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Bing's Hollywood
The ''Bing's Hollywood'' series was a Decca Records 15-album set by American singer Bing Crosby of commercial recordings of songs used in his films from 1934 to 1956. Numbered in order from Decca DL4250 to DL4264, the LPs included "Easy to Remember", "Pennies from Heaven", "Pocket Full of Dreams", "East Side of Heaven", "The Road Begins", "Only Forever", "Holiday Inn", "Swinging on a Star", "Accentuate the Positive", "Blue Skies", "But Beautiful", "Sunshine Cake", "Cool of the Evening", "Zing a Little Zong" and "Anything Goes." In the UK, Brunswick Records issued the set with the numbers BING1 to BING 15. In 1988 MCA Universal began reissuing "Bing's Hollywood" on compact disc, but poor sales abruptly halted the series following the release of "Holiday Inn", "Swinging on a Star" and "Blue Skies." Details of all recordings have been taken from “A Bing Crosby Discography”. Background Variety gave the background in its issue of March 14, 1962. “The timing was just right fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. Crosby was a leader in record sales, network radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1926 to 1977. He was one of the first global cultural icons. Crosby made over 70 feature films and recorded more than 1,600 songs. Crosby's early career coincided with recording innovations that allowed him to develop an intimate singing style that influenced many male singers who followed, such as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Dick Haymes, Elvis Presley, and John Lennon. Yank, the Army Weekly, ''Yank'' magazine said that Crosby was "the person who had done the most for the morale of overseas servicemen" during World War II. In 1948, American polls declared him the "most admired man alive", ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Rainger
Ralph Rainger ( Reichenthal; October 7, 1901 – October 23, 1942) was an American composer of popular music principally for films. Biography Born Ralph Reichenthal in New York City, United States, Rainger initially embarked on a legal career, having obtained his law degree at Brown University in 1926. He had, however, studied piano from a young age and attended the Institute of Musical Art in New York. Public performances include radio broadcasts from New York and WOR (New Jersey) as early as 1922. These were as soloist, accompanist to singers, and as duo-pianist with Adam Carroll or "Edgar Fairchild" (the name Milton Suskind used for commercial work).“Round the Radio Circuit.” New York Telegram and Evening Mail, 2 July 1924. He also prepared piano rolls between 1922 and 1928 for Ampico, Standard, and DeLuxe. Some of these used the "Reichenthal" surname, others the "Rainger" name he was gradually adopting commercially. Other early musical activities include arranging for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennies From Heaven (1936 Film)
''Pennies From Heaven'' is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Bing Crosby, Madge Evans, and Edith Fellows. Jo Swerling, Jo Swerling's screenplay was based on the novel ''The Peacock Feather'' by Leslie Moore. The film is about a singer wrongly imprisoned who promises a condemned fellow inmate that he will help the family of his victim when he is released. The singer delays his dream of becoming a gondolier in Venice and becomes a street singer in order to help the young girl and her elderly grandfather. His life is further complicated when he meets a beautiful welfare worker who takes a dim view of the young girl's welfare and initiates proceedings to have her put in an orphanage. ''Pennies From Heaven'' remains most noteworthy for Crosby's introduction of the Pennies from Heaven (song), titular song, a Great Depression, Depression-era favorite, since recorded by numerous singers. The film features Louis Armstrong in a supporting role. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhythm On The Range
''Rhythm on the Range'' is a 1936 American Western musical film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Bing Crosby, Frances Farmer, and Bob Burns. Based on a story by Mervin J. Houser, the film is about a cowboy who meets a beautiful young woman while returning from a rodeo in the east, and invites her to stay at his California ranch to experience his simple, honest way of life. ''Rhythm on the Range'' was Crosby's only Western film (apart from the remake ''Stagecoach'', 1966) and introduced two western songs, " Empty Saddles" by Billy Hill and " I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)" by Johnny Mercer, the latter becoming a national hit song for Crosby. The film played a role in familiarizing its audience with the singing cowboy and Western music (North America), Western music on a national level. Plot Doris Halliday (Frances Farmer), the daughter of a wealthy New York banker, is engaged to wed a rich man she doesn't love. Her Aunt Penelope (Lucile Gleason), an outspoken Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anything Goes (1936 Film)
''Anything Goes'' is a 1936 American musical film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Charles Ruggles and Ida Lupino. It is based on the 1934 stage musical ''Anything Goes'' by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, which included songs by Cole Porter. When Paramount sold the film's television rights, it retitled the film ''Tops Is the Limit'' because the 1956 film version, also produced by Paramount, was currently running in theaters. Plot A young man falls in love with a beautiful woman whom he follows onto a luxury liner, where he discovers that she is an English heiress who fled her home and is being returned to England. He also discovers that his boss is on the ship. To avoid identification, he disguises himself as the gangster accomplice of a minister, who is actually a gangster running from the law. Cast * Bing Crosby as Billy Crocker * Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney * Charles Ruggles as Rev. Dr. Moon * Ida Lupino as Hope Harcourt * Grace Bradle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet and writer of fiction, plays and screenplays based in New York; she was known for her caustic wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary works published in magazines, such as ''The New Yorker'', and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. In the early 1930s, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Awards, Academy Award nominations, were curtailed when her involvement in left-wing politics resulted in her being placed on the Hollywood blacklist. Dismissive of her own talents, she deplored her reputation as a "wisecracker". Nevertheless, both her literary output and reputation for sharp wit have endured. Some of her works have been set to music. Early life and education Also known as Dot or Dottie, Parker was born Dorothy Rothschild in 1893 to Jacob Henry Rothschild and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Wished On The Moon
"I Wished on the Moon" is a song composed by Ralph Rainger, with lyrics by Dorothy Parker. Bing Crosby sang the song in ''The Big Broadcast of 1936''. Crosby recorded the song on August 14, 1935 with The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra and it reached the charts of the day peaking at No. 2 during a seven-week stay. At the end of the long recording session, Crosby decided to sing only a single chorus of the song in the middle of an orchestral version instead of the full ballad treatment used in the film. This led to a long argument between the singer and producer Jack Kapp. Eventually Crosby prevailed. Crosby recorded the song again in 1954 for his album '' Bing: A Musical Autobiography''. Little Jack Little recorded the song for Columbia (catalog 3068) on June 28, 1935, and also enjoyed chart success with the song in 1935 reaching the No. 13 spot. Ruth Etting also recorded the song for Columbia (3070) on July 1, 1935. Notable recordings *Teddy Wilson featuring Billie Holiday on Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dorsey Brothers
The Dorsey Brothers were an American studio dance band, led by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. They started recording in 1928 for OKeh Records. History The Dorsey Brothers recorded songs for the dime store labels (Banner, Cameo, Domino, Jewel, Oriole, Perfect). A handful of sides during their Brunswick period were issued by Vocalion. They signed to Decca in 1934, formed a touring band, with Tommy as front man, and a rather unusual lineup of one trumpet, three trombones, three saxes and four rhythm. The band performed live mainly in the New England area, with acrimony between the brothers steadily building up, until a definitive falling out between Tommy and Jimmy over the tempo of "I'll Never Say Never Again Again" in May 1935, after which Tommy walked off the stage. Glenn Miller composed four songs for the Dorsey Brothers when he was a member in 1934 and 1935, " Annie's Cousin Fannie", on which both Tommy and Glenn share the rather racy vocal, " Dese Dem Dose", " Harlem Chapel Chi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mack Gordon
Mack Gordon (born Morris Gittler; June 21, 1904 – February 28, 1959) was an American lyricist for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times in 11 years, including five consecutive years between 1940 and 1944, and won the award once, for " You'll Never Know". That song, along with " The More I See You", has proved among his most enduring, and remains popular in films and television commercials to this day. " At Last" is another of his best-known songs. Biography Of Jewish heritage, Gordon was born in Grodno (modern-day western Belarus), then part of the Russian Empire. He emigrated with his mother and older brother to New York City in May 1907; the ship they sailed on was the S/S ''Bremen''; their destination was to his father in Guttenberg, New Jersey. Gordon appeared in vaudeville as an actor and singer in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but his songwriting talents were always paramount. He formed a partnership with English pianist Harr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Revel
Harry Revel ( Glaser; 21 December 1905 – 3 November 1958) was a British-born American composer, mostly of musical theatre, working with various lyricists, notably Mack Gordon. He is also seen as a pioneer of "space age pop". Early life and career Revel was born Harry Glaser in London, England. He was the son of Russian emigrants of Jewish heritage, Jacob Glaser and his wife, from Schrunden in Latvia, who had settled in England. Harry was the second born of four children. His older brother William Revel was a dancer, his younger sister Rene was a singer, and his youngest brother Sam was a concierge in London who later became a travel agent in the United States. They took the last name "Revel" to honor the French soldier of that name who helped them to flee Europe. Harry Revel learned piano as a child, and studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He left around 1922 to go to Paris, where he joined a so-called Hawaiian Band, and toured Europe. He also had his fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Folk music, folk music during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", Old Folks at Home, "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River"), "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer". Many of his compositions remain popular today. Early life There are many biographies of Foster, but details differ widely. Among other issues, Foster wrote very little biographical information himself, and his brother Morrison Foster may have destroyed much information that he judged to reflect negatively upon the family. Foster was born on July 4, 1826, in Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh), Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. His parents, William Barclay Foster and Eliza Clayland Tomlinson Fos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Folks At Home
"Old Folks at Home" (also known as " Swanee River") is a folk song written by Stephen Foster in 1851. Since 1935, it has been the official state song of Florida, although in 2008 the original lyrics were revised. It is Roud Folk Song Index no. 13880. Composition "Old Folks at Home" was commissioned in 1851 by E. P. Christy for use by Christy's Minstrels, his minstrel troupe. Christy also asked to be credited as the song's creator, and was so credited on early sheet music printings. As a result, while the song was a success, Foster did not directly profit much from it, though he continued to receive royalties for the song. Foster had composed most of the lyrics but was struggling to name the river of the opening line, and asked his brother, Morrison, to suggest one. Morrison wrote, "One day in 1851, Stephen came into my office, on the bank of the Monongahela, Pittsburgh, and said to me, 'What is a good name of two syllables for a Southern river? I want to use it in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
