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Road To Utopia
''Road to Utopia'' is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946, ''Road to Utopia'' is the fourth film of the "'' Road to ...''" series. Written by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the film is about two vaudeville performers at the turn of the twentieth century who go to Alaska to make their fortune. Along the way they find a map to a secret gold mine. In 1947, ''Road to Utopia'' received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Plot Academy-Award-winner Robert Benchley introduces the film, explaining that “the front office” has charged him with explaining the plot “and other vague portions of the film.” Sal and Chester Hooton, an old married couple, are visited by their equally old friend Duke Johnson, and the three reminisce about their previous adventure in the Klondike. The film flashes back to the turn of the century. Hooton and John ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hal Walker
Hal Walker (March 20, 1896 – July 3, 1972) was an American film director. He was known for doing some of the earliest Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis films such as ''At War with the Army'' and ''Sailor Beware (1952 film), Sailor Beware'' and some with the team of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, directing ''Road to Utopia'' and ''Road to Bali''. Early years Walker was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, and was a private in the Marine Corps during World War I. After he was discharged, he drove a taxi in Chicago for two years. He also was a traveling salesman for a company that made dress patterns. Career After beginning in the film industry as an extra and a player of bit parts, Walker worked for years as an assistant director in films, learning the business "from the ground up". His big break came when Crosby, Hope, and Dorothy Lamour urged executives at Paramount Pictures to give him an opportunity to be a director. Walker was nominated at the 10th Academy Awards in the category of Academy Award ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs and dances. Vaudeville became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, while changing over time. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian Britain, a typical North American vaudeville performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, ventriloquists, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, clowns, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and films. A vaudeville performer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Claus
Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christmas Eve. Christmas elves are said to make the gifts in Santa's workshop, while flying reindeer pull his sleigh through the air. The popular conception of Santa Claus originates from folklore traditions surrounding the 4th-century Christian bishop Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. Saint Nicholas became renowned for his reported generosity and secret gift-giving. The image of Santa Claus shares similarities with the English figure of Father Christmas, and they are both now popularly regarded as the same person. Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white- bearded man, often with spectacles, wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs, white-fur-cuffed red trousers, a red hat trimmed with white fur, a b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Barber
Bobby Barber (December 18, 1894 – May 24, 1976) was an American actor who appeared in over 100 films. Barber is notable for his work as a foil for Abbott and Costello on and off screen. Biography Barber was born Robert S. Barbera in New York."California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPC6-971 : 26 November 2014), Robert S Barbera, 24 May 1976; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento. His film career included bit parts, often uncredited, in over 250 (known) films and television shows. Barber appeared in many Abbott and Costello films and about half their television shows. Following the death of Lou Costello's father in 1947, Costello became very close with Barber, including him in various antics off set as a form of "court jester." It was his job to keep the energy level up between shots with pranks and practical jokes. Sometimes, he even interrupted a take to break up the cast and crew. In ''Abbott and Costello ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snub Pollard
Harold Fraser (9 November 1889 – 19 January 1962), known professionally as Snub Pollard, was an Australian-born vaudevillian who became a silent film comedian in Hollywood, popular in the 1920s. Career Born in Melbourne, Australia, on 9 November 1889, young Harry Fraser began performing with Pollard's Lilliputian Opera Company. The company ran several highly successful professional children's troupes that traveled Australia and New Zealand in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Like many of the actors in the popular juvenile company -- among them Daphne Trott -- Fraser adopted Pollard as his stage name. In 1908, Harry Pollard joined the company tour to North America. After the completion of the tour, he returned to the United States. By 1915, he was regularly appearing in uncredited roles in movies, for example, Charles Epting notes that Pollard can clearly be seen in Chaplin's 1915 short '' By the Sea''. In later years, Pollard said Hal Roach had discovered h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Newlan
Paul Emory "Tiny" Newlan (June 29, 1903 – November 23, 1973) was an American film and TV character actor from Plattsmouth, Nebraska. He was best known for his role as Captain Grey on the NBC police series '' M Squad'' and for his roles in films including '' The Americanization of Emily'' and '' The Slender Thread''. Career Early in his career, Newlan worked in Vaudeville, sometimes doing as many as 10 shows a day. Newlan appeared in dozens of films and TV shows between 1935 and 1971. Among his other film roles were '' My Favorite Spy'', '' The Captive City'', '' The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd'' and '' The Buccaneer'', in addition to smaller roles in numerous other films including '' Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd'', ''Abbott and Costello Go to Mars'', '' You're Never Too Young'', '' We're No Angels'', and '' To Catch a Thief''. On March 4, 1955, Newlan appeared as the outlaw Jules Beni in an episode of Jim Davis's syndicated western series '' Stories of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Ferguson
Al Ferguson (19 April 1888 – 4 December 1971) was an Irish-born American film actor. Born in County Wexford, Ireland, he appeared in nearly 300 films between 1912 and 1956. Billed as Smoke Ferguson, by 1912 he was making Westerns for Selig Polyscope Company. In the 1920s he was the star, producer, and director for several low-budget Western films. He also appeared in some television Westerns in the 1950s. Ferguson died in Burbank, California. He is interred at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Selected filmography * '' Youth's Endearing Charm'' (1916) – Joe Jenkins * '' Where the West Begins'' (1919) * '' The Timber Queen'' (1922) * '' Boomerang Justice'' (1922) * ''The Trail of Vengeance'' (1924) * '' Officer 444'' (1926) * '' The Baited Trap'' (1926) * '' Tentacles of the North'' (1926) * '' A Captain's Courage'' (1926) * '' West of the Law'' (1926) * '' Wolves of the Desert'' (1926) * '' The Wolf Hunters'' (1926) * '' The Fighting Stallion'' (1927) * '' W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chester Conklin
Chester Cooper Conklin (January 11, 1886 – October 11, 1971) was an early American film comedian who started at Keystone Studios as one of Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops, often paired with Mack Swain. He appeared in a series of films with Mabel Normand and worked closely with Charlie Chaplin, both in silent and sound films. Early life Conklin was born in Oskaloosa, Iowa. One of three children, he grew up in a violent household. When he was eight, his mother was found burned to death in the family garden. Although first judged a suicide, his father, a devoutly religious man who hoped his son would be a minister, was eventually charged with murder, but found not guilty at trial. Conklin won first prize when he gave a recitation at a community festival. A few years later, he ran away from home after vowing to a friend he would never return, a promise he kept. Heading to Des Moines he found employment as a hotel bellhop, but then moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where his interest i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nestor Paiva
Nestor Caetano Paiva (June 30, 1905 – September 9, 1966) was an American stage, radio, film and television actor of Portuguese descent. He performed in over 400 motion pictures either as an extra, a bit player, or as a significant supporting character."Veteran Actor Nestor Paiva Succumbs at 61", obituary, ''Los Angeles Times'', September 11, 1966, p. B4. Historical Newspapers (Ann Arbor, Michigan); subscription access through The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, April 10, 2023. He also appears in such roles in a variety of television series produced during the 1950s and early 1960s. Among his notable screen appearances is his recurring role as the innkeeper Teo Gonzales in Walt Disney's late 1950s televised Spanish Western series ''Zorro'', as well as in its adapted theatrical release ''The Sign of Zorro'' (1958). Paiva also appears as the boat captain Lucas in the '' Creature from the Black Lagoon'' (1954) and in that horror film's sequel '' Revenge of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Barrat
Robert Harriot Barrat (July 10, 1891 – January 7, 1970) was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor. Early years Barratt was born on July 10, 1891 in New York City, and educated in the public schools there. He left college and home during his sophomore year, traveling on a tramp steamer to Central America, England, France, and South America. After he returned to the United States, he worked for two years on his brother's farm near Springfield, Massachusetts, until he learned of an opening in the chorus for a musical comedy. Career Early in his career, Barrat traveled around the United States, sometimes acting with stock theater companies and sometimes performing in vaudeville on the Keith and Orpheum circuits. Returning to New York City, he had a role in ''The Weavers'' at the Garden Theatre. Barrat acted on Broadway theatre, Broadway, where his credits include ''Lilly Turner'' (1932), ''Bulls, Bears and Asses'' (1931), ''This Is New York'' (1930) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack La Rue
Jack La Rue (born Gaspare Biondolillo; May 3, 1902 – January 11, 1984) was an American film and stage actor. Early life and family Gaspare Biondolillo was the son of Sicilian immigrants Luigi Biondolillo (1874–1951) and Giuseppa Biondolillo (1879–1970). Gaspare or "Jasper" was the oldest of six children. He was born in Lercara Friddi, Sicily. A miner from the town of Lercara Friddi, Luigi married Giuseppa on May 20, 1899. Not long thereafter, Luigi emigrated from Sicily to the port of New York, accompanied by his sister Francesca. Arriving on August 26, 1900, the two siblings joined their brother Pasquale in the "Little Italy" section of Manhattan. Giuseppa emigrated later, arriving in New York on November 26, 1902. She brought along her five-month-old son Gaspare. They joined Luigi in Manhattan. In the 1930 U.S. Census, Jasper is listed as still living with his parents. However, not long after, he moved to Hollywood to begin his film career. Luigi had a brother ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglass Dumbrille
Douglass Rupert Dumbrille (October 13, 1889 – April 2, 1974) was a Canadian actor who appeared regularly in films from the early 1930s. Life and career Douglass Dumbrille ( ) was born in Hamilton, Ontario. As a young man, he was employed as a bank clerk in Hamilton while pursuing an interest in acting. He eventually left banking for the theatre, finding work with a stock company that led him to Chicago, Illinois, and another that toured the United States. In 1913, the East Coast film industry was flourishing and that year he appeared in the film ''What Eighty Million Women Want'', but it would be another 11 years before he appeared on screen again. In 1924, he made his Broadway debut and worked off and on in the theatre for several years while supplementing his income by selling such products as car accessories, tea, insurance, real estate, and books. During the Great Depression, Dumbrille resumed his screen career in Hollywood, where he specialized in playing seconda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
