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Have You Got Any Castles
''Have You Got Any Castles'' is a 1938 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. The short was released on June 25, 1938. Characters from well-known works of literary fiction come to life inside of a library that was just closed to the public (outside of the library) by the owner. Plot When the cartoon opens, the cuckoo clock in the library sounds, and the camera pans over the room, to the Town Crier (a caricature of Alexander Woolcott, who did a radio show of that name) who gives a brief introduction. After this, we meet four monsters ( Mr. Hyde, Fu Manchu, the Phantom of the Opera, and Frankenstein's monster) who introduce themselves roaring, but then dance briefly to Gossec's "Gavotte." As characters from other books cheer that performance, the protagonist of '' The Good Earth'', his head the shape of a globe, says prayers by his bedside. The camera pans the library to the right, revealing the book '' The Invisible Man'' and an invisible man dan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one that was widely used and commercially successful. The soundtrack was not printed on the film itself, but issued separately on phonograph records. The discs, recorded at rpm (a speed first used for this system) and typically in diameter, would be played on a turntable physically coupled to the projector motor while the film was being projected. It had a frequency response of 4300 Hz. Many early talkies, such as ''The Jazz Singer'' (1927), used the Vitaphone system. The name "Vitaphone" derived from the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for "living" and "sound". The "Vitaphone" trademark was later associated with cartoons and other short subjects that had optical soundtracks and did not use discs. Early history In the early 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thorne Smith
James Thorne Smith, Jr. (March 27, 1892 – June 20, 1934) was an American writer of humorous supernatural fantasy fiction under the byline Thorne Smith. He is best known today for the two ''Topper'' novels, comic fantasy fiction involving sex, much drinking and ghosts. With racy illustrations, these sold millions of copies in the 1930s and were equally popular in paperbacks of the 1950s. Smith was born in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of a Navy commodore, and attended Dartmouth College. Following hungry years in Greenwich Village, working part-time as an advertising agent, Smith achieved meteoric success with the publication of ''Topper'' in 1926. He was an early resident of Free Acres, a social experimental community developed by Bolton Hall according to the economic principles of Henry George, in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. He died of a heart attack in 1934 while vacationing in Florida. Works * ''Biltmore Oswald: The Diary of a Hapless Recruit'' (1918). A series of co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Powell
William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times: for ''The Thin Man (film), The Thin Man'' (1934), ''My Man Godfrey'' (1936), and ''Life with Father (film), Life with Father'' (1947). Early life Born in Pittsburgh in 1892, William Powell was the only child of Nettie Manila (née Brady) and Horatio Warren Powell, who worked as an accountant."Obituaries: William Powell, star of 'Thin Man' films", ''Chicago Tribune'', March 6, 1984, p. N6. Retrieved via ProQuest Historical Newspapers through subscription access at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, January 31, 2022. In 1907, young William moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Thin Man
''The Thin Man'' (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in a condensed version in the December 1933 issue of ''Redbook''. It appeared in book form the following month. A film series followed, featuring the main characters Nick and Nora Charles, and Hammett was hired to provide scripts for the first two. Plot The story is set in New York City during the Christmas season of 1932, in the last days of Prohibition in the United States. The main characters are Nick Charles, a former private detective, and Nora, his socialite wife. Nick, the son of a Greek immigrant, now spends most of his time in San Francisco managing his former father-in-law's businesses in between heavy drinking sessions. While in a New York speakeasy, Charles meets Dorothy, the now grown-up daughter of a former client, Clyde Wynant, who says she is trying to contact the father she has not seen since his divorce. Two days later, Nick sees a newspaper report of the shooting of Wynant' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heidi
''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' (german: Heidi kann brauchen, was es gelernt hat). It is a novel about the events in the life of a 5-year-old girl in her paternal grandfather's care in the Swiss Alps. It was written as a book "for children and those who love children" (as quoted from its subtitle). ''Heidi'' is one of the best-selling books ever written and is among the best-known works of Swiss literature. Plot Heidi is an orphaned girl initially raised by her maternal grandmother and aunt Dete in Maienfeld, in the Grisons, after the early deaths of her parents, Tobias and Adelheid (Dete's brother-in-law and sister). Shortly after the grandmother's death, Dete is offered a good job as a maid in the big city, and takes 5-year-old Heidi to her pat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Have You Got Any Castles
''Have You Got Any Castles'' is a 1938 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. The short was released on June 25, 1938. Characters from well-known works of literary fiction come to life inside of a library that was just closed to the public (outside of the library) by the owner. Plot When the cartoon opens, the cuckoo clock in the library sounds, and the camera pans over the room, to the Town Crier (a caricature of Alexander Woolcott, who did a radio show of that name) who gives a brief introduction. After this, we meet four monsters ( Mr. Hyde, Fu Manchu, the Phantom of the Opera, and Frankenstein's monster) who introduce themselves roaring, but then dance briefly to Gossec's "Gavotte." As characters from other books cheer that performance, the protagonist of '' The Good Earth'', his head the shape of a globe, says prayers by his bedside. The camera pans the library to the right, revealing the book '' The Invisible Man'' and an invisible man dan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clean Pastures
''Clean Pastures'' is a 1937 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on May 22, 1937. The cartoon gets the title from the Warner Bros.' 1936 film ''The Green Pastures''. Plot ''Clean Pastures'' opens in Harlem, New York City, where African American caricatures gamble, drink, and dance in a sea of bars, clubs, and dancing girls. In Heaven, known as "Pair-O-Dice", a black Saint Peter reads the headline, "Pair-O-Dice Preferred Hits New Low As Hades Inc. Soars". The angel rings an angelic Stepin Fetchit with enormous lipsGoldmark 94.Weisenfeld 79.—probably a reference to Oscar Polk's performance as Gabriel in ''The Green Pastures''—Weisenfeld 80. and orders him to rectify the situation. Gabriel descends to Harlem and stands by a sign (modeled after James Montgomery Flagg's World War I Uncle Sam poster) that reads, "Pair-O-Dice Needs You! Opportunity, Travel, Good Food, Water Melon, Clean Living, Music, Talkies". Nevertheless, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. In total he created more than 300 cartoons. He introduced and/or developed several of the studio's biggest stars, including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam (to whom he was said to bear more than a passing resemblance), and Speedy Gonzales. The senior director at Warners' Termite Terrace studio, Freleng directed more cartoons than any other director in the studio (a total of 266), and is also the most honored of the Warner directors, having won five Academy Awards and three Emmy Awards. After Warner closed down the animation studio in 1963, Freleng and business partner David H. DePatie founded DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, which produced cartoons (including ''The Pink Panthe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cab Calloway
Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the most popular dance bands in the United States from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. His band included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Jonah Jones, and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Cozy Cole. Calloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming known as the "Hi-de-ho" man of jazz for his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher", originally recorded in 1931. He reached the '' Billboard'' charts in five consecutive decades (1930s–1970s). Calloway ... [...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 saxo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Green Pastures
''The Green Pastures'' is a play written in 1930 by Marc Connelly adapted from ''Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun'' (1928), a collection of stories written by Roark Bradford. The play was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930. It had the first all-black Broadway cast. The play and the film adaptation were generally well received and hailed by white drama and film critics. African-American intellectuals, cultural critics, and audiences were more critical of white author Connelly's claim to be presenting an authentic view of black religious thought. The play portrays episodes from the Old Testament as seen through the eyes of a young African-American child in the Great Depression-era Southern United States, who interprets ''The Bible'' in terms familiar to her. Following Bradford's lead, Connelly set the biblical stories in New Orleans and in an all-black context. He diverged from Bradford's work, however, in enlarging the role of the character "De Lawd" (God), played on s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragedy, tragic characters, and her subtle and understated performances. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Garbo fifth on its list of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Garbo launched her career with a secondary role in the 1924 Swedish film ''The Saga of Gosta Berling, The Saga of Gösta Berling''. Her performance caught the attention of Louis B. Mayer, chief executive of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), who brought her to Hollywood in 1925. She stirred interest with her first American silent film, ''Torrent (1926 film), Torrent'' (1926). Garbo's performance in ''Flesh and the Devil'' (1927), her third movie, made her an international star. In 1928, Garbo starred in ''A Woman of Affairs,'' which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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