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Gertrude Astor
Gertrude Astor (born Gertrude Irene Eyster; November 9, 1887 – November 9, 1977) was an American motion picture character actress, who began her career playing trombone in a woman's band. Early years Astor was born on November 9, 1887, in Lakewood, Ohio. Her father was Glen Eyster, an assistant fire chief in Lima, Ohio. Career Astor joined a woman's band as a trombone player and toured the states. In New York she left the band to obtain film work and got a job as an extra before her career took off. In 1915, Astor gained a contract with Universal Studios. Between then and 1962, she appeared in over 250 movies. Her first known credit is in a Biograph short in 1915. She then became a contract player at Universal. A tall, angular and beautiful woman, Astor frequently towered over the leading men of the era; thus, she was frequently utilized in comedy roles as aristocrats, gold-diggers, and "heroine's best pal". Her best-known silent appearances were as the visiting st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beyond The Rocks (film)
''Beyond the Rocks'' is a 1922 American silent romantic drama film directed by Sam Wood, and starring Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. It is based on the 1906 novel of the same name by Elinor Glyn. The film was long considered lost but a nitrate print of it was discovered in the Netherlands in 2003. ''Beyond the Rocks'' was restored and released on DVD by Milestone Film & Video in 2006. Plot Captain Fitzgerald, a retired guardsman on a modest pension, has to support three daughters: Theodora and her older half-sisters. Theodora's sisters pin their hopes on her marrying a wealthy man. One day, Theodora goes out on a rowboat off the coast of Dorset and falls into the water. She is rescued by Lord Hector Bracondale. He is young, handsome and wealthy, but "not the marrying kind". Out of a sense of duty to her beloved father, she reluctantly agrees to wed the middle-aged, short, stout Josiah Brown, a former grocer's assistant who is now a multi-millionaire. They honeymoon i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wall Flower (1922) - 1
''The Wall Flower'' is a 1922 American silent romantic drama film directed by Rupert Hughes and starring Colleen Moore, Richard Dix, Gertrude Astor, Laura La Plante, and Tom Gallery. The film was released by Goldwyn Pictures in May 1922. Plot As described in a film magazine, Idalene Nobbin (Moore) attends a village dance but, due to the constant nagging of her mother (Stockbridge), she believes herself to be a constitutional wallflower. By great luck she gets a dance with college football star Roy Duncan (Gallery), although Roy has eyes for the village belle Prue Nickerson (La Plante). Phil Larrabee (Hughes), another suitor for Prue's hand, tells Roy that Prue's name is Idalene Nobbin, and Roy sends an invitation to attend a "prom" dance. Idalene and her mother appear at the dance, and Roy bribes his fellow students to fill Idalene's dance card. She overhears part of the bargaining and, hurt and humiliated, she rushes from the dance and stumbles in front of a passing automobile. W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sons Of The Desert
The Sons of the Desert is an international fraternal organization devoted to the lives and films of comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The group takes its name from a fictional lodge that Laurel and Hardy belonged to in the 1933 film ''Sons of the Desert''. In keeping with the tongue-in-cheek “desert” theme, each local chapter of the society is called a “tent,” and each tent is named after one of the Laurel and Hardy films and designated with an "Oasis number" (e.g., the Chicago ''Bacon Grabbers'' is Oasis #10). There are more than 100 active tents worldwide, archived at the |
Fan Club
A fan club is an organized group of fans, generally of a celebrity. Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to support them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the person or organization the club is centered on. This is the case for many musicians, sports teams, etc. People in a fan club usually have either a T-shirt or a pin to indicate which fan club they are a part of. All fan clubs have unique paraphernalia that are given or sold to fans to use as an indication. Barbz, who support Nicki Minaj, Hollanders, who support Tom Holland, Carats, who support Seventeen, and Swifties who support Taylor Swift are examples of a fan club. Etymology The origin of the term fan in reference to a dedicated zealot is unclear. The word may have emerged in the 1800s, when boxing supporters were said to take a “fancy” to pugilistic sports. Among modern sports fans, however, the title is considered a shortened v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' () is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and James Stewart. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a 1953 short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson. The supporting cast features Vera Miles, Lee Marvin, Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Woody Strode, Strother Martin, and Lee Van Cleef. In 2007, 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 Near the turn of the 20th century, U.S. Senator Ransom "Ranse" Stoddard and his wife Hallie arrive in Shinbone, a frontier town in an unnamed Western state, to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon. When asked by the local newspaper reporter why a senator would attend the funeral of a poor rancher, Stoddard answers with a story that flashes back 25 years. Entering the then-uninc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and was one of the first American directors to be recognized as an auteur. In a career of more than 50 years, he directed over John Ford filmography, 130 films between 1917 and 1970 (although most of his silent films are now lost film, lost), and received a record four Academy Award for Best Director for ''The Informer (1935 film), The Informer'' (1935), ''The Grapes of Wrath (film), The Grapes of Wrath'' (1940), ''How Green Was My Valley (film), How Green Was My Valley'' (1941), and ''The Quiet Man'' (1952). Ford is renowned for his Western film, Westerns, such as ''Stagecoach (1939 film), Stagecoach'' (1939), ''My Darling Clementine'' (1946), ''Fort Apache (film), Fort Apache'' (1948), ''The Searchers'' (1956), and ''The Man Who Shot Liberty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Around The World In Eighty Days (1956 Film)
''Around the World in 80 Days'' (sometimes spelled as ''Around the World in Eighty Days'') is a 1956 American epic adventure-comedy film starring David Niven, Cantinflas, Robert Newton and Shirley MacLaine, produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. The picture was directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Mike Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay, based on the classic 1873 novel of the same name by Jules Verne, was written by James Poe, John Farrow, and S.J. Perelman. The music score was composed by Victor Young, and the Todd-AO 70 mm cinematography (processed by Technicolor) was by Lionel Lindon. The film's six-minute-long animated title sequence, shown at the end of the film, was created by award-winning designer Saul Bass. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Plot Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow presents an onscreen prologue, featuring footage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Scarlet Claw
''The Scarlet Claw'' is a 1944 American mystery thriller film based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Directed by Roy William Neill and starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, it is the eighth film of the Rathbone/Bruce series. David Stuart Davies notes on the film's DVD audio commentary that it is generally considered by critics and fans of the series to be the best of the twelve Holmes films made by Universal. Plot Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are in Canada attending a conference on the occult, when Lord Penrose receives a message that his wife Lady Penrose has been murdered in the small village of La Morte Rouge. Holmes and Watson are about to return home when Holmes receives a telegram from Lady Penrose, sent before her death, asking for help as she fears for her life. Holmes decides to investigate her death. Holmes and Watson arrive at the village and discover that the inhabitants are all convinced that the murder is the work of the legend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures, which is one of the Major film studios, "Big Five" film studios and a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. On June 19, 1918, brothers Jack Cohn, Jack and Harry Cohn and their business partner Joe Brandt founded the studio as CBC Film Sales Corporation, Cohn-Brandt-Cohn (CBC) Film Sales Corporation. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name on January 10, 1924 (operating as Columbia Pictures Corporation until December 23, 1968), went public two years later, and eventually began to use the image of Columbia (personification), Columbia, the female personification of the United States, as its logo. In its early years, Columbia was a minor player in Hollywood, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charley Chase
Charles Joseph Parrott (October 20, 1893 – June 20, 1940), known professionally as Charley Chase, was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and film director. He worked for many pioneering comedy studios but is chiefly associated with producer Hal Roach. Chase was the elder brother of comedian/director James Parrott. Life and career Born Charles Joseph Parrott in Baltimore, Maryland, Charley Chase began performing in vaudeville as a teenager and started his career in films by working at the Christie Film Company in 1912. He then moved to Keystone Studios, where he began appearing in bit parts in the Mack Sennett films, including those of Charlie Chaplin. By 1915 he was playing juvenile leads in the Keystones, and directing some of the films as Charles Parrott. His Keystone credentials were good enough to get him steady work as a comedy director with other companies; he directed many of Chaplin imitator Billy West's comedies, which featured a young Oliver Hardy as a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Our Gang
''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, who also produced the Laurel and Hardy films, ''Our Gang'' shorts were produced from 1922 to 1944, spanning the silent film and early sound film periods of American cinema. ''Our Gang'' is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way; Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children, rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. The series also broke new ground by portraying white and black children interacting as equals during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in the United States.Leonard Maltin, Maltin, Leonard (1994). ''The Little Rascals: Remastered and Uncut'', vol. 22, introduction. Videorecording. New York: Cabin Fever Entertainment/Hallmark Entert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurel And Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the silent film era, they later successfully transitioned to "sound film, talkies". From the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy's pompous bully. Their signature theme song, known as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos" (by Hollywood composer Marvin Hatley, T. Marvin Hatley) was heard over their films' opening credits, and became as emblematic of them as their bowler hats. Prior to emerging as a team, both had well-established film careers. Laurel had acted in over 50 films, and worked as a writer and director, while Hardy was in more than 250 productions. Both had appeared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
