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Speak Easily (1932) 1 Cropped
''Speak Easily'' is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film starring Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, and Thelma Todd, and directed by Edward Sedgwick. Keaton and Durante were again paired in ''The Passionate Plumber'' and '' What! No Beer?'' Keaton later used many of the physical gags he created for this film when he wrote (uncredited) gags for the Marx Brothers '' A Night At The Opera.''. Plot Professor Timoleon Zanders Post is a shy Classics professor at Potts College, who has lived a sheltered life and has little experience of life outside of academia. Feeling that the professor should see more of the real world, his assistant Jenkins tricks the professor into thinking that he has inherited $750,000, allowing the professor to leave academia at last. Boarding a train bound for New York City, Prof. Post encounters James, the manager of a dancing troupe that has an engagement in the backwater town of Fish's Switch. The professor becomes infatuated with one of the dancers, Pansy Pee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pressbook Herald Speak Easily 1932 Buster Keaton Jimmy Durante Thelma Todd
In the world of theatrical film exhibition, a pressbook was a promotional tool created and distributed by film distributors in order to market their films. Sometimes called "campaign manuals," most pressbooks took the form of large, multi-page brochures that were mailed to movie theaters in the interest of helping theaters attract an audience. A typical pressbook contained images of the various advertising "accessories" available to promote a movie, including images of the available film posters, lobby cards, and 8 x 10 film stills. They also contained the various newspaper advertisements exhibitor could employ in local newspaper advertising as well as short, feature pieces that could be planted in local newspapers, usually without cost. During Hollywood's Golden Age, pressbooks also contained various ideas for so-called exploitation campaigns, including souvenir-style give-aways, tie-ins and contests, as well as live promotional stunts. Most pressbooks also contained a list of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classics
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics may also include as secondary subjects Greco-Roman Ancient philosophy, philosophy, Ancient history, history, archaeology, anthropology, classical architecture, architecture, Ancient art, art, Classical mythology, mythology, and society. In Western culture, Western civilization, the study of the Ancient Greek and Roman classics was considered the foundation of the humanities, and they traditionally have been the cornerstone of an elite higher education. Etymology The word ''classics'' is derived from the Latin adjective ''wikt:classicus, classicus'', meaning "belonging to the highest class of Citizenship, citizens." The word was originally used to describe the members of the Patri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Kelsey
Frederick Alvin Kelsey (August 20, 1884 – September 2, 1961) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Kelsey directed one- and two-reel films for Universal Film Manufacturing Company. He appeared in more than 400 films between 1911 and 1958, often playing policemen or detectives. He also directed 37 films between 1914 and 1920. Kelsey was caricatured as the detective in the 1943 MGM cartoon '' Who Killed Who?'' directed by Tex Avery. He was born in Sandusky, Ohio and died at the Motion Picture Country Home in Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ..., aged 77. Selected filmography References External links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelsey, Fred 1884 births 1961 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male film ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidney Bracey
Sidney Bracey (born Sidney Bracy; 18 December 1877 – 5 August 1942) was an Australian-born American actor. Born into an acting family, he began a stage career in Australia, on Broadway and in Britain usually as leading men in musicals and comic operas, and in roles straight theatre, including Shakespeare plays. He then performed in more than 320 films between 1909 and 1942, remembered for his character roles as sometimes exasperated men in authority, such as bosses, directors, and, especially, respectable butlers. He also continued to perform on stage, including in vaudeville. Early life and stage career Bracey was born in Melbourne, Victoria, with the name Sidney Bracy, later changing the spelling of his last name. He was the son of Welsh tenor Henry Bracy and English actress Clara T. Bracy. His aunt was the actress and dancer Lydia Thompson. He was educated at Melbourne University.Bowers, David Q"Bracy, Sidney: Volume III: Biographies" ''Thanhouser Films: An Encyc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Brophy
Edward Santree Brophy (February 27, 1895 – May 27, 1960) was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently portrayed dumb cops and gangsters, both serious and comic. He is best remembered as the sidekick to The Falcon (fictional detective), The Falcon in the Tom Conway film series of the 1940s, and for voicing Timothy Q. Mouse in Walt Disney's ''Dumbo'' (1941). Early life Edward Santree Brophy was born on February 27, 1895, in New York City and attended the University of Virginia.Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. . P.171. Career His screen debut was in ''Yes or No? (1920 film), Yes or No?'' (1920). In 1928, with only a few minor film roles to his credit, Brophy was working as a production manager for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer when he was on location wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Armetta
Henry Armetta (born Enrico Armetta; July 4, 1888 – October 21, 1945) was an American character actor who appeared in at least 150 American films, beginning in silent movies. His last film was released posthumously in 1946, the year after his death. Biography Armetta was born in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. At the age of 14, he stowed away on a boat to America. The immigration authorities were prepared to send him back, but he found an Italian family to act as his sponsor. He settled in New York City where he delivered groceries, sold sandwiches and pizzas and performed other menial tasks to get by. He eventually ended up working as a pants presser at a well known club where he was befriended by actor/producer Raymond Hitchcock. Hitchcock got him a chorus part in his play ''A Yankee Consul''. After a friend told him about southern California's mushrooming film industry, Armetta hitchhiked to Hollywood in 1920 and soon found work in films as a stereotypical Italian, often playing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence Grant
Percy Reginald Lawrence-Grant (30 October 1870 – 19 February 1952) was an English actor known for supporting roles in films such as '' The Living Ghost'', '' I'll Tell the World'', '' Shanghai Express'', ''The Mask of Fu Manchu'' and '' Son of Frankenstein''. He was host of the 4th Academy Awards ceremonies in 1931. Selected filmography * '' The Eternal City'' (1915) - English Ambassador * '' To Hell with the Kaiser!'' (1918) - The Kaiser / Robert Graubel * ''Someone Must Pay'' (1919) - Walter Hargrave * '' Held In Trust'' (1920) - Dr. Babcock * '' The Chorus Girl's Romance'' (1920) - Jose Brasswine * ''Someone in the House'' (1920) - Walter Hargrave * '' Extravagance'' (1921) - Uncle Mark * '' The Great Impersonation'' (1921) - Emperor William of Germany * '' The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln'' (1924) - Actor at Ford's Theatre * ''Happiness'' (1924) - Mr. Rosselstein * '' His Hour'' (1924) - Stephen Strong * '' The Grand Duchess and the Waiter'' (1926) - The Grand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidney Toler
Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr., April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. The second non-Asian actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his portrayal of the Chinese-American detective in 22 films made between 1938 and 1946. Before becoming Chan, Toler played supporting roles in 50 motion pictures, and was a highly regarded comic actor on the Broadway stage. Early life and career Hooper G. Toler Jr., who was called Sidney Toler from childhood, was born April 28, 1874, in Warrensburg, Missouri. The Toler family moved to Anthony, Kansas in the 1880s, then to Wichita, Kansas. He showed an early interest in the theater, acting in an amateur production of '' Tom Sawyer'' at the age of seven. He left the University of Kansas and became a professional actor in 1892, playing the heavy in a performance of a melodrama called ''The Master Man'' in Kansas City. In 1894, he joined the Corse Payto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Pawley
William Douglas Pawley (September 7, 1896 — January 7, 1977) was a U.S. ambassador and noted businessman who was associated with the Flying Tigers American Volunteer Group (AVG) during World War II. Early life William Douglas Pawley was born in Florence, South Carolina on September 7, 1896. His father was a wealthy businessman based in Cuba, and young Pawley attended private schools in both Havana and Santiago de Cuba. He later returned to the United States, where he studied at the Gordon Military Academy in Georgia. Business career In 1927, Pawley began a connection with Curtiss-Wright that would make him an extremely wealthy man. In 1928, he returned to Cuba to become president of Nacional Cubana de Aviación Curtiss, which was sold to Pan American Airlines in 1932. He then became president of Intercontinent Corporation in New York, evidently founded by Clement Keys, the former president of Curtiss. In 1933 he moved to China, where he became president of China National Avi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hedda Hopper
Elda Furry (May 2, 1885February 1, 1966), known professionally as Hedda Hopper, was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, more than 35 million people read her columns. A strong supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings, Hopper named suspected Communist Party USA, Communists and was a major proponent of the Hollywood blacklist. Hopper continued to write her gossip column until her death in 1966. Her work appeared in many magazines and later on radio. She had an extended feud with Louella Parsons, an arch-rival and fellow gossip columnist. Early life Hopper was born Elda Furry in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Margaret (née Miller; 1856–1941) and David Furry, a butcher, both members of the German Baptist Brethren. Her family was of Pennsylvania Dutch (German) descent. The family moved to Altoona, Pennsylvania, Altoona when Elda was three. Career Acting She eventually ran away to New Yor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruth Selwyn
Ruth Selwyn (born Ruth Virginia Wilcox; November 6, 1905 – December 13, 1954) was an American theater producer and actress. Early life and education Ruth Wilcox was born in Tazewell, Virginia and raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, the daughter of James Columbus Wilcox and Martha McLeod WIlcox. Her father was an optometrist and jeweler. Her brother was film and television director Fred M. Wilcox. Her sister Pansy Wilcox married film studio executive Nicholas Schenck. Career Selwyn worked as an actress and theater producer. She produced several productions of Broadway comedies and musicals. In 1930, she produced ''The 9:15 Revue'', with formidable writing and performing rosters including Anita Loos, Ring Lardner, Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, and Leslie Howard. Despite this star power, the show closed after five performances. ''Bachelor Born'', which she produced in 1938 with Milton Shubert, ran for over a year with 400 pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speak Easily (1932)
''Speak Easily'' is a 1932 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code comedy film starring Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, and Thelma Todd, and directed by Edward Sedgwick. Keaton and Durante were again paired in ''The Passionate Plumber'' and ''What! No Beer?'' Keaton later used many of the physical gags he created for this film when he wrote (uncredited) gags for the Marx Brothers ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night At The Opera.''. Plot Professor Timoleon Zanders Post is a shy Classics professor at Potts College, who has lived a sheltered life and has little experience of life outside of academia. Feeling that the professor should see more of the real world, his assistant Jenkins tricks the professor into thinking that he has inherited $750,000, allowing the professor to leave academia at last. Boarding a train bound for New York City, Prof. Post encounters James, the manager of a dancing troupe that has an engagement in the backwater town of Fish's Switch. The professor become ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
