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William A. Seiter
William Alfred Seiter (June 10, 1890 – July 26, 1964) was an American film director. Life and career Seiter was born in New York City. After attending Hudson River Military Academy, Seiter broke into films in 1915 as a bit player at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios, doubling as a cowboy. He graduated to director in 1918. At Universal Studios in the mid-1920s, Seiter was principal director of the popular movies with Reginald Denny, most of which co-starred Seiter's then wife Laura La Plante (his second wife was actress Marian Nixon). This period also included '' The Beautiful and Damned'' and '' The Family Secret''. In the early sound era, Seiter helped nurture the talents of RKO's comedy duo Wheeler & Woolsey in features such as ''Caught Plastered'' (1931) and '' Diplomaniacs'' (1933). He also directed Laurel and Hardy in ''Sons of the Desert'' (1933), generally regarded as one of their better feature films. Seiter's other films include '' Sunny'', '' Going Wild'', '' Kiss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, research, technology, education, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Going Wild
''Going Wild'' is a 1930 Warner Brothers pre-Code comedy film based on the 1910 play ''The Aviator'' by James Montgomery and directed by William A. Seiter. The film stars many musical stars along with Joe E. Brown, Frank McHugh and Johnny Arthur. A print is held in the Library of Congress collection. Plot Rollo Smith and his friend Jack Lane are down on their luck and have stowed away on a train, finding a place in the compartment of ace pilot and writer Robert Story. The conductor ejects Rollo and Jack from the train just where the famous writer is supposed to arrive, and Rollo is mistaken for Story. Peggy Freeman and May Bunch both vie for Rollo's attention, believing that he is a famous pilot. The girls receive free room and meals at the Palm Inn. Rollo, who has never flown, is invited to fly in an air race as Story against a real aviator, "Ace" Benton, with a chance to win a $25,000 wager. After he somehow lifts the plane off the ground, Rollo can barely control the aircr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in 1934; her birth year was advanced from 1928 to 1929. Even her baby book was revised to support the 1929 date. She confirmed her true age when she was 21 (Burdick 5; Edwards 23''n'', 43''n''). April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat who was Hollywood's number one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was named United States ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States. Temple began her film career at the age of three in 1931. Two years later, she achieved international fame in '' Bright Eyes'', a feature film produced specially for her talents. She received a special Juvenile Academy Award in February 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Touch Of Venus
''One Touch of Venus'' is a 1943 musical with music written by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ogden Nash, and book by S. J. Perelman and Nash, based on the 1885 novella ''The Tinted Venus'' by Thomas Anstey Guthrie, and very loosely spoofing the Pygmalion myth. The show satirizes contemporary American suburban values, artistic fads and romantic and sexual mores. Weill had been in America for eight years by the time he wrote this musical, and his music, though retaining his early haunting power, had evolved into a very different Broadway style. Story Rodney Hatch, a barber, is engaged to Gloria Kramer. While visiting an art museum, he feels drawn to a sculpture of Venus the Roman goddess of love, though the other patrons dismiss it as out of step with the current art trends. On a whim, Rodney puts his engagement ring on the statue's finger, causing the statue to come to life. Venus falls in love with Rodney for giving her life and begins pursuing him, causing turmoil in his relationshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Up In Central Park
''Up in Central Park'' is a Broadway musical with a book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and music by Sigmund Romberg. The musical, originally called "Central Park" before Broadway (see image of sheet music), was Romberg's last stage work produced during his lifetime. Produced by Michael Todd, the Broadway production, staged by John Kennedy, and choreographed by Helen Tamiris, opened on January 27, 1945 at the New Century Theatre, where it ran for 504 performances. The cast included Noah Beery Sr., Wilbur Evans and Betty Bruce. The musical is set in the Boss Tweed era of New York City in the 1870s. Wilbur Evans plays John Matthews, a ''New York Times'' reporter investigating the Tweed’s crooked political machine, especially the fraud connected with constructing Central Park. He falls in love with the daughter of one of the Boss’ ward heelers, who marries a politician, who is killed. She later rekindles her love for Matthews. The setti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
You Were Never Lovelier
''You Were Never Lovelier'' is a 1942 American musical romantic comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. The supporting cast also features Adolphe Menjou, Xavier Cugat and Adele Mara. The music was composed by Jerome Kern and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The picture was released by Columbia Pictures and includes the elaborate "Shorty George" song and dance sequence. The film, a Hollywood remake of the 1941 Argentine romantic comedy '' Los martes, orquídeas'' (''On Tuesdays, Orchids''), is set in Buenos Aires. Plot Robert "Bob" Davis (Fred Astaire) is a well-known American dancer with a weakness for betting on the horses. After he loses his money gambling in Buenos Aires, he goes looking for a job with Eduardo Acuña, the wealthy owner of a nightclub. Acuña, however, does not wish to see him. Bob's friend, bandleader Xavier Cugat, invites him to perform at the wedding of Acuña's eldest daughter, Julia, Acuña insists his daughters m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allegheny Uprising
''Allegheny Uprising'' (released in the UK as ''The First Rebel'') is a 1939 American Adventure Western film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne. Based on the 1937 novel ''The First Rebel'' by Neil H. Swanson, with a screenplay by the film's producer, P. J. Wolfson, the film is loosely based on the historical event known as the Black Boys Rebellion of 1765, after the conclusion of the French and Indian War. It was produced by RKO Pictures. Clad in buckskin and a coonskin cap (as he would be a decade later in ''The Fighting Kentuckian''), Wayne plays real-life James Smith, an American coping with British rule in colonial America. The supporting cast includes Brian Donlevy, George Sanders and Chill Wills. Claire Trevor and John Wayne also headed the cast of John Ford's '' Stagecoach'' the same year, and in both films as well as ''Dark Command'' the following year, Trevor is top-billed over Wayne due to her greater name value at the time. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susannah Of The Mounties
''Susannah of the Mounties'' is a children's novel by Canadian author Muriel Denison, first published in 1936. In the book 9-year-old Susannah is sent to Regina, Saskatchewan to spend the summer with her uncle who is a Mountie. There are several sequels to the book: ''Susannah at Boarding School'', ''Susannah of the Yukon'' and ''Susannah Rides Again''. Film adaptation In 1939 it was adapted into the film '' Susannah of the Mounties'' starring Shirley Temple as Susannah. The movie plot differs significantly from the book: it is set twenty years earlier at a much smaller Mounted Police Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. Their day-to-day function is typically picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and increasingly in t ... fort and Susannah's parents are dead rather than in India, while the character of the uncle is omitted. The film is a U.S. version of the West rath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Room Service (1938 Film)
''Room Service'' is a 1938 RKO film comedy directed by William A. Seiter, based on the 1937 play of the same name by Allen Boretz and John Murray. The film stars the Marx Brothers (Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Chico Marx) and also features Lucille Ball, Ann Miller and Frank Albertson. This is the only film starring the Marx Brothers with a screenplay based on material that was not written especially for the team. Less frenetic and more physically contained than their other films, the plot revolves around the shenanigans of getting a stage play produced and funded by mysterious backer Zachary Fisk, while evading paying a large hotel bill. RKO remade the movie in 1944 as '' Step Lively'', starring George Murphy and Frank Sinatra using ample recycled footage from the original film. Plot Gordon Miller, a flat-broke theatrical producer, whose staff includes Harry Binelli and Faker Englund, is told by his brother-in-law Joseph Gribble, manager of the White Way Hotel, that he and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roberta (1935 Film)
''Roberta'' is a 1935 American musical film by RKO starring Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Randolph Scott. It was an adaptation of the 1933 Broadway musical '' Roberta'', which in turn was based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller. It was a solid hit, showing a net profit of more than three-quarters of a million dollars. The film kept the famous songs " Yesterdays", " Let's Begin" (with altered lyrics), and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" from the play, along with a fourth song, " I'll Be Hard to Handle". Three songs from the play were dropped—"The Touch of Your Hand", "Something Had to Happen" and "You're Devastating". Two songs were added to this film, "I Won't Dance" (resurrected from the flop Kern show '' Three Sisters'') and "Lovely to Look At", which both became #1 hits in 1935. The latter addition was nominated for the Best Song Oscar. The songs "I Won't Dance" and "Lovely to Look At" have remained so popular that they are now almost always ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rafter Romance
''Rafter Romance'' is an American 1933 pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film, which was based on the 1932 novel of the same name by John Wells, stars Ginger Rogers, Norman Foster and George Sidney, and features Robert Benchley, Laura Hope Crews and Guinn Williams. Plot Mary Carroll (Ginger Rogers) is a young woman from upstate who came to New York City to find a job and a career, but whose money has almost run out. Both she and Jack Bacon (Norman Foster), an aspiring artist who lives in the same Greenwich Village building, are behind on their rent and their landlord, Max Eckbaum (George Sidney), a good-natured soul who nevertheless has expenses to meet, comes up with a solution: Move Mary into Jack's loft and have them share the apartment on a shift basis. They would never see each other or know who the other is, since Jack is out all night and sleeps during the day, and Mary is taking a job selling refrigerator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Girl Crazy
''Girl Crazy'' is a 1930 musical by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book by Guy Bolton and John McGowan. Ethel Merman made her stage debut in the first production and co-lead Ginger Rogers became an overnight star. Rich in song, it follows the story of Danny Churchill who has been sent to fictional Custerville, Arizona, to manage his family's ranch. His father wants him there to focus on matters more serious than alcohol and women but Danny turns the place into a dude ranch, importing showgirls from Broadway and hiring Kate Forthergill (Merman's role) as entertainer. Visitors come from both Coasts and Danny falls in love with the local postmistress, Molly Gray (Rogers' role). Three subsequent film adaptations adjusted the plot. The most notable, in 1943, starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, with the latter playing a combined Kate and Molly. Productions The musical opened at the Alvin Theatre on October 14, 1930 and closed on June 6, 1931 after 272 performan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
