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Deanna Durbin
Edna May Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born American soprano and actress, who moved to the U.S. from Canada with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. Additionally, she performed mostly classical concerts and recitals as well as concerts with semi-classical and popular music. With the technique of a legitimate lyric soprano, she specialized in opera arias, art song, and semi-classical songs, which is today known as classical crossover. Durbin was a child actress who made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in ''Every Sunday'' (1936), and subsequently signed a contract with Universal Pictures, Universal Studios. She achieved success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as ''Three Smart Girls'' (1936) and ''One Hundred Men and a Girl'' (1937). Her work was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy, and led to Durbin being awarded the Academy Juvenile A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Can't Help Singing
''Can't Help Singing'' is a 1944 American musical western film directed by Frank Ryan and starring Deanna Durbin, Robert Paige, and Akim Tamiroff. Based on a story by John D. Klorer and Leo Townsend, the film is about a senator's daughter who follows her suitor West in the days of the California gold rush. Durbin's only Technicolor film, ''Can't Help Singing'' was produced by Felix Jackson and scored by Jerome Kern with lyrics by E. Y. Harburg. The movie was one of the most expensive in Universal's history. Plot Set during the early years of the California Gold Rush, the film tells of the adventures of Caroline Frost, the wilful and spoilt daughter of a US Senator. He does not approve of her beau, Lt Robert Latham, of the US cavalry, and persuades President James K. Polk to post Latham to guard gold shipments from the California mines owned by Jake Carstairs. Caroline travels by train and steamboat and manages to join a wagon-train about to trek overland to the West. She sha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whodunit
A ''whodunit'' (less commonly spelled as ''whodunnit''; a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ... in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with the clues to the case, from which the identity of the wikt:perpetrator, perpetrator may be deduced before the story provides the revelation itself at its Climax (narrative), climax. The investigation is usually conducted by an eccentric, amateur, or semi-professional detective. Concept A whodunit follows the paradigm of the traditional detective story in the sense that it presents crime as a puzzle to be solved through a chain of inquiries questions that the detective po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of the greatest films ever by the American Film Institute. Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and took a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio (now the Walt Disney Company) with his brother Roy O. Disney, Roy. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937 Film)
''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' is a 1937 American animated musical fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ... produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the Snow White, 1812 German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the production was supervised by David Hand (animator), David Hand, and was directed by five sequence directors, Perce Pearce, William Cottrell, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, and Ben Sharpsteen. It is the first animated feature film produced in the United States and the first Traditional animation, cel animated feature film. ''Snow White'' premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on December 21, 1937, and went into general release in the United States on February 4, 1938. Despite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Koster
Henry Koster (born Hermann Kosterlitz, May 1, 1905 – September 21, 1988) was a German-born film director. He was the husband of actress Peggy Moran. Early life Koster was born to Jewish parents in Berlin, Germany. He was introduced to cinema around the year 1910 when his uncle opened a movie theater in Berlin. Koster's mother played the piano to accompany the films, leaving the young boy to occupy himself by watching the films. After working initially as a short story writer, Kosterlitz was hired by a Berlin movie company as scenarist, becoming an assistant to director Curtis Bernhardt. Bernhardt became sick one day and asked Kosterlitz to take over as director. Career In 1932, Koster directed his first film in Berlin, the comedy ''Thea Roland''. Koster was in the midst of directing his second film ''Das häßliche Mädchen'', when Hitler and the Nazi party rose to power. He automatically lost his German citizenship (as did all German Jews) in 1933, when Hitler became chan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Love (1939 Film)
''First Love'' is a 1939 American musical film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin. Based on the fairy tale ''Cinderella'', the film is about an orphan who is sent to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. Her life is made difficult by her snobby cousin who arranges that she stay home while the rest of the family attends a major social ball. With the help of her uncle, she makes it to the ball, where she meets and falls in love with her cousin's boyfriend. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Music. It was on a preliminary list of submissions from the studios for Cinematography (Black-and-White) but was not nominated. Plot Constance Harding is an unhappy orphan who will soon graduate from Miss Wiggins' school for girls. Her only real relatives are members from the James Clinton family, but they show little interest in the teenager. She is brought to New York by one of their butlers, where s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Smart Girls Grow Up
''Three Smart Girls Grow Up'' is a 1939 American musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster, written by Felix Jackson and Bruce Manning, and starring Deanna Durbin, Nan Grey, and Helen Parrish. Durbin and Grey reprise their roles from '' Three Smart Girls'', and Parrish replaces Barbara Read in the role of the middle sister. Durbin would reprise her role once more in ''Hers to Hold''. Plot Three sisters believe life is going to be easy now that their parents are back together, until one sister falls in love with another's fiancé, and the youngest sister plays matchmaker. Cast * Deanna Durbin as Penelope 'Penny' Craig * Nan Grey as Joan Craig * Helen Parrish as Katherine 'Kay' Craig * Charles Winninger as Judson Craig * Nella Walker as Mrs. Craig * Robert Cummings as Harry Loren * William Lundigan as Richard Watkins * Ernest Cossart Ernest Cossart (born Emil Gottfried von Holst, 24 September 1876 – 21 January 1951) was an English-American actor. After a stage ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
That Certain Age
''That Certain Age'' is a 1938 American musical film directed by Edward Ludwig and starring Deanna Durbin and Melvyn Douglas. Based on a story by Aleen Leslie (Wetstein) that was adapted by F. Hugh Herbert, the film is about a dashing reporter who returns from covering the Spanish Civil War and is invited to spend time at his publisher's home, where his adolescent daughter develops a crush on him. The family does their best to sway the young girl's feelings away from the reporter, but it is a challenge, as she is at "that certain age". Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film received Academy Award nominations for Best Music and Best Sound Recording. Plot Alice Fullerton (Durbin) is the 15-year-old daughter of newspaper publisher Bill. She becomes involved with a group of boy scouts, who is led by Ken Warren (Cooper). Ken wants to put on a show to raise money in order to go to scout camp. Alice helps him out with giving him permission to use the family home to rehearse. She is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mad About Music
''Mad About Music'' is a 1938 American musical film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Deanna Durbin, Herbert Marshall, and Gail Patrick. Based on a story by Marcella Burke and Frederick Kohner, the film is about a girl at an exclusive boarding school who invents an exciting father. When her schoolmates doubt his existence, she has to produce him. ''Mad About Music'' received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Music, and Best Original Story. Plot Gwen Taylor (Gail Patrick) is a famous Hollywood film star and about to become more famous. On her manager's advice, she has concealed from the press the fact that she's a widow with a fourteen-year-old daughter, Gloria (Deanna Durbin). Gloria lives in a girls-only boarding school in Switzerland. Gloria never sees her mother and never knew her father, who died when she was just a baby; he was a navy pilot during wartime. She has invented a fictitious 'father', from who she receives letters, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Pasternak
Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood Musical film, "Golden Age" of musicals at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producing many successful musicals with female singing stars like Deanna Durbin, Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powell, as well as swimmer/bathing beauty Esther Williams' films. He produced Judy Garland's final Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM film, ''Summer Stock'', which was released in 1950, and some of Gene Kelly’s early breakthrough roles. Pasternak worked in the film industry for 45 years, from the later silent era until shortly past the end of the classical Hollywood cinema in the early 1960s. Biography Early life He was born to a Jewish family in Szilágysomlyó, Austria-Hungary (now Șimleu Silvaniei, Romania). His father was a town clerk and Pasternak was one of 11 children. In 1920, he immigrated to the U.S. as a t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis B
Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * Derived terms * King Louis (other) * Saint Louis (other) * Louis Cruise Lines * Louis dressing, for salad * Louis Quinze, design style Associated terms * Lewis (other) * Louie (other) * Luis (other) * Louise (other) * Louisville (other) Associated names * * Chlodwig, the origin of the name Ludwig, which is translated to English as "Louis" * Ladislav and László - names sometimes erroneously associated with "Louis" * Ludovic, Ludwig, Ludwick, Ludwik Ludwik () is a Polish given name. Notable people with the name include: * Ludwik Czyżewski, Polish WWII general * Ludwik Fleck (1896–1961), Polish medical doctor and biologist * Ludwik Gintel (1899–1973), Polish- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernestine Schumann-Heink
Ernestine Schumann-Heink (15 June 186117 November 1936) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American operatic dramatic contralto of German Bohemian descent. She was noted for the flexibility and wide range of her voice. Heink and Schumann were her two husbands' surnames. Early life She was born Ernestine Amalie Pauline Rössler on 15 June 1861 to a German-speaking family at Libeň (), Bohemia, Austrian Empire, which is now part of the city of Prague, Czech Republic. She was baptized in her father's Roman Catholic faith five days later. Her father, who called his daughter "Tini", was Johann "Hans" Rössler. Before working as a shoe maker, he served as an Austrian cavalry officer. He had been stationed in northern Italy (then an Austrian protectorate), where he met and married Charlotte Josepha Goldman, who was Jewish and with whom he returned to Libeň. Her maternal grandmother, Leah Kohn, was of Hungarian Jewish''Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary'', vol. 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
