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Three Little Words (film)
''Three Little Words'' is a 1950 American musical film biography of the Tin Pan Alley songwriting partnership of Kalmar and Ruby. It stars Fred Astaire as lyricist Bert Kalmar and Red Skelton as composer Harry Ruby, along with Vera-Ellen and Arlene Dahl as their wives, with Debbie Reynolds in a small but notable role as singer Helen Kane and Gloria DeHaven as her own mother, Mrs. Carter DeHaven. The film, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was written by Academy-Award-winning screenwriter George Wells, directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Jack Cummings. Harry Ruby served as a consultant on the project and appears in a cameo role as a baseball catcher. The third in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway composers, it was preceded by '' Till the Clouds Roll By'' (Jerome Kern, 1946) and '' Words and Music'' ( Rodgers and Hart, 1948) and followed by '' Deep in My Heart'' (Sigmund Romberg, 1954). Plot Cast * Fred Astaire as Bert Kalmar * Red Skelton as Harry Ruby * V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Thorpe
Richard Thorpe (born Rollo Smolt Thorpe; February 24, 1896 – May 1, 1991) was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His obituary called him "a capable and versatile director willing to take on any assignment the studio handed him." He said "I just take them on as they come." Thorpe also said "I'm happy to do any kind of picture. If there's a good script I think any director can make a good picture. Actually if it says in the script what you do, I don't see why anybody can't make it." One associate said "“He was a company man, a very pleasant, good-looking, nice, well-behaved guy who took pride in being efficient like some businessman would take pride in the way he ran his bank.” His two favorite films were ''Night Must Fall (1937 film), Night Must Fall'' (1937) and ''Two Girls and a Sailor'' (1944). "They were new and different experiences," said Thorpe. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Thorpe has a star on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debbie Reynolds
Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer and entrepreneur. Her acting career spanned almost 70 years. Reynolds performed on stage and television and in films into her 80s. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer with her portrayal of Helen Kane in the 1950 film ''Three Little Words (film), Three Little Words''. Her breakout role was her first leading role, as Kathy Selden in ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952). Her other successes include ''The Affairs of Dobie Gillis'' (1953), ''Susan Slept Here'' (1954), ''Bundle of Joy'' (1956 Golden Globe nomination), ''The Catered Affair'' (1956 National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress Winner), and ''Tammy and the Bachelor'' (1957), in which her performance of the song "Tammy (song), Tammy" topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' music charts. In 1959, she starred in ''The Mating Game (film), The Mating Game'' with Tony Randall, and released ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keenan Wynn
Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn (July 27, 1916 – October 14, 1986) was an American character actor. His expressive face was his wikt:stock-in-trade, stock-in-trade; though he rarely carried the leading actor, lead role, he had prominent billing in most of his film and television roles. Early life Wynn was born on July 27, 1916, in New York City, the son of vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn and his wife, the former Hilda Keenan. He took his stage name from his maternal grandfather, Frank Keenan, one of the first Broadway theatre, Broadway actors to star in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. His father was Jewish American, Jewish and his mother was of Irish Catholics, Irish Catholic background. Ed Wynn encouraged his son to become an actor, and to join The Lambs, The Lambs Club, which he did in 1937. Career Theatre and radio Wynn began his career as a stage actor. He appeared in several plays on Broadway, including ''Remember the Day'' (1935), ''Black Widow' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eileen Percy
Eileen Percy (21 August 1902 – 29 July 1973) was an Irish-born American actress of the silent era. She appeared in more than 60 films between 1917 and 1933. Biography Born in Belfast in August 1902, Percy lived in Brooklyn, New York, briefly in 1903 before returning to Belfast. She came back to Brooklyn at age nine, attending a convent school there. After graduating from the convent, she became a model for artists, including Charles Dana Gibson. Some of the pictures for which she posed were used for magazine covers. After her film career ended, Percy became a staff correspondent for the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''. In 1919, Percy married Ulrich Busch. They divorced in 1930. Her second husband from 1936 was songwriter Harry Ruby. She died in Los Angeles, California, in 1973. Her remains are buried at Chapel of the Pines Crematory. She was portrayed by Arlene Dahl in '' Three Little Words'' (1950). Partial filmography * '' Down to Earth'' (1917) * '' The Man from Pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anita Ellis (singer)
Anita Ellis (née Kert, later Shapiro; April 12, 1920 – October 28, 2015) was a Canadian-born American singer and actress. She famously dubbed Rita Hayworth's songs in '' Gilda''. Early years Anita Kert was born in Montreal, Quebec, the eldest of four children born to Orthodox Jewish parents, Harry and Lillian "Libbie" Kert (née Pearson; originally Peretz). She had a younger sister and two younger brothers, one of whom, Larry Kert (1930–1991), became an actor and singer best known for originating the role of Tony in the Broadway musical ''West Side Story''. The family moved to Hollywood when she was nine years old. She graduated from Hollywood High School in 1938, and attended the College of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ellis became a naturalized United States citizen in 1950. Voice dubbing Ellis dubbed the singing voices of such actresses as Rita Hayworth (notably in '' Gilda'', 1946), Vera-Ellen and Jeanne Crain. Twenty-eight years after ''Gilda'' was released, entertain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his Musical theatre, musicals and operettas, particularly ''The Student Prince'' (1924), ''The Desert Song'' (1926) and ''The New Moon'' (1928). Early in his career, Romberg was employed by the Shubert brothers to write music for their musicals and revues, including several vehicles for Al Jolson. For the Shuberts, he also adapted several European operettas for American audiences, including the successful ''Maytime (musical), Maytime'' (1917) and ''Das Dreimäderlhaus, Blossom Time'' (1921). His three hit operettas of the mid-1920s, named above, are in the style of Viennese operetta, but his other works from that time mostly employ the style of American musicals of their eras. He also composed film scores. Biography Early life Romberg was born in Hungary as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deep In My Heart (1954 Film)
''Deep in My Heart'' is a 1954 American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM biographical film, biographical musical film about the life of operetta composer Sigmund Romberg, who wrote the music for ''The Student Prince'', ''The Desert Song'', and ''The New Moon'', among others. Leonard Spigelgass adapted the film from Elliott Arnold's 1949 biography of the same name. Roger Edens produced, Stanley Donen directed and Eugene Loring choreographed. José Ferrer played Romberg, with support from soprano Helen Traubel as a fictional character and Merle Oberon as actress, playwright, librettist, producer, and director Dorothy Donnelly. The film, which takes its title from "Deep in My Heart, Dear," a song from ''The Student Prince'', primarily consists of a series of cameo turns by nearly every significant singer or dancer on the MGM lot at the time. These include dancer Cyd Charisse (dubbed by Carol Richards), Rosemary Clooney (Ferrer's wife), Vic Damone, Howard Keel, Gene Kelly and his brother F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rodgers And Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and the lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943). They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart's death in 1943.Rodgers and Hart Biography Guide to Musical Theatre, accessed April 5, 2009 Many of their songs are classics of the American songbook. History Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart were introduced in 1919 while Rodgers was in high school and Hart had already graduated from |
Words And Music (1948 Film)
''Words and Music'' is a 1948 American biographical musical film loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film stars Mickey Rooney as Hart and Tom Drake as Rodgers, along with Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, Ann Sothern, and numerous musical stars. The film is best remembered as the final screen pairing of Rooney and Judy Garland, and for the lavish showcasing of the Rodgers and Hart catalogue of songs. As in many similar biopics of the era (such as Cole Porter's depiction in '' Night and Day''), the story was heavily fictionalized. The script sanitized Hart's complex psychological problems, alcoholism, and self-destructive behavior, which all contributed to the break-up of the writing partnership and Hart's early death, as well as changed his sexual orientation. (Hart was gay.) The introduction to the film is staged as if composer Richard Rodgers was actually playing himself. Actor Tom Drake appears alone in character, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance (song), A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Song Is You", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Long Ago (and Far Away)". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg. A native New Yorker, Kern created dozens of Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and musical films, Hollywood films in a career that lasted for more than four decades. His musical innovations, such as 4/4 dance rhythms and the employment of syncopati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Till The Clouds Roll By
''Till the Clouds Roll By'' is a 1946 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a fictionalized biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker (actor, born 1918), Robert Walker. Kern was involved with the production, but died before its completion. It was the first in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway composers. The film is one of the MGM musicals that entered the public domain when MGM failed to renew its copyright. Plot Kern attends the opening night of ''Show Boat'' in 1927, the landmark musical that secured his popularity. Following several of the show's most notable songs, Kern departs to reminisce about his early days as a young songwriter. Kern recounts meeting Jim Hessler, a musical mentor, and Hessler's young daughter Sally. Kern and the Hesslers grow close, and he later visits them in London. Taking Sally to the fair inspires Kern to conceive a stage production for one of his songs. At the Gaiety Theatre, London, London Gai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biopic
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and historical drama films in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a single person's life story or at least the most historically important years of their lives. Context Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of the College of Staten Island and Dennis P. Bingham of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. Custen, in ''Bio/Pics: How Hollywood Constructed Public History'' (1992), regards the genre as having died with the Hollywood studio era, and in particular, Darryl F. Zanuck. On the other hand, Bingham's 2010 study ''Whose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre'' shows how it perpetuates as a codified genre using many of the same tropes used in the studio era that has followed a similar trajectory as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
