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Menu (film)
''Menu'' is a 1933 American pre-Code short comedy film directed by Nick Grinde, produced by Pete Smith, and filmed in Technicolor. The film was nominated for an Academy Award at the 6th Academy Awards in 1933 for Best Short Subject (Novelty). This could be considered a "prequel" to the MGM short film '' Penny Wisdom'' (1937), also produced by Pete Smith. Plot The scene opens with John Xavier Omsk drinking some bicarbonate of soda in the privacy of his office. Pete Smith, as the narrator, diagnoses John's stomach trouble as a "simple case of bad cooking." As the scene transitions to Mrs. Omsk in a disheveled kitchen, Smith's diagnosis is offered confirmation. Frustrated with her attempts to follow a cookbook on "How to Stuff a Duck", Mrs. Omsk throws down the book and beats the frozen duck, which surprisingly quacks each time it's struck. Smith decides to help the inept Mrs. Omsk by conjuring up Bizetti, a Master Chef, to show her how to cook. Unable to work in such mes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Grinde
Nick Grinde (January 12, 1893 – June 19, 1979) was an American film director and screenwriter. He directed 57 films between 1928 and 1945. Biography Born Harry A. Grinde in Madison, Wisconsin but nicknamed "Nick," Grinde graduated from the University of Wisconsin. He later moved to New York and worked in Vaudeville. Grinde became a Hollywood film writer and director in the late 1920s, and was often assigned to familiarize Broadway stage directors with the techniques of film making. As a director, he is considered one of American cinema's early B film specialists. Notable films include ''The Man they Could Not Hang'' with Boris Karloff, and Ronald Reagan's first motion picture: ''Love is on the Air'' (1937). As a screenwriter, he is credited as a co-writer of Laurel and Hardy's '' Babes in Toyland'' (1934). Throughout his career, Grinde was a popular writer of short stories, articles and columns usually about show business and film making in early Hollywood. Prime example ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penny Wisdom
''Penny Wisdom'' is a 1937 American short comedy film directed by David Miller and produced by Pete Smith. In 1938, the film won an Oscar at the 10th Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Color). Plot The opening of the film uses the music of "Pop Goes the Weasel", which already indicates that this "epicurian epic" will entail much comedic content. The scene starts as Matthew E. Smudge calls his wife, Chloe, to inform her that he's bringing his boss and a customer home for dinner. Unstressed, Chloe enters the kitchen, expecting to tell the cook there will be two more for dinner; she finds a note. Apparently, her constant high-maintenance demands have caused "her culinary queen to quit." Chloe haplessly attempts to fix dinner herself. An hour has transpired and Chloe has burnt the roast beef, dropped a flour bucket on the dog (to which the narrator remarks, "Gosh, it ain't a fit night for man nor beast."), and ultimately turned the kitchen into a complete disaster. Pete Smi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Films Produced By Pete Smith (film Producer)
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound and, more rarely, other sensory stimulations. The word "cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film industry, and to the art form that is the result of it. Recording and transmission of film The moving images of a film are created by photographing actual scenes with a motion-picture camera, by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques, by means of CGI and computer animation, or by a combination of some or all of these techniques, and other visual effects. Before the introduction of digital production, series of still images were recorded on a strip of chemically sensitize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1930s English-language Films
Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 193 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * January 1 – Year of the Five Emperors: The Roman Senate chooses Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will, to succeed the late Commodus as Emperor. Pertinax is forced to reorganize the handling of finances, which were wrecked under Commodus, to reestablish discipline in the Roman army, and to suspend the food programs established by Trajan, provoking the ire of the Praetorian Guard. * March 28 – Pertinax is assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, who storm the imperial palace. The Empire is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Black-and-white Films
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Comedy Films
American comedy films are comedy films produced in the United States. The genre is one of the oldest in American cinema; some of the first silent movies were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. With the advent of sound in the late 1920s and 1930s, comedic dialogue rose in prominence in the work of film comedians such as W. C. Fields and the Marx Brothers. By the 1950s, the television industry had become serious competition for the movie industry. The 1960s saw an increasing number of broad, star-packed comedies. In the 1970s, black comedies were popular. Leading figures in the 1970s were Woody Allen and Mel Brooks. One of the major developments of the 1990s was the re-emergence of the romantic comedy film. Another development was the increasing use of "gross-out humour". History 1895–1930 Comic films began to appear in significant numbers during the era of silent films, roughly 1895 to 1930. The visual humour of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1933 Short Films
Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wishes of U.S. President Herbert Hoover. * January 28 – " Pakistan Declaration": Choudhry Rahmat Ali publishes (in Cambridge, UK) a pamphlet entitled ''Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?'', in which he calls for the creation of a Muslim state in northwest India that he calls " Pakstan"; this influences the Pakistan Movement. * January 30 ** National Socialist German Workers Party leader Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany by President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg. ** Édouard Daladier forms a government in France in succession to Joseph Paul-Boncour. He is succeeded on October 26 by Albert Sarraut and on November 26 by Camille Chautemps. February * February 1 – Adolf Hitler gives his "Proclamation to the Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1933 Films
The following is an overview of 1933 in film, including significant events, a list of films released, and notable births and deaths. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1933 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events The Film Daily Yearbook listed the following as the ten leading news events of the year in North America. * Motion picture industry goes under National Recovery Administration code. * Receivers appointed for Paramount Publix, RKO and Fox Theatres. * Film industry takes eight week salary cut. * Sirovich bill for sweeping probe of film industry is defeated. * John D. Hertz withdraws as Paramount Publix finance chairman and Adolph Zukor appoints George J. Schaefer as general manager. * Sidney Kent effects financial reorganization of Fox Film Corp., averting receivership, and company shows first profit since 1930. * Ruling of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware creates "open market" for sound equipmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franklin Pangborn
Franklin Pangborn (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958) was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W. C. Fields films ''International House'', '' The Bank Dick'', and '' Never Give a Sucker an Even Break''. For his contributions to motion pictures, Pangborn received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street on February 8, 1960. Early years Pangborn was born in Newark, New Jersey. During World War I, he served for 14 months with the 312th Infantry in Europe. Career An encounter with actress Mildred Holland when he was 17 led to Pangborn's first professional acting experience. He was working for an insurance company when she learned about his ambitions for acting and offered him an extra's position with her company at $12 per week, initially during his two weeks' vacation. That opportunity grew into four years' touring with Holland and her troupe. Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Una Merkel
Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress. Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film actress. Two of her best-known performances are in the films '' 42nd Street'' and '' Destry Rides Again''. She won a Tony Award in 1956 and was nominated for an Oscar in 1961. Life and career Merkel was born in Covington, Kentucky, to Bessie (''née'' Phares) and Arno Merkel. In her early childhood, she lived in many of the Southern United States due to her father's job as a traveling salesman. At the age of 15, she and her parents moved to Philadelphia. They stayed there a year or so before settling in New York City, where she began attending the Alviene School of Dramatic Art. Because of her strong resemblance to actress Lillian Gish, Merkel was offered a part as Gish's youngest sister in a silent film called ''World Shadows''. However ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luis Alberni
Luis Alberni (October 4, 1886 – December 23, 1962) was a Spanish-born American character actor of stage and films. Early years Alberni was born in Barcelona, Spain, on October 4, 1886. He acted in stock theater for four years in Marseille before he went back to Barcelona, earned a BA degree, and studied law. Career Alberni was acting in Bordeaux when American humorist Wilson Mizner and playwright Paul Armstrong invited him to come to the United States, offering their help. In April 1912, he sailed to New York City as a steerage passenger aboard the S/S ''Nieuw Amsterdam''. In New York, Alberni acted on both stage and screen. His first motion picture performance was in the 1915 Jewish drama, '' Children of the Ghetto''. On the stage, he appeared in more than a dozen Broadway plays between 1915 and 1928, including ''39 East'', ''Dreams for Sale'' and the original production of ''What Price Glory?'' in 1924–1925. In the sound film era, he had notable roles as Jacopo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
