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Step Lively (1944 Film)
''Step Lively'' is a 1944 American musical film directed by Tim Whelan and starring Frank Sinatra. ''Step Lively'' was based on the 1937 play ''Room Service (play), Room Service'', by Allen Boretz and John Murray (playwright), John Murray. It was a remake of the 1938 RKO film Room Service (1938 film), ''Room Service'', starring the Marx Brothers, Lucille Ball, and Ann Miller. Plot Theatrical producer Gordon Miller is mounting a new play, but is chronically short of cash. Miller, his assistants, and his entire company have been living at a posh Broadway hotel on credit, thanks to the indulgence of the hotel manager, Joe Gribble, who is Miller's brother-in-law. Playwright Glenn Russell arrives from out of town, expecting royalty payments for his work, and Miller convinces him to invest in the play. Russell demonstrates a remarkable singing voice, and takes a leading role in the production. Meanwhile, Miller keeps juggling creditors and tries to keep his company fed and sheltered. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Whelan
Tim Whelan (November 2, 1893 – August 12, 1957) was an American film director, writer, producer and actor, best remembered for his writing credits on Harold Lloyd and Harry Langdon comedies, and for directing mostly British films, such as ''The Thief of Bagdad (1940 film), The Thief of Bagdad'' (1940). In Britain he worked with leading production companies including British International Pictures, Gainsborough Pictures and Alexander Korda's London Films. In the United States he was employed by MGM and RKO. He returned to America following the outbreak of the Second World War, but came back to Britain for a film in 1948, ''This Was a Woman''. He was married to the film actress Miriam Seegar in 1932. Whelan died at his home in Beverly Hills. Selected filmography * ''Safety Last!'' (1923) * ''Why Worry?'' (1923) * ''Girl Shy'' (1924) * ''Hot Water (1924 film), Hot Water'' (1924) * ''The Freshman (1925 film), The Freshman'' (1925) * ''Tramp, Tramp, Tramp'' (1926) * ''The Stron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, and Groucho Marx; earlier in their career, they were joined by younger brothers Gummo and Zeppo. They are considered by critics, scholars and fans to be among the greatest and most influential comedians of the 20th century, a recognition underscored by the American Film Institute (AFI) selecting five of their fourteen feature films to be among the top 100 comedy films (with two in the top fifteen) and including them as the only group of performers on AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. Their performing lives, heavily influenced by their mother, Minnie Marx, started with Groucho on stage at age 14, in 1905. He was joined, in succession, by Gummo and Harpo. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The Oscars are widely considered to be the most prestigious awards in the film industry. The major award categories, known as the Academy Awards of Merit, are presented during a live-televised Hollywood ceremony in February or March. It is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929. The second ceremony, in 1930, was the first one broadcast by radio. The 1953 ceremony was the first one televised. It is the oldest of the four major annual American entertainment awards. Its counterparts—the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music—are modeled after the Academy Aw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger (April 22, 1906 – May 26, 2005) was an American actor. He is known for his roles on stage and screen and received nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Albert made his acting debut with the film ''Brother Rat ''Brother Rat'' is a 1938 American comedy drama film about cadets at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, directed by William Keighley, and starring Ronald Reagan, Priscilla Lane, Eddie Albert (in his film debut), Jane Wyman, and W ...'' (1938). He went on to receive two Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations for his roles in ''Roman Holiday'' (1953), and ''The Heartbreak Kid (1972 film), The Heartbreak Kid'' (1972). His other notable films roles include in ''Oklahoma! (film), Oklahoma!'' (1955), ''The Teahouse of the August Moon (film), The Teahouse of the August Moon'' (1956), ''Captain Newman, M.D.'' (1963), ''The Longest Yard (1974 film), The Longest Yard'' (1974), and ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some of his reviews of popular films have been seen as unnecessarily harsh. Crowther was an advocate of foreign-language films in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly those of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini. Life and career Crowther was born Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. in Lutherville, Maryland, the son of Eliza Hay (née Leisenring, 1877–1960) and Francis Bosley Crowther (1874–1950). As a child, Crowther moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he published a neighborhood newspaper, ''The Evening Star''. His family moved to Washington, D.C., and Crowther graduated from Western High School in 1922. After two years of prep school at Woodberry Forest School, he entered Princeton University, wher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Cahn
Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He and his collaborators had a series of hit recordings with Frank Sinatra during the singer's tenure at Capitol Records, but also enjoyed hits with Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin, and won an Oscar four times for his songs, including the popular hit " Three Coins in the Fountain". Among his most enduring songs is " Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", cowritten with Jule Styne in 1945. Life and career Cahn was born Samuel Cohen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, the only son (he had four sisters) of Abraham and Elka Reiss Cohen, who were Jewish immigrants from Galicia, then ruled by Austria-Hungary. His sisters, Sady ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jule Styne
Jule Styne ( ; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer widely known for a series of Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became successful films: ''Gypsy (1962 film), Gypsy,'' ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,'' and ''Funny Girl (musical), Funny Girl.'' Early life Styne was born to a Jewish family in London, England. His parents, Anna Kertman and Isadore Stein, were emigrants from Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) and ran a small grocery. Even before his family left Britain, he did impressions on the stage of well-known singers, including Harry Lauder, who saw him perform and advised him to take up the piano. At the age of eight, he moved with his family to Chicago, where he began taking piano lessons. He proved to be a Child prodigy, prodigy and performed with the Chicago, St. Louis, Missou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glenn Vernon
Glen Vernon (born Glenn Vernon; October 27, 1923 – October 27, 1999) was an American actor. Early life Glenn Vernon hailed from Fall River, Massachusetts, and joined his father's song-and-dance vaudeville act at the age of six. The elder Vernon split up the act, studying accountancy while sending Glenn to New York to study acting. Glenn took various odd jobs while in New York: "One of them was hustling film back and forth between a downtown exchange and a newsreel theater on upper Broadway." His first stage job was as a member of the chorus in the George Abbott musical '' Best Foot Forward''. He used his given name of Glenn Vernon until 1950, when he adopted "Glen Vernon" as his professional name. Career By 1944 he was established as a Broadway juvenile, and he was recruited by Casey Robinson of RKO Radio Pictures to play a sensitive Russian soldier in the film '' Days of Glory''. Signed to a term contract, Vernon went on to play featured roles in dramas, comedies, and musicals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anne Jeffreys
Anne Jeffreys (born Annie Jeffreys Carmichael; January 26, 1923 – September 27, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She was the female lead in the 1950s TV series '' Topper''. Career Jeffreys was born Annie Jeffreys Carmichael on January 26, 1923, in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Jeffreys entered the entertainment field at a young age, having her initial training in voice (she was an accomplished soprano). She became a member of the New York Municipal Opera Company on a scholarship and sang the lead at Carnegie Hall in such presentations as ''La bohème'', '' Traviata'', and ''Pagliacci.'' However, she decided as a teenager to sign with the John Robert Powers agency as a junior model. Her plans for an operatic career were sidelined when she was cast in a staged musical revue, ''Fun for the Money''. Her appearance in that revue led to her being cast in her first movie role, in '' I Married an Angel'' (1942), starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. She was under con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grant Mitchell (actor)
John Grant Mitchell Jr. (June 17, 1874 – May 1, 1957) was an American actor. He appeared on Broadway from 1902 to 1939 and appeared in more than 125 films between 1930 and 1948. Early years Mitchell was born John Grant Mitchell Jr. on June 17, 1874, in Columbus, Ohio, the only son of American Civil War general John G. Mitchell. His paternal grandmother, Fanny Arabella Hayes, was the sister of President Rutherford B. Hayes. He attended Yale University, where he served as feature editor of campus humor magazine ''The Yale Record''. Like his father, he became an attorney, graduating from the Harvard Law School. However, by his mid-to-late 20s, he tired of his legal practice and turned a long term dream into a reality by becoming an actor on Broadway. He played lead roles in plays such as ''It Pays to Advertise'', ''The Whole Town's Talking'', ''The Champion'', and ''The Baby Cyclone''. Mitchell was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter). Stage Mit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Carney
Alan Carney (born David John Boughal; December 22, 1909 – May 2, 1973) was an American actor and comedian. Early life and career Born David John Boughal in Manhattan on December 22, 1909,"New York, New York City, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1947", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W71Y-QSPZ : Sat Mar 09 04:01:28 UTC 2024), Entry for David John Boughal and Actor."United States, Census, 1910", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5WP-8P3 : Thu Jan 16 13:01:02 UTC 2025), Entry for Edward P and Elizabeth Boughal, 1910. Carny was the youngest of four children born to Irish immigrants Ellen "Nellie"—née Kearney—and Edward Francis Boughal. At some point between 1920 and 1929, the family relocated to Brooklyn."United States, Census, 1920", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJY1-1B5 : Mon Jan 20 01:54:32 UTC 2025), Entry for Edward Boughil and Nellie Boughil, 1920. Upon finishing high school, B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
