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Balalaika (film)
''Balalaika'' is a 1939 American musical romance film based on the 1936 London stage musical of the same name. Produced by Lawrence Weingarten and directed by Reinhold Schunzel, it starred Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey. The film follows the romance of Prince Peter Karagin and Lydia Pavlovna Marakova, a singer and secret revolutionary, in Imperial Russia on the eve of World War I. Douglas Shearer was nominated for the 1939 Academy Award for Best Sound Recording. Plot In 1914 Tsarist Russia, Prince Peter Karagin is a captain of the Cossack Guards, riding home from manoeuvres to an evening of wine, women and song at St. Petersburg's Cafe Balalaika. The Balalaika's new star, Lydia Pavlovna Marakova, is blackmailed into attending the officers' party and is expected to choose a "favoured one." She intrigues Karagin when she makes good her escape instead. Masquerading as a poor music student, Karagin insinuating himself into Lydia's family and circle of musician friends, unaware th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reinhold Schünzel
Reinhold Schünzel (7 November 1888 – 11 November 1954) was a German actor and director, active in both Germany and the United States. The son of a German father and a Jewish mother, he was born in St. Pauli, the poorest part of Hamburg. Despite his ancestry, Schünzel was allowed by the Nazis to continue making films for several years until he left in 1937 to live abroad. Biography Life in Germany Reinhold Schünzel (or Schuenzel) started his career as an actor in 1915 with a role in the film '' Werner Krafft''. He directed his first film in 1918's ''Mary Magdalene'' and in 1920 directed '' The Girl from Acker Street'' and ''Catherine the Great''. He was one of Germany's best-known silent film stars after World War I, a period during which films were significantly influenced by the consequences of the war. Schünzel performed in both comedies and dramas, often appearing as a villain or a powerful and corrupt man. He was influenced by filmmakers such as his mentor Richard Oswa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the list of largest empires, third-largest empire in history, behind only the British Empire, British and Mongol Empire, Mongol empires. It also Russian colonization of North America, colonized Alaska between 1799 and 1867. The empire's 1897 census, the only one it conducted, found a population of 125.6 million with considerable ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity. From the 10th to 17th centuries, the Russians had been ruled by a noble class known as the boyars, above whom was the tsar, an absolute monarch. The groundwork of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III (), who greatly expanded his domain, established a centralized Russian national state, and secured inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abner Biberman
Abner Warren Biberman (April 1, 1909 – June 20, 1977) was an American actor, director, and screenwriter. Ruthless-looking, he was in demand to portray a wide variety of heavies and foreign nationalities during the Golden Years of Hollywood. He later developed a successful career as a prolific director of episodic TV, spanning genres from'' Gilligan’s Island'' to ''Hawaii Five-O (1968 TV series).'' Early years Biberman was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, later moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He gained early acting experience as a student at the Tome School, Tome School for Boys prep school. He also attended the University of Pennsylvania. Career He was sometimes credited under the pseudonym Joel Judge. Death Biberman died at his home in San Diego, California. His obituary in ''The New York Times'' gave his age as 69. He was survived by his wife and three sons. Filmography As actor *1936: ''Soak the Rich'' *1939: ''Gunga Din (film), Gunga Din'' as Chota *19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Woolf King
Walter Woolf King (November 2, 1899 – October 24, 1984) was an American film, television and stage actor and singer. Born in San Francisco, California in 1899, King started singing for a living at a young age and performed mostly in churches. He made his Broadway debut in 1919, and became a well-known baritone in operettas and musical comedies. King billed himself as Walter Woolf and Walter King early in his career, eventually settling on a combination of all three names in the mid-1930s. In 1936, King was host of the ''Flying Red Horse Tavern'' on CBS radio.Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 234. King began his film career in musicals but quickly moved into supporting roles. He is probably best remembered today for his villainous roles in two films starring the Marx Brothers: '' A Night at the Opera'' (1935) and '' Go West'' (1940). He also appeared with Laurel & Hardy in '' Swiss Miss'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joyce Compton
Olivia Joyce Compton (January 27, 1907 – October 13, 1997) was an American actress. Biography Compton was born in Lexington, Kentucky, the daughter of Henry and Golden Compton. (Despite frequent reports to the contrary, her name was not originally "Eleanor Hunt"; she had appeared in the film ''Good Sport'' (1931) with Hunt and this confusion in an early press article followed Compton throughout her career.) After graduating high school she spent two years at the University of Tulsa, studying dramatics, art, music and dancing. She won a personality and beauty contest and spent two months in a film studio as an extra. Compton first made a name for herself when she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926 with Mary Brian, Dolores Costello, Joan Crawford, Dolores del Río, Janet Gaynor and Fay Wray. Compton appeared in a long string of mostly B-movies from the 1920s through the 1950s. She was a comedy actress and protested at being stereotyped as a " dumb blonde" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Alfred William Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English and American stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the United States, he appeared in Broadway plays and Hollywood films. Some of his more significant roles were in '' Captain Blood'' (1935), '' Son of Frankenstein'' (1939) and '' To Be or Not to Be'' (1942). Life and career Atwill was born on 1 March 1885 in Croydon, London, England. He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London, in 1904. He became a star in Broadway theatre by 1918 and made his screen debut in 1919. His Broadway credits include ''The Lodger'' (1916), ''The Silent Witness'' (1930), ''Fioretta'' (1928), ''The Outsider'' (1924), ''Napoleon'' (1927), ''The Thief'' (1926), ''Slaves All'' (1926), ''Beau Gallant'' (1925), ''Caesar and Cleopatra'' (1924), ''The Outsider'' (1923), ''The Comedian'' (1922), ''The Grand Duke'' (1921), '' Deburau'' (1920), ''Tig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Morgan
Francis Phillip Wuppermann (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor. He was best known for his appearances in films starting in the silent era in 1916, and then numerous sound films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, with a career spanning 35 yearsObituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', September 21, 1949, page 63. mostly as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He is best-known for his multiple roles, including the title role of Wizard of Oz (character), Oscar Diggs/The Wizard in the 1939 MGM film ''The Wizard of Oz''. He was also briefly billed early in his career as Frank Wupperman and Francis Morgan. Early life Morgan was born on June 1, 1890, in New York City, to Josephine Wright (née Hancox) and George Diogracia Wuppermann. He was the youngest of 11 children and had five brothers and five sisters. The elder Mr. Wuppermann was born in Venezuela but was brought up in Hamburg, Germany, and was of German a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Ruggles
Charles Sherman Ruggles (February 8, 1886 – December 23, 1970) was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the elder brother of director, producer, and silent film actor Wesley Ruggles (1889–1972). Career Ruggles was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1886. Despite training to be a doctor, Ruggles soon found himself on the stage, appearing in a stock production of ''Nathan Hale'' in 1905. In 1912, he worked in the stock company at Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco in a stage production of ''The Dawn of a Tomorrow''. At Los Angeles's Majestic Theatre, he played Private Jo Files in L. Frank Baum and Louis F. Gottschalk's musical '' The Tik-Tok Man of Oz'' in 1913. He moved to Broadway to appear in '' Help Wanted'' in 1914. His first screen role came in the silent ''Peer Gynt'' the following year. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Ruggles continue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Movement
The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right-leaning and Conservatism, conservative officers of the Russian Empire, while the Bolsheviks who led the October Revolution in Russia, also known as the ''Reds'', and their supporters, were regarded as the main enemies of the Whites. It operated as a loose system of governments and administrations and military formations collectively referred to as the White Army, or the White Guard. Although the White movement included a variety of political opinions in Russia opposed to the Bolsheviks, from the republican-minded liberals through monarchists to the ultra-nationalist Black Hundreds, and did not have a universally-accepted leader or doctrine, the main force behind the movement were the conservative officers, and the resulting movement shared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Orthodox
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), primate of the ROC is the patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'. The History of the Russian Orthodox Church, history of the ROC begins with the Christianization of Kievan Rus', which commenced in 988 with the baptism of Vladimir the Great and his subjects by the clergy of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. Starting in the 14th century, Moscow served as the primary residence of the Russian List of metropolitans and patriarchs of Moscow, metropolitan. The ROC declared autocephaly in 1448 when it elected its own metropolitan. In 1589, the metropolitan was elevated to the position of patriarch with the consent of Constantinople. In the mid-17th century, a series of reforms led to Schism of the Russian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government following two successive revolutions and Russian Civil War, a civil war. It can be seen as the precursor for Revolutions of 1917–1923, other revolutions that occurred in the aftermath of World War I, such as the German Revolution of 1918–1919. The Russian Revolution was a key events of the 20th century, key event of the 20th century. The Russian Revolution was inaugurated with the February Revolution in 1917, in the midst of World War I. With the German Empire inflicting defeats on the front, and increasing logistical problems causing shortages of bread and grain, the Russian Army was losing morale, with large scale mutiny looming. Officials were convinced that if Tsar Nicholas II abdicated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cossack
The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Russia, countering the Crimean-Nogai raids, alongside economically developing steppe regions north of the Black Sea and around the Azov Sea. Historically, they were a semi-nomadic and semi-militarized people, who, while under the nominal suzerainty of various Eastern European states at the time, were allowed a great degree of self-governance in exchange for military service. Although numerous linguistic and religious groups came together to form the Cossacks, most of them coalesced and became East Slavic–speaking Orthodox Christians. The rulers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russian Empire endowed Cossacks with certain special privileges in return for the military duty to serve in the irregular troops: Zaporozhian Cossac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
