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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] |
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of Germany, being the List of German states by area, third smallest state in the country by area. Berlin is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and Brandenburg's capital Potsdam is nearby. The urban area of Berlin has a population of over 4.6 million and is therefore the most populous urban area in Germany. The Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region, as well as the List of EU metropolitan areas by GDP, fifth-biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Girl Downstairs (film)
''The Girl Downstairs'' is a 1938 American romantic-comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Franciska Gaal, Franchot Tone and Walter Connolly. It is a remake of the 1936 Austrian film '' Catherine the Last'', directed by Henry Koster, which had been a major hit for Gaal. This was Franciska Gaal's third appearance in American films, and her first for MGM. It was her final American film before her return to Hungary in 1940. Plot Well-to-do gentleman Paul Wagner seeks to romance attractive Rosalind Brown, while her wealthy father will not allow it. Therefore, Paul manipulates a resident skullery maid to gain access to the Brown household and appear to Rosalind. However, the scullery maid falls in love with Paul and, ultimately, he her. Main cast * Franciska Gaal as Katerina Linz * Franchot Tone as Paul Wagner * Walter Connolly as Mr. Brown * Reginald Gardiner as Willie * Rita Johnson as Rosalind Brown * Reginald Owen as Charlie Grump * Franklin Pangborn as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was founded on April 17, 1924, and has been owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon (company), Amazon since 2022. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well-known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious filmmaking company, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of ''Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloria Jean
Gloria Jean (born Gloria Jean Schoonover; April 14, 1926 – August 31, 2018) was an American actress and singer who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959, and made numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances. She may be best remembered for her appearance with W. C. Fields in the film '' Never Give a Sucker an Even Break'' (1941). Early years She was born Gloria Jean Schoonover in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of Ferman and Eleanor Schoonover; her ancestry was Pennsylvania Dutch. She had three sisters, Sally, Lois, and Bonnie. The family was involved in her career, with Lois serving as stand-in for the actress and their father managing her career. Gloria was three years old when she first sang on radio, under the name "Baby Skylark." Singing The family moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Gloria Jean sang with Paul Whiteman's orchestra on radio broadcasts. When she was 12, "she was engaged by a smallish New York opera company a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million, and for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she placed among the Quigley Poll's top 10 box office stars (a feat only matched by Doris Day, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand, although all were surpassed by Mary Pickford, with 13 years). The U.S. Treasury Department listed her as the highest-salaried American woman in 1946 and 1947, and she earned more than $3 million during her career. Grable began her film career in 1929 at age 12 and was later fired from a contract for having signed with a false identification. She studied acting with Neely Dickson at the Hollywood Community Theater. She had contracts with RKO and Paramount Pictures during the 1930s and appeared in a string of B movies, mostly portraying college students. She came to prominence in the Broadway musical '' Du Barry Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Night In The Tropics
''One Night in the Tropics'' is a 1940 musical film notable as the film debut of Abbott and Costello. They are listed as supporting actors but have major exposure with five of their classic routines, including an abbreviated version of " Who's on First?" Their work earned them a two-picture deal with Universal, and their next film, '' Buck Privates'', made them bona fide stars. Songs in the film were written by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. The film is based on a 1914 novel, ''Love Insurance'' by Earl Derr Biggers, the creator of Charlie Chan. It was filmed as a silent movie in 1919 as '' Love Insurance'' by Paramount Pictures with Bryant Washburn and Lois Wilson, and in 1925 by Universal as ''The Reckless Age''. The film's copyright was renewed in 1967. Plot Steve Harper's upcoming wedding to Cynthia Merrick on the Caribbean island of San Marcos is threatened by his tenacious former girlfriend, Mickey Fitzgerald, and by Cynthia's disapproving aunt. Steve's pal, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbott And Costello
Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work in radio, film, and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and 1950s, and the highest-paid entertainers in the world during the Second World War. Their patter routine " Who's on First?" is considered one of the greatest comedy routines of all time, a version of which appears in their 1945 film '' The Naughty Nineties''. Abbott and Costello made their film debut in the 1940 comedy '' One Night in the Tropics''. The following year, they appeared in three armed service comedies: '' Buck Privates'', '' In the Navy'', and '' Keep 'Em Flying''. They also appeared in the 1941 horror comedy film ''Hold That Ghost'', and went on to appear in several other horror comedies, including ''Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'' (1948), ''Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff'' (1949), '' Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man'' (1951), '' Ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British-born American conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was especially noted for his free-hand conducting style that spurned the traditional baton (conducting), baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from the orchestras he directed. Stokowski was music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, Symphony of the Air and many others. He was also the founder of the All-American Youth Orchestra, the New York City Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra. Stokowski conducted the music for and appeared in several Hollywood films, most notably Disney's ''Fantasia (1940 film), Fantasia' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Hundred Men And A Girl
''One Hundred Men and a Girl'' (styled 100 Men and a Girl in advertising) is a 1937 American musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin and the maestro Leopold Stokowski. Written by Charles Kenyon, Bruce Manning, and James Mulhauser from a story by Hanns Kräly, the film is about the daughter of a struggling musician who forms a symphony orchestra consisting of his unemployed friends. Through persistence, charm, and a few misunderstandings, they are able to get famed conductor Leopold Stokowski to lead them in a concert, which leads to a radio contract. ''One Hundred Men and a Girl'' was the first of two motion pictures featuring Leopold Stokowski, and is also one of the films for which Durbin is best remembered as an actress and a singer. Plot John Cardwell, a trombone player, is only one of a large group of unemployed musicians. He tries unsuccessfully to gain an interview and audition with Leopold Stokowski, but not to disappoint his daughter, Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Three Smart Girls
''Three Smart Girls'' is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Barbara Read, Nan Grey, Deanna Durbin (her feature film debut), and Ray Milland. The film's screenplay was written by Adele Comandini and Austin Parker, and is about three sisters who travel to New York City to prevent their father from remarrying. The three plot to bring their divorced parents back together again. It began an eight-year span of successful Deanna Durbin musicals and spawned two sequels, '' Three Smart Girls Grow Up'' and ''Hers to Hold''. Plot Three sisters living in Switzerland hear their father is going to marry a younger woman in New York. They travel there to stop it. Their plan involves getting a man to seduce her father's fiancée. They accidentally hire a genuinely rich man who falls for one of the sisters. Cast * Binnie Barnes as Donna Lyons * Charles Winninger as Judson Craig * Alice Brady as Mrs. Lyons * Ray Milland as Lord Michael Stuart * Mischa A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
