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Lillian Yarbo
Lillian "Billie" Yarbo (March 17, 1905 – June 12, 1996) was an American stage and screen comedienne, dancer, and singer. Early life Born Lillian Yarbough"Billy Yarbo a New Mugger" ''The Pittsburgh Courier''. March 10, 1928. Page 15. in Washington, DC, Billie eventually made her way to New York, as did both her mother and at least one sister—though exactly when this happened and whether they made this pilgrimage all at once or separately and at different times, remains unclear."Billy Yarbo Makes Film As Kin Passes" ''The Chicago Defender''. March 22, 1941. Page 20.Rowe, Billy [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wives Under Suspicion
''Wives Under Suspicion'' is a 1938 American crime film based on a 1932 Ladislas Fodor play that was previously adapted into the film, '' The Kiss Before the Mirror''. This version was directed by James Whale and stars Warren William, Gail Patrick, Ralph Morgan, and Constance Moore. It released by Universal Pictures. In 1966, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. Plot A district attorney Jim Stowell ( Warren William) realizes that his own wife ( Gail Patrick) might be having an affair while he is prosecuting a cuckolded murderer. Cast * Warren William as District Attorney Jim Stowell * Gail Patrick as Lucy Stowell * Ralph Morgan as Professor Shaw MacAllen * William Lundigan as Phil * Constance Moore as Elizabeth * Cecil Cunningham as "Sharpy" * Jonathan Hale as Dan Allison * Lillian Yarbo as Creola * Milburn Stone as Eddie Kirk * J. Anthony Hughes as Mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
You Can't Take It With You (play)
''You Can't Take It with You'' is a comedic play in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The original production of the play premiered on Broadway in 1936, and played for 838 performances. The play won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and was adapted for the screen as '' You Can't Take It with You'' in 1938, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. The play is popular among theater programs of high school institutions, and has been one of the 10 most-produced school plays every year since amateur rights became available in 1939. Plot Act One The story takes place entirely in the large house of a slightly odd New York City family. Various characters in the lives of the Vanderhof-Sycamore-Carmichael clan are introduced in the first act. The patriarch of the family, Grandpa Vanderhof, is a whimsical old man who keeps snakes and has never paid his income tax. Penelope "Penny" Vanderhof Sycamore is his daughter (a writer of adventure- and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy
Andrew Dewey Kirk (May 28, 1898 – December 11, 1992) was an American jazz saxophonist and tubist who led the Twelve Clouds of Joy, a band popular during the swing era. He was born in Newport, Kentucky, United States. Kirk grew up in Denver, Colorado, where he was tutored by Wilberforce Whiteman, Paul Whiteman's father. Kirk started his musical career playing with George Morrison's band, but then went on to join Terrence Holder's Dark Clouds of Joy. In 1929, he was elected leader after Holder departed. Renaming the band Clouds of Joy, Kirk also relocated the band from Dallas, Texas, to Kansas City, Missouri. Although named the Clouds of Joy, the band has also been known as the Twelve Clouds of Joy due to the number of musicians in the band. They set up in the Pla-Mor Ballroom on the junction of 32nd and Main in Kansas City and made their first recording for Brunswick Records that same year. Mary Lou Williams came in as pianist at the last moment, but she impressed Brunswick's Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Native Son (play)
''Native Son'' is a 1941 Broadway drama written by Paul Green and Richard Wright based on Wright's novel ''Native Son''. It was produced by Orson Welles and John Houseman with Bern Bernard as associate producer and directed by Welles with scenic design by John Morcom. It ran for 114 performances from March 24, 1941 to June 28, 1941 at the St. James Theatre. This is the last time Welles and Houseman, co-founders of the Mercury Theatre, ever worked together. Synopsis Differences in plot Richard Wright and Paul Green edited ''Native Sons plot to fit the time constraints of a play more easily. Certain parts are edited or cut completely. In the novel, the daughter of Bigger Thomas's employers, Mary, has a communist boyfriend, Jan, whom Bigger tries to blame for Mary's murder. Bigger even tries to collect ransom for Mary's supposedly missing body. He also becomes the Daltons' chauffeur only after a failed robbery attempt of a white man's store. In the drama, these details are er ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. While in his 20s, Welles directed high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project, including an adaptation of ''Macbeth'' with an entirely African-American cast and the political musical '' The Cradle Will Rock''. In 1937, he and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented a series of productions on Broadway through 1941, including '' Caesar'' (1937), an adaptation of William Shakespeare's '' Julius Caesar''. In 1938, his radio anthology series '' The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' gave Welles the platform to find international fame as the director and narrator of a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel '' The War of the Worlds'', which cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Native Son
''Native Son'' (1940) is a novel written by the American author Richard Wright. It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s. While not apologizing for Bigger's crimes, Wright portrays a systemic causation behind them. Bigger's lawyer, Boris Max, makes the case that there is no escape from this destiny for his client or any other black American since they are the necessary product of the society that formed them and told them since birth who exactly they were supposed to be. "No American Negro exists", James Baldwin once wrote, "who does not have his private Bigger Thomas living in his skull." Frantz Fanon discusses the feeling in his 1952 essay ''L'expérience vécue du noir'' (''The Fact of Blackness''). "In the end", writes Fanon, "Bigger Thomas acts. To put an end to his tension, he acts, he responds to the world's anticipation." The book was a successful and groundbreaking best ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Wright (author)
Richard Nathaniel Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) was an American author of novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially related to the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries suffering discrimination and violence. Literary critics believe his work helped change race relations in the United States in the mid-20th century. It was revealed in 2022 when documents on the JFK assassination were released, that Wright was killed by the CIA after “finishing a manuscript on use of American blacks by the government.” Early life and education Childhood in the South Richard Wright's memoir, ''Black Boy,'' covers the interval in his life from 1912 until May 1936. Richard Nathaniel Wright was born on September 4, 1908 at Rucker's Plantation, between the train town of Roxie and the larger river city of Natchez, Mississippi. He was the son of Nathan Wright (c. 1880–c. 1940) w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canada Lee
Canada Lee (born Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata; March 3, 1907 – May 9, 1952) was an American professional boxer and then an actor who pioneered roles for African Americans. After careers as a jockey, boxer and musician, he became an actor in the Federal Theatre Project, including the 1936 production of ''Macbeth'' adapted and directed by Orson Welles. Lee later starred in Welles's original Broadway production of '' Native Son'' (1941). A champion of civil rights in the 1930s and 1940s, Lee was blacklisted and died shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He advanced the African American tradition in theatre pioneered by such actors as Paul Robeson. Lee was the father of actor Carl Lee. Biography Early life Lee was born Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata on March 3, 1907, in the San Juan Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. His father, James Cornelius Lionel Canegata, was born on the Caribbean island of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stella Dallas (1937 Film)
''Stella Dallas'' is a 1937 American drama film based on the 1923 Olive Higgins Prouty novel of the same name. It was directed by King Vidor, and stars Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, and Anne Shirley. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards which were for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role. This was the second feature film adaptation of the novel. The first was the 1925 silent film version titled '' Stella Dallas'', while it was also remade in 1990 as ''Stella''. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career. Plot Stella Martin, the daughter of a mill worker, Charlie, in a post-World War I Massachusetts factory town, is determined to better herself. She sets her sights on mill executive Stephen Dallas and catches him at an emotionally vulnerable time. Stephen's father killed himself after losing his fortune. Penniless, Stephen disappeare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic screen presence and versatility. She was a favorite of directors, including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang, and Frank Capra, and made 85 films in 38 years before turning to television. Orphaned at the age of four and partially raised in foster homes, she always worked. One of her directors, Jacques Tourneur, said of her, "She only lives for two things, and both of them are work." She made her debut on stage in the chorus as a Ziegfeld girl in 1923, at age 16, and within a few years was acting in plays. Her first lead role, which was in the hit ''Burlesque'' (1927), established her as a Broadway star. In 1929, she began acting in talking pictures. Frank Capra chose her for his romantic drama '' Ladies of Leisure'' (1930). This led to ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor (; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, humane, and sympathetic depiction of contemporary social issues. Considered an auteur director, Vidor approached multiple genres and allowed the subject matter to determine the style, often pressing the limits of film-making conventions. His most acclaimed and successful film in the silent era is '' The Big Parade'' (1925). Vidor's sound films of the 1940s and early 1950s arguably represent his richest output. Among his finest works are ''Northwest Passage'' (1940), '' Comrade X'' (1940), '' An American Romance'' (1944), and '' Duel in the Sun'' (1946). His dramatic depictions of the American western landscape endow nature with a sinister force where his characters struggle for survival and redemption. Vidor's earlier films tend to ident ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Town Girl
''Big Town Girl'' is a 1937 American drama film directed by Alfred L. Werker and written by Lou Breslow, Robert Ellis, Helen Logan and John Patrick. The film stars Claire Trevor, Donald Woods, Alan Dinehart, Alan Baxter, Murray Alper and Spencer Charters. The film was released on December 3, 1937, by 20th Century Fox. Plot About to serve a 20-year prison sentence for a bank robbery, Jim Mead escapes. He tracks down estranged wife Peggy Melville, a singer, but she flees, moves to a new town and changes her name to Fay Loring, taking a job at a department store. A publicist, Larry Edwards, overhears her singing in the store one day and thinks he can make her a star. He accidentally gets Fay fired, so she takes him up on his offer. Unwilling to show her face in public, for fear Mead will find her, Fay performs as the "Masked Countess," using a fake French accent. Mark Tracey, a reporter, becomes determined to find out the masked woman's true identity. A stormy relationship dev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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