|
George Bassman
George Bassman (February 7, 1914 – June 26, 1997) was an American composer and arranger. Biography Born in New York City to a Ukrainian- and Lithuanian-Jewish émigré couple, Bassman was later raised in Boston and began studying music at the Boston Conservatory while still a boy. He studied orchestration and composition formally, but in his teens he left home against his father's wishes to play piano in an itinerant jazz group, and subsequently worked as an arranger for Fletcher Henderson in New York. Through that gig, he became part of the burgeoning swing/big band scene and was soon writing songs as well. Bassman peaked in that career when he and Ned Washington wrote "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" for the bandleader Tommy Dorsey. Bassman also worked in radio as an arranger for Andre Kostelanetz, and made the move to Hollywood in the mid-1930s. Among his earliest film jobs was orchestrating the Gershwin songs in the Fred Astaire movie '' A Damsel in Distress'' at R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city limits , it is the List of United States cities by population, second-most populous in the United States, behind only New York City. Los Angeles has an Ethnic groups in Los Angeles, ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a Metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan area of 12.9 million people (2024). Greater Los Angeles, a combined statistical area that includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18.5 million residents. The majority of the city proper lies in Los Angeles Basin, a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "greatest popular-music dancer of all time". He received an Academy Honorary Award, Honorary Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. As a dancer, he was known for his uncanny sense of rhythm, creativity, effortless presentation, and tireless perfectionism, which was sometimes a burden to co-workers. His dancing showed elegance, grace, originality, and precision. He drew influences from many sources, including tap, classical dance, and the elevated style of Vernon and Irene Castle. His trademark style greatly influenced the American Smooth style of ballroom dance. He called his eclectic approach "outlaw style", a following of an unpredictable and instinctive muse. Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the best-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music. Rodgers is known for his songwriting partnerships, first with lyricist Lorenz Hart and then with Oscar Hammerstein II. With Hart he wrote musicals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including ''Pal Joey (musical), Pal Joey'', ''A Connecticut Yankee (musical), A Connecticut Yankee'', ''On Your Toes'' and ''Babes in Arms.'' With Hammerstein he wrote musicals through the 1940s and 1950s, such as ''Oklahoma!'', ''Flower Drum Song'', ''Carousel (musical), Carousel'', ''South Pacific (musical), South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
For Me And My Gal (film)
''For Me and My Gal'' is a 1942 American musical film directed by Busby Berkeley, and starring Judy Garland, George Murphy, Martha Eggerth, Ben Blue and Gene Kelly in his film debut. The film was written by Richard Sherman, Fred F. Finklehoffe and Sid Silvers, based on a story by Howard Emmett Rogers inspired by a true story about vaudeville actors Harry Palmer and Jo Hayden, when Palmer was drafted into World War I. The film was a production of the Arthur Freed unit at MGM. Plot In the heyday of vaudeville, on the verge of America's entrance into World War I, two talented performers, Jo Hayden ( Judy Garland) and Harry Palmer (Gene Kelly), set their sights on playing the Palace Theatre on Broadway, the epitome of vaudeville success, and marrying immediately after. Just weeks before their plans are to be realized, Harry gets a draft notice. Intending to obtain a short delay before reporting for duty, he intentionally smashes his hand in a trunk. That same day Jo is no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babes In Arms (film)
''Babes in Arms'' is the 1939 coming of age American film version of the 1937 Broadway musical of the same title. Directed by Busby Berkeley, it stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, and features Charles Winninger, Guy Kibbee, June Preisser, Grace Hayes, and Betty Jaynes. It was Garland and Rooney's second film together as lead characters after their earlier successful pairing in the fourth of the Andy Hardy films. The film concerns a group of youngsters trying to put on a show to prove their vaudevillian parents wrong and make it to Broadway. The original Broadway script was significantly revamped, restructured, and rewritten to accommodate Hollywood's needs. Almost all of the Rodgers and Hart songs from the Broadway musical were discarded. Plot In 1921, vaudeville performer Joe Moran (Winninger) announces the birth of a son, but after the advent of talking pictures in 1928, vaudeville fails. His son Michael "Mickey" Moran (Rooney) writes songs, and Patsy Barton (Garland) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emerald City
The Emerald City (sometimes called the City of Emeralds) is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's ''Oz'' books, first described in '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900). Fictional description Located in the center of the Land of Oz, the Emerald City is the end of the famous yellow brick road, which begins in Munchkin Country. In the center of the Emerald City is the Royal Palace of Oz. The Oz books generally describe the city as being built of green glass, emeralds, and other jewels. In the earlier books, it was described as completely green. However, in later works, green was merely the predominant color while buildings were also decorated with gold, and people added other colors to their costumes. In ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) In the first book, ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), the walls are green, but the city itself is not. However, when they enter, everyone in the Emerald City is made to wear green-tinted spectacles. This is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wizard Of Oz (1939 Film)
''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1939 American Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Based on the 1900 novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left production to take over the troubled ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind''. It stars Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, and Margaret Hamilton (actress), Margaret Hamilton. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, while others made uncredited contributions. The music was composed by Harold Arlen and adapted by Herbert Stothart, with lyrics by Yip Harburg, Edgar "Yip" Harburg. ''The Wizard of Oz'' is celebrated for its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and memorable characters. It was a critical success and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture, winning Academy Awa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was founded on April 17, 1924, and has been owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon (company), Amazon since 2022. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well-known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious filmmaking company, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of ''Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cabin In The Sky (film)
''Cabin in the Sky'' is a 1943 American musical film based on the 1940 Broadway musical of the same name. The first feature film directed by Vincente Minnelli, ''Cabin in the Sky'' features an all-black cast and stars Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Lena Horne. Waters and Rex Ingram reprise their roles from the Broadway production as Petunia and Lucifer Junior, respectively. The film was Horne's first and only leading role in an MGM musical. Louis Armstrong is also featured in the film as one of Lucifer Junior's minions, and Duke Ellington and his Orchestra have a showcase musical number in the film. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Plot Little Joe is a well-meaning yet weak man, whose attempts at redemption are cut short when he is killed over gambling debts by big-shot Domino Johnson. On his deathbed, Little J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady Be Good (1941 Film)
''Lady Be Good'' is an American musical film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Lionel Barrymore, and Red Skelton. It was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and produced by Arthur Freed. This was the first of several films Powell made with Skelton. Powell received top billing, but Sothern and Young are the main stars. They play, respectively, Dixie Donegan, a would-be lyricist, and Eddie Crane, a struggling composer. The film takes its title and theme song (" Oh, Lady be Good!") from the 1924 George and Ira Gershwin Broadway musical, '' Lady Be Good'', but otherwise has no connection to the play. According to film historian Robert Osborne in his introduction to a broadcast of the film on Turner Classic Movies in August 2006, MGM devised the film as a vehicle to launch Sothern as a musical star. Since she and Young were known primarily as light comic stars, the studio brought in Powell for a supporting role, but gave her top billing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Big Store
''The Big Store'' is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Charles Reisner and starring the Marx Brothers ( Groucho, Harpo and Chico) that takes place in a large department store. Groucho appears as private detective Wolf J. Flywheel (a character name originating from the Marx-Perrin radio show '' Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel'' in the early 1930s). ''The Big Store'' was the last of the five films that the Marx Bros. made under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The Marxes had decided to retire as a team and ''The Big Store'' was advertised as their farewell film. However, they would return to the screen in '' A Night in Casablanca'' (1946) and '' Love Happy'' (1949). The film also features singer Tony Martin and Virginia Grey as the love interests and longtime Marx Brothers foil Margaret Dumont in her seventh and final film with the Marxes. The villain is portrayed by Douglass Dumbrille, who had played a similar role in '' A Day at the Races'' (1937). Plot Singer Tommy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Go West (1940 Film)
Go West may refer to: *" Go West, young man", a quote often attributed to American author Horace Greeley concerning America's expansion westward *A euphemism for death Companies *Go West, a division of NZ Bus that operates bus services between Auckland's West and central suburbs Film, art and entertainment * ''Go West'' (1925 film), a 1925 film by Buster Keaton * ''Go West'' (1940 film), a 1940 Marx Brothers comedy film * ''Go West'' (2005 film), a 2005 Bosnian film directed by Ahmed Imamović * ''Go West'' (exhibition), the Stuckist art show in Spectrum London gallery, 2006 *''Go West'', a manga by Yu Yagami *''Go West,'' a 2023 film by the original cast of Studio C. Music * Go West (band), a British pop band successful through the 1980s and 1990s ** ''Go West'' (Go West album), the band's first album in 1985 * ''Go West'' (Village People album), a 1979 album by the Village People Songs * "Go West" (song), a 1979 song by the Village People, later covered by the Pet Shop Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
