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Meet The People
''Meet the People'' (1944) is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical comedy film made, and set, during World War II, and starring Lucille Ball and Dick Powell and featuring Virginia O'Brien, Bert Lahr, Rags Ragland and June Allyson. The film takes its title from a successful Los Angeles musical revue, which ran on Broadway from December 25, 1940 to May 10, 1941. Vaughn Monroe and his orchestra, Spike Jones and his City Slickers, and Virginia O'Brien were also in the original stage cast. O'Brien sings the hit song "Say That We're Sweethearts Again". Plot Welder William "Swanee" Swanson works at a shipyard in Morganville, Delaware. One day he sees the brightly shining Broadway star Julie Hampton speak in front of a crowd of workers at the yard, and he instantly falls in love with her. Luckily enough, Julie has promised to go on a date with the man who sells the most war bonds within a certain time limit. Swanee lies to Julie and tells her that he has $7,500 in pledges. He also tells t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Reisner
Charles Francis Reisner (March 14, 1887 – September 24, 1962) was an American film director and actor of the 1920s and 1930s. The German-American directed over 60 films between 1920 and 1950 and acted in over 20 films between 1916 and 1929. He starred with Charlie Chaplin in ''A Dog's Life (1918 film), A Dog's Life'' in 1918 and ''The Kid (1921 film), The Kid'' in 1921. He directed Buster Keaton (Keaton also co-directed it with him) in ''Steamboat Bill, Jr.'' (1928). During the late 1920s, through the 1940s, Reisner was under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1930, he directed ''Chasing Rainbows (1930 film), Chasing Rainbows'', a musical which starred Bessie Love and Charles King (musical actor), Charles King. He directed ''The Big Store'' (1941), the Marx Brothers' last film for MGM. Reisner died of a heart attack in La Jolla, California in 1962 at the age of 75. Filmography As actor * ''A Dog's Life (1918 film), A Dog's Life'' (1918) * ''The Kid (1921 film), The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaughn Monroe
Vaughn Wilton Monroe (October 7, 1911 – May 21, 1973) was an American baritone singer, trumpeter and big band leader who was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for recording and another for radio performance. Early life Monroe was born in Akron, Ohio. He graduated from Jeannette High School in Pennsylvania in 1929. Career Monroe formed his first orchestra in Boston in 1940 and became its principal vocalist. He began recording for RCA Victor's subsidiary label, Bluebird. That same year, Monroe built ''The Meadows'', a restaurant and nightclub to the west of Boston on Massachusetts Route 9 in Framingham, Massachusetts. After he ceased performing, he continued running the club until his death in 1973. The summer of 1942 brought a 13-week engagement on radio, as Monroe and his orchestra had a summer replacement program for '' Blondie'' on CBS. Monroe hosted the ''Camel Caravan'' radio program from The Meadows, starting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz'' (lyrics by Yip Harburg), including "Over the Rainbow", which won him the Oscar for Academy Award for Best Original Song, Best Original Song, he was nominated as composer for 8 other Oscar awards. Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook. "Over the Rainbow" was voted the 20th century's No. 1 song by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA and the National Endowment for the Arts, NEA. Life and career Arlen was born in Buffalo, New York, the child of a Jewish hazzan, cantor. His twin brother died the next day. He learned to play the piano as a youth, and formed a band, Hyman Arluck's Snappy Trio, at age 15. He left home at 16 against his parents' wishes; within two years, he was per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jay Gorney
Jay Gorney (December 12, 1896– June 14, 1990) was an American theater and film song writer. Life and career Gorney was born Abraham Jacob Gornetzsky on December 12, 1896, in Białystok, Russia (now part of Poland), the son of Frieda (Perlstein) and Jacob Gornetzsky. His family was Jewish. In 1906, he witnessed the Bialystok pogrom, which forced his family into hiding for nearly two weeks; they soon fled to the United States, arriving on 14 September 1906. The family settled in Detroit, Michigan, where Jacob Gornetzsky became an engineer at the newly formed Ford Motor Company. Frieda Gornetzsky bought a piano for her children. At age 14, after two years of lessons, Gorney was offered a job as a pianist at a local nickelodeon. He worked his way through the University of Michigan (Class of 1917) and the University of Michigan Law School (Class of 1919) as a pianist. His studies were interrupted by World War I, during which he enlisted in the Navy. After graduating, he practic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oliver Wallace
Oliver George Wallace (August 6, 1887 – September 15, 1963) was a British-American composer and conductor from London.''Home Front Heroes: A Biographical Dictionary of Americans During Wartime'', Volume 3, ed. Benjamin F. Shearer (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007), p. 836 He was especially known for his film music compositions, which were written for many animation, documentary, and feature films from Walt Disney Studios.Thomas S. Hischak, ''The Encyclopedia of Film Composers'' (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), pp. 691–693, Biography Wallace was born on August 6, 1887, in London. After completing his musical training, he emigrated to the United States in 1904, becoming a US citizen ten years later. He initially worked primarily on the West Coast in Seattle as a conductor of theater orchestras and as an organist accompanying silent films. At the same time, he also made a name as a songwriter, writing tunes such as the popular "". With the advent of the talking film e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yip Harburg
Edgar Yipsel Harburg (born Isidore Hochberg; April 8, 1896 – March 5, 1981) was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards " Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (with Jay Gorney), " April in Paris", and "It's Only a Paper Moon", as well as all of the songs for the film '' The Wizard of Oz'', including " Over the Rainbow". He was known for the social commentary of his lyrics, as well as his leftist leanings. He championed racial, sexual and gender equality and union politics. He also was an ardent critic of high society and religion. Early life and career Harburg, the youngest of four surviving children (out of ten), was born Isidore Hochberg on the Lower East Side of New York City on April 8, 1896.Yip Harburg: Biography from Answers.com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Gaines
Charlie H. "Devil" Gaines (August 8, 1900 – November 23, 1986Nicholson, Jim (November 26, 1986)Phila. Musician Charlie Gaines, Played Trumpet With Jazz Greats.''The Philadelphia Inquirer'') was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. As a teenager Gaines played in brass bands in Philadelphia. Gaines moved to New York City in 1920, where he joined the orchestra of Wilbur Sweatman. He soon signed on with Clarence Williams's house band, then played with Sam Wooding Samuel David Wooding (17 June 1895–1 August 1985) was an American jazz pianist, arranger and bandleader living and performing in Europe and the United States. Career Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, between 1921 and 19 ..., Earl Walton, Leroy Smith (musician), Leroy Smith, Fats Waller, Charlie Johnson (bandleader), Charlie Johnson, and the Hot Chocolates. In the 1930s Gaines launched his own band in Philadelphia; he recorded occasionally, including once with Williams in 1934. Concomi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clarence Williams (musician)
Clarence Williams (October 8, 1898 or October 6, 1893 – November 6, 1965) was an American jazz pianist, composer, promoter, vocalist, theatrical producer, and publisher. Biography Williams was born in Plaquemine, Louisiana, to Dennis, a bassist, and Sally Williams, and ran away from home at age 12 to join Billy Kersands' Traveling Minstrel Show, then moved to New Orleans. At first, Williams worked shining shoes and doing odd jobs, but soon became known as a singer and master of ceremonies. By the early 1910s, he was a well-regarded local entertainer also playing piano, and was composing new tunes by 1913. Williams was a good businessman and worked arranging and managing entertainment at the local African American vaudeville theater as well as at various saloons and dance halls around Rampart Street, and at clubs and houses in Storyville. Williams started a music publishing business with violinist/bandleader Armand J. Piron in 1915, which by the 1920s was the leading African ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaughan Monroe
Vaughn Wilton Monroe (October 7, 1911 – May 21, 1973) was an American baritone singer, trumpeter and big band leader who was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for recording and another for radio performance. Early life Monroe was born in Akron, Ohio. He graduated from Jeannette High School in Pennsylvania in 1929. Career Monroe formed his first orchestra in Boston in 1940 and became its principal vocalist. He began recording for RCA Victor's subsidiary label, Bluebird. That same year, Monroe built ''The Meadows'', a restaurant and nightclub to the west of Boston on Massachusetts Route 9 in Framingham, Massachusetts. After he ceased performing, he continued running the club until his death in 1973. The summer of 1942 brought a 13-week engagement on radio, as Monroe and his orchestra had a summer replacement program for '' Blondie'' on CBS. Monroe hosted the ''Camel Caravan'' radio program from The Meadows, starting in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morris Ankrum
Morris Ankrum (August 28, 1897 – September 2, 1964) was an American radio, television, and film character actor. Early life Ankrum was born in Danville in Vermilion County in eastern Illinois, and pursued a career in law. After graduating from The University of Southern California, he went on to an associate professorship in economics at the University of California, Berkeley. While at Berkeley, he became involved in the drama department and eventually began teaching drama and directing at the Pasadena Playhouse. From 1923 to 1939 he acted in a number of Broadway stage productions, including '' Gods of the Lightning'', ''The Big Blow'', and ''Within the Gates''. Film career Before signing with Paramount Pictures in the 1930s, Nussbaum had already changed his last name to Ankrum. Upon signing with the studio, he chose to use the name "Stephen Morris" before changing it to Morris Ankrum in 1939. Ankrum was cast in supporting roles as stalwart authority figures, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Craven (actor)
John Craven (June 22, 1916 – November 24, 1995) was an American actor in theater, film, and television. Biography Craven was born on June 22, 1916, in New York City. He was a third-generation actor, following in the profession of his father, Frank Craven, and his grandfather, John T. Craven. His mother, Mary Blythe, was an actress prior to marriage. He had an older sister, Blyth Daly (1901-1965), born when the family lived in England. His baby picture was printed in the March, 1922 edition of ''Success'' magazine in an article about his father's career. He attended Beverly Hills High School in 1935. Craven began on Broadway as assistant stage manager for Babes in Arms in 1937. Then he returned to Beverly Hills, starring in " The Thirteenth Chair" and Noël Coward's "Hay Fever" at Harold Lloyd's Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals. He was originally slated to play a townsperson in the original stage version of ''Our Town'' at the Morosco Theatre, in which his fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Jaynes (actress)
Betty Jaynes (born Betty Jayne Schultz, February 12, 1921 – November 22, 2018) was an American operatic singer and B-movie actress from the late 1930s to mid-1940s. Early years The daughter of Louis C. Schultz and Stella Schultz, Jaynes was born in Greeneville, Tennessee, but she attended the Starrett School for Girls in Chicago. She has a brother, Robert, and two sisters, Lorraine and Marion. Career Jaynes made her concert debut when she was 15, performing with pianist Janet Gunn at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. At the same age, she made a "sensational debut" with the Chicago City Opera Company in ''La boheme''. In a ''Life'' magazine article, she said she would "quit school and consider movies." Her radio debut also occurred when she was 15, as she sang on ''The Ford Sunday Evening Hour'' on CBS in January 1937. On December 9, 1936, Probate Judge John F. O'Connell in Chicago approved Jaynes' contracts with MGM and a concert booking company. Her status as a minor required cour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
