDR, danced—not possible in real life for the President. Rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
1932 Films
The following is an overview of 1932 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1932 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events The Film Daily Yearbook listed the following as the ten leading headline events of the year. * Sidney Kent leaves Paramount Pictures and joins Fox Film. * Merlin H Aylesworth succeeds Hiram S Brown as president of RKO. * Jesse L. Lasky leaves Paramount and becomes an independent producer for Fox. * Sam Katz leaves Paramount. * James R Grainger leaves Fox and is succeeded by John D Clark, formerly of Paramount. * Publix and Fox decentralization of cinemas. * New industry program, including standard exhibition contract along lines of 5-5-5, proposed by Motion Picture Theater Owners of America and Allied. * Joe Brandt retires from Columbia Pictures, joins World-Wide, and later resigns again. * Two Radio City theaters open, under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War against the British Empire. He is commonly known as the Father of the Nation for his role in bringing about American independence. Born in the Colony of Virginia, Washington became the commander of the Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War (1754–1763). He was later elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, and opposed the perceived oppression of the American colonists by the British Crown. When the American Revolutionary War against the British began in 1775, Washington was appointed Commanding General of the United States Army, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. He directed a poorly organized and equipped force against disciplined British troops. Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray MM (born Alfred Ernest Allen; 18 August 1896 – 25 March 1969) was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood. Early life Mowbray was born in London, England. He served with distinction in the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal and the French Croix de Guerre for bravery in action. He applied for transfer to the Royal Air Force, which was granted just six days before the war ended. This placed him in London on Armistice Day. His service came to an end when the Royal Air Force wanted another seven years from him. Career Mowbray began his stage career in London in 1922, as an actor and stage manager. In 1923 he arrived in the United States and was soon acting with New York stock companies. He debuted on Broadway in ''The Sport of Kings'' (1926); in 1929 he wrote, directed and starred in the unsuccessful ''Dinner Is Served''. Mowbray made his film debut in '' God's Gift to Women'' (1931) playing a butler, a role in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederate States of America and playing a major role in the End of slavery in the United States, abolition of slavery. Lincoln was born into poverty in Kentucky and raised on the American frontier, frontier. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Illinois state Illinois House of Representatives, legislator, and U.S. representative. Angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened the territories to slavery, he became a leader of the new History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. He reached a national audience in the Lincoln–Douglas debates, 1858 Senate campaign debates against Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln won the 1860 United States presidential election, 1860 presidential election, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Charles Middleton (actor)
Charles Brown Middleton (October 3, 1874 – April 22, 1949) was an American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age 46 and lasted almost 30 years, he appeared in nearly 200 films as well as numerous plays. Sometimes credited as Charles B. Middleton, he is perhaps best remembered for his role as the villainous emperor Ming the Merciless in the three ''Flash Gordon'' serials made between 1936 and 1940. Career Born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Middleton worked in a traveling circus and in vaudeville, and acted on stage before he turned to motion pictures in 1920. Middleton's success as a character actor, however, did not become firmly established until the sound era in films, when he became known for his resounding, stentorian speaking voice. When Harold Lloyd decided to remake his silent film '' Welcome Danger'' in the new sound-film process, he replaced the silent-film villain with Charles Middleton, whose spoken dialogue projected a more pronounced threat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Jameson Thomas
Jameson Thomas (born Thomas Roland Jameson; 24 March 1888 – 10 January 1939) was an English film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1923 and 1939. Biography He was born in St George Hanover Square, London. On the stage from his early teens, Jameson first appeared as a " half-breed" boy in '' The Squaw Man''. He made his screen debut in 1923 in the film '' Chu Chin Chow''. In 1929, he starred in ''Piccadilly'' as Valentine Wilmot opposite Anna May Wong. ''Piccadilly'' was a smash hit in England, where reviewers called it "by far the best production yet made at Elstree" and "one of the finest films that has ever come from a British studio." The film, however, only received a tepid response in the U.S. where it had a limited run. Today, ''Piccadilly'' is recognised as an accomplished melodrama and one of the best films of the late British silent era. Thomas moved to Hollywood, appearing on the stage with Bebe Daniels in '' The Last of Mrs. Cheyney''. He contin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sidney Toler
Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr., April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second non-Asian actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his portrayal of the Chinese-American detective in 22 films made between 1938 and 1946. Before becoming Chan, Toler played supporting roles in 50 motion pictures, and was a highly regarded comic actor on the Broadway stage. Early life and career Hooper G. Toler Jr., who was called Sidney Toler from childhood, was born April 28, 1874, in Warrensburg, Missouri. The Toler family moved to Anthony, Kansas in the 1880s, then to Wichita, Kansas. He showed an early interest in the theater, acting in an amateur production of '' Tom Sawyer'' at the age of seven. He left the University of Kansas and became a professional actor in 1892, playing the heavy in a performance of a melodrama called ''The Master Man'' in Kansas City. In 1894, he joined the Corse Payto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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 Barbi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Stanley Green (historian)
Stanley Green (May 29, 1923 – December 12, 1990) was an American historian of theatre and film. He was also a writer on music who worked as an editor at '' Stereo Review'', and was a radio personality who hosted the WBAI radio program "The World of Musical Comedy". Life and career Stanley Green was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 29, 1923. He attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he graduated in 1943. He joined the United States Army and received further education in the Army Specialized Training Program at the University of Nebraska. He then served in the United States Army Signal Corps in the Pacific War during World War II. From 1957 to 1963 Green worked as an editor at '' Stereo Review''. He also wrote the liner notes to more than 100 albums, and wrote articles for '' Atlantic Monthly'', ''The New York Times'', '' Saturday Review'', '' Musical America'', and '' Variety'' among other publications. He was the author of ten books and numerous periodical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Blackface
Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a global perspective that includes European culture and Western colonialism. Blackface became a global phenomenon as an outgrowth of theatrical practices of racial misrepresentation, racial impersonation popular throughout Britain and its colonial empire, where it was integral to the development of imperial racial politics. Scholars with this wider view may date the practice of blackface to as early as Medieval Europe's mystery plays when bitumen and coal were used to darken the skin of white performers portraying demons, devils, and damned souls. Still others date the practice to English Renaissance theatre, English Renaissance theater, in works such as William Shakespeare's ''Othello''. However, some scholars see blackface as a specific pract ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
