HOME





The Smallest Show On Earth
''The Smallest Show on Earth'' (US: ''Big Time Operators'') is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford and Bernard Miles. The screenplay was written by William Rose and John Eldridge from an original story by William Rose. Plot Matt and Jean are a young couple with a longing, but not the means, to visit exotic places such as Samarkand. Matt inherits a cinema from a great uncle. When they arrive in the town where he lived, they mistakenly assume that it is the large and modern "Grand" cinema. They are disillusioned to learn from Robin, the solicitor dealing with the estate, that the cinema involved is the old decrepit "Bijou Kinema" (nicknamed "the Fleapit"), which is sandwiched between two railway bridges. Along with the cinema come three long-time employees: Mrs. Fazackalee, the cashier and bookkeeper; Mr. Quill, the projectionist; and Old Tom, the commissionaire, doorkeeper a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Basil Dearden
Basil Dearden (born Basil Clive Dear; 1 January 1911 – 23 March 1971) was an English film director. Early life Dearden was born as Basil Clive Dear at 5 Woodfield Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex to Charles James Dear, a steel manufacturer, and the former Florence Tripp. Career Deard graduated from theatre direction to film, working as an assistant to Basil Dean. He later changed his own name to Dearden to avoid confusion with his mentor. He wrote ''This Man Is News'' (1938), a hugely popular Quota Quickie, quota quickie and wrote and directed a film for TV ''Under Suspicion'' (1939). He was assistant director on ''Penny Paradise'' (1938), produced by Dean and directed by Carol Reed, and two George Formby comedies directed by Anthony Kimmins: ''George Takes the Air'' (1938), produced by Dean, and ''Come on George!'' (1939). Dearden was promoted to associate producer on two more George Formby films, which he also co-wrote: ''To Hell with Hitler'' (1940) aka ''Let George Do It'' an ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Commissionaire
In mainland Europe, a commissionaire is an attendant, messenger or subordinate employed in hotels, whose chief duty is to attend at railway stations, secure customers, take charge of their luggage, carry out the necessary formalities with respect to it and have it sent on to the hotel. They are also employed in Paris as street messengers, light porters, etc. In Commonwealth countries, a commissionaire may refer to an employee of a Corps of Commissionaires who carries out security or reception duties. Law and taxation In European civil law jurisdictions (e.g., France, Germany), a commissionaire is a person who acts in his or her own name for the account of a principal. The principal is contractually bound to deliver (through the commissionaire) the goods sold to the customer; the commissionaire is contractually bound to the principal to remit the price received to the principal. In addition, the commissionaire is contractually bound to the customer to deliver the goods sold on the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film critic on ''Entertainment Tonight'' from 1982 to 2012. He currently teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and hosts the weekly podcast ''Maltin on Movies''. He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and votes for films to be selected for the National Film Registry. He has written books on animation and the history of film. He has also hosted numerous specials and provided commentary for several films. In 2021, he released his memoir, ''Starstruck: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood''. He received the Robert Osborne Award from Turner Classic Movies in 2022. Early life and education Maltin was born in New York City, the son of singer Jacqueline (née Gould; 1923–2012) and Aaron Isaac Maltin (1915–2002 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

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]  


picture info

AllMovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine, who also founded AllMusic and AllGame. The AllMovie database was licensed to tens of thousands of distributors and retailers for point-of-sale systems, websites and kiosks. The AllMovie database is comprehensive, including basic product information, cast and production credits, plot synopsis, professional reviews, biographies, relational links and more. AllMovie data is accessed on the web at the AllMovie website. It was also available via the AMG LASSO media recognition service, which can automatically recognize DVDs. In late 2007, TiVo Corporation acquired AMG for a reported $72 million. The AMG consumer facing web properties AllMusic, AllMovie and AllGame were sold by Rov ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Alma Taylor
Alma Louise Taylor (3 January 1895 – 23 January 1974) was a British actress. Life Taylor was born in London. She made her first screen appearance as a child actor in the 1907 film ''His Daughter's Voice''. She went on to appear in more than 150 film roles, appearing in a number of larger-budget films such as ''Shadow of Egypt'' which was shot on location in Egypt in 1924. Taylor was one of the major British stars of the 1910s and early 1920s. In 1915 she was voted the most popular British performer by readers of ''Pictures and the Picturegoers'', comfortably beating Charlie Chaplin into second place. She acted only occasionally after 1932, appearing in films such as ''Lilacs in the Spring'', ''Blue Murder at St Trinian's'', and ''A Night to Remember (1958 film), A Night to Remember'' during the 1950s. On television, she appeared twice in Armchair Theatre, in 1957: she played Mrs. Castor and Greta Stenbourg. She died in London at the age of 79.The Shadow of Egypt''. B ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Comin' Thro The Rye (film)
''Comin' Thro the Rye'' is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor and Ralph Forbes. The film was based on the 1875 novel of the same name by Helen Mathers. The title alludes to the Robert Burns 1782 poem " Comin' Thro' the Rye". A clip of it is seen in the comedy ''The Smallest Show on Earth'' (1957), in which the elderly staff of the old fleapit cinema tearfully watch silent films on their evenings off. Plot The story of a young girl who is prevented from marrying the man she loves by the machinations of a designing woman. The plot centres on the heroine, Helen Adair, who is courted by George Tempest but who meets and falls in love with Paul Vasher. Vasher's former love Sylvia Fleming who has betrayed him, is jealous of his affections for Helen and manages by intercepting mail between the lovers to plot to win him back. While Vasher is abroad she places a false announcement of the marriage of Helen and George in the ''Times'' a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Longton, Stoke-on-Trent
Longton is one of the six towns which amalgamated to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910, along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Burslem and Stoke-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, England. History Longton ('long village') was a market town in the parish of Stoke in the county of Staffordshire. The town still has a market housed in an attractively renovated market hall. Longton is an ancient village with hundreds of years of history. It was a long, straggling township (hence its name) for centuries until its population doubled in the space of a decade, the 1960s. Coal miners in the Hanley and Longton area ignited the 1842 general strike and associated Pottery Riots. The summer of 1842 was a time of riot across the north and midlands of England, including north Staffordshire. The riot impacts employees strike in pottery factories, which were dependent on coal to fire their wares, and many pottery workers had their hours of work reduced, leading to great hardship. O ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Hammersmith Apollo
The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Hammersmith, London, it is an art deco Grade II* listed building. History Designed by Robert Cromie, who also renovated the Prince of Wales Theatre, in the Art Deco style, it opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace, with a seating capacity of nearly 3,500 people, being renamed the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962. It has had a string of names and owners, most recently AEG Live and Eventim UK. It became a Grade II listed building in 1990. The venue was later refurbished and renamed Labatt's Apollo following a sponsorship deal with Labatt Brewing Company (1993 or 1994). In 2002, the venue was again renamed, this time to Carling Apollo after Carling brewery struck a deal with the owners, US-based Clear Channel Entertainment, no ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused with the Californian recording studio of Sound City Studios, the same name). History 1930s–1960s Shepperton Studios was built on the grounds of Littleton Park, which was built in the 17th century by local nobleman Thomas Wood. The old mansion still stands on the site. Scottish businessman Norman Loudon purchased Littleton Park in 1931 for use by his new film company, Sound Film Producing & Recording Studios; the facility opened in 1932. The studios, which produced both short and feature films, expanded rapidly. Proximity to the Vickers-Armstrongs aircraft factory at Brooklands, which attracted German bombers, disrupted filming during the Second World War, as did the requisitioning of the studios in 1941 by the government ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kilburn Tube Station
Kilburn is a London Underground station in Kilburn, London, Kilburn, north-west London. It is on the Jubilee line between Willesden Green tube station, Willesden Green and West Hampstead tube station, West Hampstead stations, and is located in Travelcard Zone 2. The station is on the A5 Kilburn High Road or Shoot-up Hill, approximately north of Brondesbury station. Metropolitan line trains typically bypass the station without stopping. The station was first opened on the Metropolitan line in 1879 as part of an extension to Willesden Green. The two-track line through the station was quadrupled in the 1910s. After merging to form the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, Metropolitan line services through the station were transferred to the Stanmore tube station, Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line, and the station was extensively rebuilt. This branch was then transferred again to the Jubilee line in 1979. The 1930s station building remains, and was refurbished in 2005. The ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Stringer Davis
James Buckley Stringer Davis, generally known as Stringer Davis (4 June 1899 – 29 August 1973), was an English character actor on the stage and in films, and a British army officer who served in both world wars. He was married to actress Margaret Rutherford. Early life Stringer Davis was born on 4 June 1899 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, son of Bank of England clerk George William Davis (1871–1948) and Ethel, daughter of J. Buckley Deakin, of Prince's Park, Liverpool (1873-1942). The Davis family were landed gentry, of Well Close, Brockworth, Gloucestershire; his first cousin was Admiral Sir William Davis, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff from 1954 to 1957. The name "Stringer" came from a paternal great-grandfather, Miles Stringer, of Effingham Hill, Surrey, whose daughter Adelaide married William Davis, of Well Close. Davis attended the independent Uppingham School and received military basic training there. In August 1918, he volunteered for military service and was sent ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]