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Broadway Melody Of 1940
''Broadway Melody of 1940'' is a 1940 MGM film musical starring Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell and George Murphy (Astaire's first male dancing partner on film). It was directed by Norman Taurog and features music by Cole Porter, including " Begin the Beguine". The film was the fourth and final entry in MGM's "Broadway Melody" series of films, and is notable for being the only on-screen pairing of Astaire and Powell, who were considered the finest film musical dancers of their time. Plot Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire) and King Shaw (George Murphy) are a dance team so down on their luck that they work in a dance hall for no money. Meanwhile, Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell) is a big Broadway star. Owing to a case of mistaken identity, Shaw is offered the chance to be Clare's dancing partner in a new Broadway show, when Johnny's dancing was really what producer Bob Casey ( Frank Morgan) saw and wanted. The partnership breaks up, but Johnny still helps out King, who lets his newfound succe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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'' (1931). He is the second youngest person ever to win the award after Damien Chazelle, who won for '' La La Land'' in 2017. He was later nominated for Best Director for the 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, and Elvis Presley. 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 Norman Taurog was born February 23, 1899, in Chicago, I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Theatre'' as the proper noun in their names (12 others used neither), with many performers and trade groups for live dramatic presentations also using the spelling ''theatre''. or Broadway, are the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres, each with 500 or more seats, located in the Theater District and the Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world. While the thoroughfare is eponymous with the district and its collection of 41 theaters, and it is also closely identified with Times Square, only three of the theaters are located on Broadway itself (namely the Broadwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Broadway Melody
''The Broadway Melody'', also known as ''The Broadway Melody of 1929'', is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the first musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929–1930. Today, the Technicolor sequence survives only in black and white. The film was the first musical released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was Hollywood's first all-talking musical. ''The Broadway Melody'' was written by Norman Houston and James Gleason from a story by Edmund Goulding, and directed by Harry Beaumont. Original music was written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, including the popular hit " You Were Meant for Me". The George M. Cohan classic "Give My Regards to Broadway" is used under the opening establishing shots of New York City, its film debut. Bessie Love was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, massa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
That's Entertainment!
''That's Entertainment!'' is a 1974 American compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate the studio's 50th anniversary. The success of the retrospective prompted a 1976 sequel, the related 1985 film ''That's Dancing!'', and a third installment in 1994. Compiled by its writer-producer-director, Jack Haley Jr., under the supervision of executive producer Daniel Melnick, the film turned the spotlight on MGM's legacy of musical films from the 1920s through the 1950s, culling dozens of performances from the studio's movies, and featuring archive footage of Judy Garland, Eleanor Powell, Lena Horne, Esther Williams, Ann Miller, Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Jeanette MacDonald, Cyd Charisse, June Allyson, Clark Gable, Mario Lanza, William Warfield, and many others. Various segments were hosted by a succession of the studio's legendary stars: Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, Debbie Reynolds, Bing Crosby, James Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and dominated jazz in the early 1940s when swing was most popular. The term "big band" is also used to describe a genre of music, although this was not the only style of music played by big bands. Big bands started as accompaniment for dancing. In contrast to the typical jazz emphasis on improvisation, big bands relied on written compositions and arrangements. They gave a greater role to bandleaders, arrangers, and sections of instruments rather than soloists. Instruments Big bands generally have four sections: trumpets, trombones, saxophones, and a rhythm section of guitar, piano, double bass, and drums. The division in early big bands, from the 1920s to 1930s, was typically two or three trumpets, one or two trombones, three or four sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tap Dance
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater. Rhythm tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition. The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. There are different brands of shoes which sometimes differ in the way they sound. Ok History The fusion of several ethnic percussive dances, such as West African step dances and Welsh, Irish, and Scottish clog dancing, hornpipes, and jigs, tap dance is believed to have begun in the mid-1800s during the rise of minstrel shows. As minstrel shows began to decline in popularity, tap dance moved to the increasingly popular Vaudeville stage. Due to Vaudeville's unspoken "two-colored rule", which forbade blacks to perform solo, many Vau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas McPhail
Douglas McPhail (April 16, 1914 – December 6, 1944) was an American actor and singer, active from the 1930s to 1944, when he committed suicide. He was married to Betty Jaynes.Wagner, Laura. "Douglas McPhail", ''Classic Images ''Classic Images'' is a monthly American mail-subscription newspaper in tabloid format, founded in 1962 by film collector Samuel K. Rubin, dedicated to film and television of the "Golden Age". Its offices are located in Muscatine, Iowa and it is ...''. September 2021 Filmography References External links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McPhail, Douglas 1914 births 1944 deaths American male film actors 20th-century American male actors Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players Suicides in California 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers 1944 suicides ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Concentrate On You
"I Concentrate on You" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1940 film '' Broadway Melody of 1940'', where it was introduced by Douglas McPhail. Notable recordings * Franck Amsallem - ''Amsallem Sings'' (2009) * Fred Astaire - ''The Astaire Story'' (1952) *Tony Bennett - '' Steppin' Out'' (1993) *Freddy Cole - ''Rio de Janeiro Blue'' (2009) *Perry Como - ''TV Favorites'' (1952), ''Easy Listening'' (1970) *Ray Conniff - ''Rhapsody in Rhythm '' (1962), ''The very best of Ray Conniff '' (2017) *Ella Fitzgerald - '' Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook'' (1956), '' Ella Loves Cole'' (1972) * The Four Freshmen - ''Live in the New Millennium'' (2002) *Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga recorded a version of the song for their 2021 collaborative album '' Love for Sale''. *Judy Garland - ''Judy in Love'' (1958) * Bunky Green - ''Healing the Pain'' (1990) * Grant Green – ''Nigeria'' (1962) * Johnny Hartman - '' Thank You for Everything'' (1998), rec. 1976 *Lena Horne - '' Lena...Lov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I've Got My Eyes On You (1939 Song)
"I've Got My Eyes on You" is a popular song by Cole Porter, published in 1939 and written for the Hollywood musical film ''Broadway Melody of 1940'' where it was introduced by Fred Astaire. Later that year, it was included in ''Andy Hardy's Private Secretary'' (1940) where it was sung by Kathryn Grayson. It appears, played as background music, by a band in the 1956 musical ''High Society'', starring Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, and it was used in the 1940 comedy ''The Philadelphia Story'' starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, in which it was played at the party the night before the wedding. The song has since been recorded by a number of artists, including by Patti Page for her album '' In the Land of Hi-Fi'' (1956), Fred Astaire for his album ''The Astaire Story'' (1952) and by Dianne Reeves (in 2005) for the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack to ''Good Night, and Good Luck ''Good Night, and Good Luck'' (stylized as ''good night, and good luck.'') is a 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy radio programs, including those of Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, Judy Canova, and his own short-lived sitcom. However, he became known worldwide for his work in the Golden Age of American Animation as the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and numerous other characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' theatrical cartoons. He later voiced characters for Hanna-Barbera's television cartoons, including Barney Rubble and Dino on '' The Flintstones'', Mr. Spacely on '' The Jetsons'', Secret Squirrel on '' Secret Squirrel'', and Captain Caveman on ''Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels''. Referred to as "The Man of a Thousand Voices", he is regarded as one of the mos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herman Bing
Herman Bing (March 30, 1889 – January 9, 1947) was a German-American character actor. He acted in more than 120 films and many of his parts were uncredited. Biography Bing was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was son of the opera singer Max Bing (1865-1919) and Frieda Seckback (1869-1939), and brother of actor Gustav Bing (1893-1967), Clara Bing (1895-1976), and Erna Bing Swarzchild. He was married to Carla Lichtenstein and had one daughter. Bing began his career at the circus, at age 16, and vaudeville showing comedic talent. In 1921 he made his film debut in "Ciska Barna, die Zigeunerin". He was production chief of several films in Germany before he went to America, in 1923, with director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau as Murnau's interpreter and assistant director. He also worked under John Ford and Frank Borzage, before establishing himself as a successful character actor well known for his wild-eyed facial expressions and thick German accent. He provided the voi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
