Bright Lights (1930 Film)
''Bright Lights'', later retitled ''Adventures in Africa'', is a 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy film produced and released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. It premiered in Los Angeles in July 1930 but was edited and rereleased in early 1931. Although it was photographed entirely in Technicolor, the only surviving print is in black and white. The film stars Dorothy Mackaill, Frank Fay, Noah Beery and Frank McHugh. It also features the screen debut of John Carradine, who appears in a small, uncredited role. Plot Successful actress Louanne is giving her last performance before she retires to marry a rich man instead of the man whom she really loves, Wally Dean. As she is interviewed by reporters, she tells a false story but remembers her troubled past through flashback sequences. Louanne is shown as a dancer at a low-class café where Portuguese smuggler Miguel Parada attempts to force his attentions on her. With a riot about to start, she escapes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Robert North (producer)
Robert North (February 2, 1884 – August 13, 1976) was an American vaudeville performer who became a success as a stand-up comedian. Later he became a prolific motion picture producer. Early years Bobby North was born in New York City. He joined a vaudeville company at the age of twelve as a boy balcony singer. As North explained, "... there was a vogue of a soubrette, as we called her, singing on the stage, and a kid would get up from the gallery and sing the chorus. The Gallery Gods, of course, thought he was one of them and applauded loudly. I was the kid in the gallery. I had the voice and I could sing." North traveled around the US with the company playing in small town opera houses or theaters for one- or two-night stands. He developed a song and dance act. Theater success In January 1909 North performed as a "Hebrew impersonator" at the Colonial Theatre in New York. In this act he told humorous stories with a Jewish accent and sang parodies of popular songs. He w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
First National Pictures
First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the country's largest theater chain. Expanding from exhibiting movies to distributing them, the company reincorporated in 1919 as ''Associated First National Theatres, Inc.'' and ''Associated First National Pictures, Inc.'' In 1924 it expanded to become a motion picture production company as ''First National Pictures, Inc.'', and became an important studio in the film industry. In September 1928, control of First National passed to Warner Bros., into which it was completely absorbed on November 4, 1929. A number of Warner Bros. films were thereafter branded First National Pictures until July 1936, when First National Pictures, Inc., was dissolved. Early history The First National Exhibitors' Circuit was founded in 1917 by the merger of 26 of t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation. It was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933, ''Daily Variety'' was launched, based in Los Angeles, to cover the film industry, motion-picture industry. ''Variety'' website features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, plus a credits database, production charts and film calendar. History Founding ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville, with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. He subsequently decided to start his own publication that, he said, would "not be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father-in-law, he launched ''Variety'' as publisher and editor. In additi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Philip Strange
Philip Strange (4 June 1884 – 5 January 1963) was a British actor. Selected filmography * '' The Ace of Cads'' (1926) * '' Broadway Nights'' (1927) * ''Nevada'' (1927) * ''Wall Street'' (1929) * '' The Unholy Night'' (1929) * '' The Rescue'' (1929) * '' A Notorious Affair'' (1930) * '' Vengeance'' (1930) * '' Strictly Business'' (1931) * '' Black Coffee'' (1931) * '' Money for Nothing'' (1932) * '' Loyalties'' (1933) * '' Mayfair Girl'' (1933) * '' Borrowed Clothes'' (1934) * '' Romance in Rhythm'' (1934) * ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1934) * '' No Escape'' (1934) * ''Jury's Evidence'' (1936) * ''The High Command ''The High Command'' is a 1937 British drama film directed by Thorold Dickinson and starring Lionel Atwill, Lucie Mannheim and James Mason. It was shot at Ealing Studios and location filming, on location on the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold ...'' (1938) * '' Trottie True'' (1949) References External links * 1884 births 1963 deaths 20th-century English ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Edward J
Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Saxon England, but the rule of the Norman and Plantagenet dynasties had effectively ended its use amongst the upper classes. The popularity of the name was revived when Henry III named his firstborn son, the future Edward I, as part of his efforts to promote a cult around Edward the Confessor, for whom Henry had a deep admiration. Variant forms The name has been adopted in the Iberian peninsula since the 15th century, due to Edward, King of Portugal, whose mother was English. The Spanish/Portuguese forms of the name are Eduardo and Duarte. Other variant forms include French Édouard, Italian Edoardo and Odoardo, German, Dutch, Czech and Romanian Eduard and Scandinavian Edvard. Short forms include Ed, Eddy, Eddie, Ted, Teddy a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Edmund Breese
Edmund Breese (June 18, 1871 – April 6, 1936) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era. Biography Breese was born in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Renshaw Breese and Josephine Busby. The Opera House in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, was the site of Breese's stage debut in the summer of 1895. He portrayed Adonis Evergreen in ''My Awful Dad''. Long on the stage with a varied Broadway career before entering films, Breese appeared with James O'Neill in ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (1893), ''The Lion and the Mouse'' (1906) with Richard Bennett, ''The Third Degree'' (1909) with Helen Ware, ''The Master Mind'' (1913) with Elliott Dexter, the popular World War I era play ''Why Marry?'' (1917) with Estelle Winwood & Nat C. Goodwin and ''So This Is London'' (1922) with Donald Gallaher. He also acted in a stock company at the Castle Square Theatre in Boston. Breese's film career began in 1914 with the Edison Studios. He appeared in more than 120 films be ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Inez Courtney
Inez Courtney (October 12, 1897 – April 5, 1975) was an American actress on the Broadway stage and in films. Early years Born in Amsterdam, New York, Courtney came from a large Irish-American family. After her father's death when she was fifteen, she decided to go onto the stage. Career At age 16, Courtney was doing a specialty dance that earned her the nicknames of ''St Vitis'', ''Mosquito'' and ''Lightning''. Courtney's first role as a singer and dancer came in the musical ''The Little Whopper'' in 1919. She became known among New York theatrical audiences for her work in '' Good News'' (1927), a musical comedy about college life. Her other credits include ''Spring Is Here'' (1929) and ''America's Sweetheart'' (1931). In the early 1930s, she left Broadway and went to Hollywood. Courtney acted in 58 films between 1930 and 1940. She secured her first movie work by asking Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures for his assistance. She made her screen debut as Cousin Betty in '' L ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Tom Dugan (actor, Born 1889)
Tom Dugan (1 January 1889 – 7 March 1955) was an Irish actor. He appeared in more than 260 films between 1927 and 1955. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and died in Redlands, California, after injuries sustained in a road accident. Life and career At an early age, Tom Dugan's family moved to Philadelphia where he was educated at the Philadelphia High School. After leaving school, he tried three trades (shoe cutting, neck tie cutting and paper hanging) in quick succession but he had a good tenor voice, so he decided on show business. He appeared in a travelling medicine show, then a minstrel troupe before going on stage. He was a headliner for the Keith Circuit in America for several years. He also played in musical comedies in New York City and in vaudeville theatres like Earl Carroll's Vanities. He eventually became a Broadway comedian. Dugan appeared in nearly 270 films between 1927 and 1955 and had also some television roles near the end of his life. He supported comedia ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
James Murray (American Actor)
James T. Murray (February 9, 1901 – July 11, 1936) was an American film actor best known for starring in the 1928 film ''The Crowd (1928 film), The Crowd''. Early life Born in The Bronx, Murray was the second of seven children of Mary (née Casserly) and Christopher Murray."Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910" original enumeration page, April 21, 1910, Borough of the Bronx, New York City, New York. FamilySearch; retrieved October 23, 2017. His mother was a native of Ireland, as was his father, who by 1910 was employed in New York as an insurance inspector for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Career In 1923, Murray made his film debut as Captain John Alden in the ''Pilgrims'', a Film reel, three-reel ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Daphne Pollard
Daphne Pollard (born Daphne Trott; October 19, 1891 – February 22, 1978) was an Australian-born vaudeville performer and dancer, active on stage and later in American films, mostly short comedies. Between 1928 and 1935 she had almost 60 screen credits. Diminutive stage star Born Daphne Trott, in the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, to Walter William Trott and Annie Trott (née Daniels), she joined the Pollard Lilliputian Opera Company at the age of six, having been taken to rehearsals by her older sister, Ivy, who was also a performer. The Pollard company featured performers whose ages ranged from six to sixteen years, playing light opera, operetta and musical comedy (LeCoq, Offenbach, etc.). They toured Australia, New Zealand and the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and were well received and highly acclaimed. Like many of its performers, Daphne Trott took her stage name from the Pollard company. In later years she claimed she was relate ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
John Carradine
John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, known for his roles in horror films, Westerns, and Shakespearean theater, most notably portraying Count Dracula in '' House of Frankenstein'' (1944), '' House of Dracula'' (1945), '' Billy the Kid Versus Dracula'' (1966), and '' Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula'' (1979). Among his other notable roles was "Preacher Casy" in John Ford's ''The Grapes of Wrath''. In later decades of his career, he starred mostly in low-budget B-movies. In total, he holds 351 film and television credits, making him one of the most prolific English-speaking film and television actors of all time. Carradine was married four times, had five children, and was the patriarch of the Carradine family, including four sons and four grandchildren ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Founded on April 4, 1923, by four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games. It is one of the " Big Five" major American film studios and a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The company is known for its film studio division, the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Castle Rock Entertainment and the Warner Bros. Television Group. Bugs Bunny, a character created for the ''Looney Tunes'' series, is the company's official mascot. History Founding The company's name originated ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |