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Steamboat Willie
''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Studios and was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celebrity Productions. The cartoon is considered the debut of Mickey Mouse and his wife Minnie, although both characters appeared several months earlier in a test screening of '' Plane Crazy''. ''Steamboat Willie'' was the third of Mickey's films to be produced, but it was the first to be distributed, because Walt Disney, having seen ''The Jazz Singer'', had committed himself to produce one of the first fully synchronized sound cartoons. ''Steamboat Willie'' is especially notable for being one of the first cartoons with synchronized sound, as well as one of the first cartoons to feature a fully post-produced soundtrack, which distinguished it from earlier sound cartoons, such as Inkwell Studios' ''Song Car-Tunes'' (1924–1926) and Van Beuren Studios' '' Dinner Time'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steamboat Bill, Jr
''Steamboat Bill, Jr.'' is a 1928 silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton. Released by United Artists, the film is the final product of Keaton's independent production team and set of gag writers. It was not a box-office success and became the last picture Keaton made for United Artists. Keaton ended up moving to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he made one last film in his trademark style, ''The Cameraman'', before his creative control was taken away by the studio. Charles Reisner directed the film, and the credited story writer was Carl Harbaugh. The film, named after Arthur Collins's popular 1911 recording of the 1910 song " Steamboat Bill", also featured Ernest Torrence, Marion Byron, and Tom Lewis. The film is known for what may be Keaton's most famous film stunt: The facade of a house falls around him while he stands in the precise location of open window to avoid being flattened. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published annually from 1969 to 2014. Early life Maltin was born in New York City, the son of singer Jacqueline ( née Gould; 1923–2012) and Aaron Isaac Maltin (1915–2002), a lawyer and immigration judge. Maltin was raised in a Jewish family in Teaneck, New Jersey. He graduated from Teaneck High School in 1968. Career Maltin began his writing career at age 15, writing for '' Classic Images'' and editing and publishing his own fanzine, ''Film Fan Monthly'', dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood. After earning a journalism degree at New York University, Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, newspapers, and magazines, including '' Variet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions being its chief competitor in the 1930s. Today, the company is again family owned and oversees the licensing and merchandising for its characters. Fleischer Studios characters included Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Bimbo, Popeye the Sailor, and Superman. Unlike other studios, whose characters were anthropomorphic animals, the Fleischers' most successful characters were humans (with the exception of Bimbo, a black-and-white cartoon dog). The cartoons of the Fleischer Studio were very different from those of Disney, both in concept and in execution. As a result, they were rough rather than refined and consciousl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IMDB
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and fan and critical reviews. IMDb began as a fan-operated movie database on the Usenet group "rec.arts.movies" in 1990, and moved to the Web in 1993. It is now owned and operated by IMDb.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon. the database contained some million titles (including television episodes) and million person records. Additionally, the site had 83 million registered users. The site's message boards were disabled in February 2017. Features The title and talent ''pages'' of IMDb are accessible to all users, but only registered and logged-in users can submit new material and suggest edits to existing entries. Most of the site's data has been provided by these volunteers. Registered users with a prov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception in 1988. History Through the 1980s, several prominent filmmakers and industry personalities in the United States, such as Frank Capra and Martin Scorsese, advocated for Congress to enact a film preservation bill in order to avoid commercial modifications (such as pan and scan and editing for TV) of classic films, which they saw as negative. In response to the controversy over the colorization of originally black and white films in the decade specifically, Representatives Robert J. Mrazek and Sidney R. Yates introduced the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, which established the National Film Registry, its purpose, and the criteria for selecting films for preservation. The Act was passed and the NFR's mission was subsequently r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The 50 Greatest Cartoons
''The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals'' is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck. Criteria It consists of articles about 50 highly regarded animated short films made in North America and other notable cartoons, which are ranked according to a poll of 1,000 people working in the animation industry. Each cartoon is under 30 minutes long and cel animated (with the exception of ''Gertie the Dinosaur''). Seventeen of the selected films were produced for Warner Bros.'s ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series, ten of which were directed by Chuck Jones (including the #1 cartoon on the list, ''What's Opera, Doc?''). Forty-five of the selected cartoons were created and released before 1960; the exceptions are '' The Big Snit'' (1985; ), '' The Cat Came Back'' (1988; ), '' Bambi Meets Godzilla'' (1969; ), ''The Man Who Planted Trees'' (1987; ) and ''Quasi at the Quackadero'' (1975; ). The book's front and rear cover art shows a variety of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". In 1996, ''Entertainment Weekly'' recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, and in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema. Working with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck and filmmaker Edward F. Cline, Keaton made a series of successful two-reel comedies in the early 1920s, including '' One Week'' (1920), '' The Playhouse'' (1921), '' Cops'' (1922), and '' The Electric House'' (1922). He then moved to feature-l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minstrel Show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people specifically of African descent. The shows were performed by mostly white people wearing blackface make-up for the purpose of playing the role of black people. There were also some African-American performers and black-only minstrel groups that formed and toured. Minstrel shows caricatured black people as dim-witted, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky.The Coon Character , Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, Ferris State University. Retrieved 29 January 2016.John Kenrick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turkey In The Straw
"Turkey in the Straw" is an American folk song that first gained popularity in the 19th century. Early versions of the song were titled "Zip Coon", which were first published around 1834 and performed in minstrel shows, with different people claiming authorship of the song. The melody of "Zip Coon" later became known as "Turkey in the Straw"; a song titled "Turkey in de Straw" with different music and lyrics was published in 1861 together with the wordless music of "Zip Coon" added at the end, and the title "Turkey in the Straw" then became linked to the tune of "Zip Coon". The song is related to a number of tunes of the 19th century and the origin of these songs has been widely debated. Links to older Irish/Scottish/English ballads have been proposed, such as "The Old Rose Tree". The song became highly popular and many variations of the song exist. It was also frequently adapted and used in popular media. A song based the tune of "Turkey in the Straw", "Nigger Love a Watermel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Collins (singer)
Arthur Francis Collins (February 7, 1864 – August 2, 1933) was an American baritone who was one of the most prolific and beloved of pioneer recording artists, regarded in his day as "King of the Ragtime Singers". Biography He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and moved with his family to Barnegat, New Jersey around 1879 and as a teenager worked as a volunteer Lifeguard on the Jersey shore, beginning an enthusiasm for sailing that became a lifelong pursuit. However, his fine baritone voice – heard in church and in local concert appearances – convinced Collins' family to send him back to Philadelphia for formal training. After concluding his studies, Collins spent some 15 years touring with various stock companies and appearing in summer opera in St. Louis. None of these ventures turned out any long term prospects for Collins, and when he married actress and singer Anna Leah Connelly in 1895, Collins swore off show business and decided to study for a career in bookkeepi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steamboat Bill
"Steamboat Bill" is a 1910 song with music by the vaudeville group The Leighton Brothers and lyrics by Ren Shields which became one of the first hit recordings in the United States through its 1911 recording by Arthur Collins. "Steamboat Bill" notably inspired two major works of American film with long-lasting influence: the 1928 Buster Keaton film ''Steamboat Bill, Jr.'' and '' Steamboat Willie'', the first Mickey Mouse cartoon. Content The song is an extended reference to a famed 1870 race down the Mississippi River between two steamboats, the ''Robert E. Lee'' and the '' Natchez''. It imagines a fictional steamboat, the ''Whippoorwill'', captained by "Mr. Steamboat Bill," who is determined to beat the record of the ''Robert E. Lee''. He threatens his mates with death if they do not follow his orders and commands them to use cargo as fuel if they run out of coal. A gambler from Louisville, Kentucky (home of the Kentucky Derby) places a bet against Bill that the ''Whippoorwil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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