1.
Carl Betz
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Carl Lawrence Betz was an American stage, film and television actor. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Betz participated in childhood theatricals and he graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School in 1939 and then served in the military. Following military service, he graduated from Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, between 1967 and 1969, he played defense attorney Clinton Judd in ABCs Judd for the Defense, and won an Emmy Award in 1969 for his work. After graduating from Mount Lebanon High School, in 1939, he won a scholarship to Duquesne University, during the summer, Betz performed in a Pittsburgh summer stock company and decided to transfer to Carnegie Mellon University, then known as Carnegie Tech, in Pittsburgh to study drama. His education was interrupted when, in 1942, he was drafted into the United States Army and he served in Italy and North Africa during World War II and eventually became a technical sergeant with the Corps of Engineers. After the war, Betz returned to Carnegie Tech and earned a degree in drama, after graduation, Betz worked as a radio announcer and disk jockey before moving to New York City. He continued working in summer and winter stock companies and also worked as a doorman at Radio City Music Hall, Betz made his Broadway debut in 1952 in The Long Watch, and toured with Veronica Lake in the summer stock play, The Voice of the Turtle. He then appeared for 18 months as Collie Jordan on Love of Life, prior to his eight-year run on The Donna Reed Show, Betz made guest appearances on such television series as Sheriff of Cochise, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Millionaire and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1958, Betz was cast as pediatrician Dr. Alex Stone in ABC sitcom The Donna Reed Show, the show revolves around the home and school problems of a middle-class American family in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Alex was often called upon to rescue wife Donna Stone from awkward situations and to monitor the behavior of their children, Mary, Jeff Stone introduced the sentimental hit song My Dad in a 1962 episode, specifically singing the tune to Betz. The series was a hit for ABC and aired for eight seasons from September 1958 to March 1966, during the run of the series, Betz continued acting in stage roles during the shows hiatus. In 1964, he appeared as Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon in a stage run of The Night of the Iguana. After Donna Reeds cancellation, Betz returned to roles and stage work. In 1967, producer Paul Monash offered Betz the role of defense lawyer Clinton Judd in the drama, Judd. Monash had seen Betzs performance in Night of the Iguana in 1964 and was impressed with his acting, Betz initially thought the role was for a guest spot but soon realized Monash had proposed that he star in a new series. Betz initially had misgivings, stating I did not want to do another series, you get bored, the series, which premiered on ABC in September 1967, was praised by critics but struggled in the ratings. Shortly after ABC canceled the series in 1969, Betz won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series for his work on the series. He also made many guest appearances on a variety of television shows such as Mission, Impossible, The Mod Squad, Love, American Style
2.
My Three Angels
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My Three Angels is a comedy play by Samuel and Bella Spewack. The play is based on the French play La Cuisine Des Anges by Albert Husson, the production opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on March 11,1953, and closed on January 2,1954 after 344 performances. The play was directed by Jose Ferrer, with Scenic Design by Boris Aronson, the play is set in French Guiana around the turn of the 20th century, showing the interaction between three prisoners and a family of French colonists. Parole Darren McGavin as Alfred The 1955 movie Were No Angels was based upon My Three Angels. The original play is similar to the film, but the main difference is that in the play the three prisoners are not escapees, they are working on Wardens house with repairs. The play was adapted for Australian TV in 1962, the 1989 movie Were No Angels, starring Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, and Demi Moore uses elements of the core story as well. So does the 1993 movie Ore-tachi wa tenshi janai 俺達は天使じゃない by Takashi Miike, starring Ren Ōsugi, Junji Inagawa and my Three Angels at the Internet Broadway Database Coronado Playhouse production
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Hannah, North Dakota
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Hannah is a city in Cavalier County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 15 at the 2010 census, Hannah is located at 48°58′23″N 98°41′26″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 0.19 square miles. As of the census of 2010, there were 15 people,7 households, the population density was 78.9 inhabitants per square mile. There were 14 housing units at a density of 73.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 100. 0% White,71. 4% of all households were made up of individuals and 42. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the family size was 5.00. The median age in the city was 29.5 years. 33. 3% of residents were under the age of 18,13. 4% were between the ages of 18 and 24,6. 7% were from 25 to 44,26. 6% were from 45 to 64, and 20% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 53. 3% male and 46. 7% female, the per capita income for the city was $17,562. There were no families and 19. 2% of the population living below the poverty line, as of the census of 2000, there were 20 people,13 households, and 5 families residing in the city. The population density was 103.5 people per square mile, there were 24 housing units at an average density of 124.2 per square mile. There were 13 households out of one had children under the age of 18 living with them, five are married couples living together. Eight households are made up of individuals and five have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 1.54 and the average family size was 2.40. In the city, the population was out with one person under the age of 18, four from 25 to 44, six from 45 to 64. The median age was 64 years, there are nine females and eleven males. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Hannah has a continental climate
5.
Vancouver
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Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, the Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada with over 5,400 people per square kilometre. With over 250,000 residents, Vancouver municipality is the fourth most densely populated city in North America behind New York City, San Francisco, and Mexico City according to the 2011 census. In that census, Vancouver was one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada, Vancouver is classed as a Beta global city. In 2014, following thirty years in California, the annual TED conference made Vancouver its indefinite home, several matches of the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup were played in Vancouver, including the final at BC Place Stadium. From that first enterprise, other stores and some hotels quickly appeared along the waterfront to the west, Gastown became formally laid out as a registered townsite dubbed Granville, B. I. As of 2014, Port Metro Vancouver is the third largest port by tonnage in the Americas, 27th in the world, the busiest and largest in Canada, and the most diversified port in North America. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, archaeological records indicate the presence of Aboriginal people in the Vancouver area from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The city is located in the territories of the Squamish, Musqueam. They had villages in various parts of present-day Vancouver, such as Stanley Park, False Creek, Kitsilano, Point Grey, the city takes its name from George Vancouver, who explored the inner harbour of Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave various places British names. The explorer and North West Company trader Simon Fraser and his became the first known Europeans to set foot on the site of the present-day city. In 1808, they travelled from the east down the Fraser River, perhaps as far as Point Grey. The Fraser Gold Rush of 1858 brought over 25,000 men, mainly from California, to nearby New Westminster on the Fraser River, on their way to the Fraser Canyon, a sawmill established at Moodyville in 1863, began the citys long relationship with logging. It was quickly followed by mills owned by Captain Edward Stamp on the shore of the inlet. This mill, known as the Hastings Mill, became the nucleus around which Vancouver formed, the mills central role in the city waned after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s. It nevertheless remained important to the economy until it closed in the 1920s. The settlement which came to be called Gastown grew up quickly around the original makeshift tavern established by Gassy Jack Deighton in 1867 on the edge of the Hastings Mill property
6.
Moroni Olsen
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Moroni Olsen was an American actor. Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah, to Mormon parents Edward Arenholt Olsen and Martha Hoverholst, some sources have claimed that Olsens birth name was John Willard Clawson, but there appears to be no support for this claim. Olsen studied at Weber Stake Academy, the predecessor of Weber State University and he then went to study at the University of Utah, where one of his teachers was Maud May Babcock. During World War I, he sold war bonds for the United States Navy, in 1923, Olsen organized the Moroni Olsen Players out of Ogden. They performed at both Ogdens Orpheum Theatre and at other locations spread from Salt Lake City to Seattle. After having worked on Broadway, he made his debut in a 1935 adaptation of The Three Musketeers. His most famous role was the voice of the Slave in The Magic Mirror in Walt Disneys Snow White, Olsen also provided the voice of the senior angel in Its a Wonderful Life. Olsen died on November 22,1954, mary of Scotland as John Knox Moroni Olsen at the Internet Movie Database Moroni Olsen at the Internet Broadway Database Moroni Olsen at Find a Grave
7.
Gunsmoke
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Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, the central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. When aired in the UK, the series was initially titled Gun Law. The radio series ran from 1952 to 1961, John Dunning wrote that among radio drama enthusiasts, Gunsmoke is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time. The television series ran for 20 seasons from 1955 to 1975, at the end of its run in 1975, Los Angeles Times columnist Cecil Smith wrote, Gunsmoke was the dramatization of the American epic legend of the west. Our own Iliad and Odyssey, created from elements of the dime novel and the pulp western as romanticized by Buntline, Harte. It was ever the stuff of legend, robinson instructed his West Coast CBS Vice President, Harry Ackerman, who had developed the Philip Marlowe series, to take on the task. Ackerman and his scriptwriters, Mort Fine and David Friedkin, created a script called Mark Dillon Goes to Gouge Eye based on one of their Michael Shayne radio scripts. Two auditions were created in 1949, CBS liked the Culver version better, and Ackerman was told to proceed. A complication arose, though, Culvers contract as the star of Straight Arrow would not allow him to do another Western series, the project was shelved for three years, when producer Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston discovered it while creating an adult Western series of their own. Macdonnell and Meston wanted to create a radio Western for adults, in contrast to the prevailing juvenile fare such as The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas, during the thriving cattle days of the 1870s. Dunning notes, The show drew critical acclaim for unprecedented realism, the radio series first aired on CBS on April 26,1952 with the episode Billy the Kid, written by Walter Newman, and ended on June 18,1961. The show stars William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon, Howard McNear as Doc Charles Adams, Georgia Ellis as Kitty Russell, Dillon was played on radio by William Conrad and on TV by James Arness. Conrad was one of the last actors to audition for the role of Marshal Dillon, with a resonantly powerful and distinctive voice, Conrad was already one of radios busiest actors. Though Meston championed him, Macdonnell thought Conrad might be overexposed, during his audition, however, Conrad won over Macdonnell after reading only a few lines. Dillon as portrayed by Conrad was a lonely, isolated man, Macdonnell later claimed, Much of Matt Dillons character grew out of Bill Conrad. Meston relished the upending of cherished Western fiction clichés and felt that few Westerns gave any inkling of how brutal the Old West was in reality. Many episodes were based on mans cruelty to man and woman, inasmuch as the womans life
8.
James Arness
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James Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon for 20 years in the television series Gunsmoke. In Europe, Arness reached cult status for his role as Zeb Macahan in the western series How the West Was Won and he was the older brother of actor Peter Graves. James Arness was born James King Aurness in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 26,1923 and his parents were Rolf Cirkler Aurness and Ruth Duesler. His father’s ancestry was Norwegian, his mothers was German, the family name had been Aursnes, but when Rolfs father, Peter Aursnes, emigrated from Norway in 1887, he changed it to Aurness. Arness and his family were Methodists, Arness younger brother was actor Peter Graves. Peter used the stage name Graves, a family name. Arness attended John Burroughs Grade School, Washburn High School, during this time, Arness worked as a courier for a jewelry wholesaler, loading and unloading railway boxcars at the Burlington freight yards in Minneapolis, and logging in Pierce, Idaho. Despite being a student and skipping many classes, he graduated from high school in June 1942. Arness wanted to be a fighter pilot, but he felt his poor eyesight would bar him. His height of 6 feet 7 inches ended his hopes, since 6 feet 2 inches was the limit for aviators, instead, he was called up for the Army and reported to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, in March 1943. Arness served as a rifleman with the U. S. 3rd Infantry Division, because of his height, he was the first ordered off his landing craft to determine the depth of the water, it came up to his waist. Arness was sent to the U. S Army 91st General Hospital at Clinton, Iowa and he had undergone surgery several times and was honorably discharged on January 29,1945. His wounds continued to him, and in later years, he suffered from chronic leg pain. After his discharge, Arness entered Beloit College in Wisconsin and he began his entertainment career as a radio announcer at Minneapolis station WLOL in 1945. Arness came to Hollywood by hitchhiking and soon began acting and appearing in films and he began with RKO, who immediately changed his name from Aurness. His film debut was as Loretta Youngs brother, Peter Holstrom and he was credited in The Farmers Daughter as Arness. Though identified with Westerns, Arness also appeared in two science fiction films, The Thing from Another World and Them. He was a friend of John Wayne and co-starred with him in Big Jim McLain, Hondo, Island in the Sky, and The Sea Chase
9.
The Adventures of Kit Carson
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The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western television series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the role as frontier scout Christopher Kit Carson. Don Diamond co-starred as El Toro, Carsons Mexican companion, the Adventures of Kit Carson was intended for children, and presents a fictionalized version of Carson and his life. In the series, Kit Carson roamed the West with his companion El Toro, Kit rode a horse named Apache. Bill Williams as Kit Carson Don Diamond as El Toro John L. Kit Carson was produced by Revue Productions, the company did not renew the copyright on the programs episodes, so that they moved into the public domain. The Adventures of Kit Carson at the Internet Movie Database The Adventures of Kit Carson at TV. com Public domain episode on Internet Archive
10.
Bill Williams (actor)
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William Herman Katt, known as Bill Williams, was an American television and film actor. He is best known for his role in the early television series The Adventures of Kit Carson. Williams was born in Brooklyn, New York to German immigrant parents and he attended the Pratt Institute, and became a professional swimmer, performing in underwater shows. He landed a role as a theater usher in King Kong. He enlisted in the United States Army during World War II and his credited debut was in The Blue Room in 1944, using the professional name Bill Williams. His first starring role was opposite Susan Hayward in Deadline at Dawn, Williams appeared in ten films before he landed the lead role in televisions The Adventures of Kit Carson, which ran for 105 episodes. When the series ended, Williams star power faded and it was revived in 1957 when he co-starred with Betty White on television in Date with the Angels. Williams portrayed Federal agent Martin Flaherty in The Scarface Mob, the pilot for ABCs The Untouchables, however, when the series was accepted, the role went to Jerry Paris. Williams turned down the lead in Sea Hunt in 1958, believing that a show would not work on television. Lloyd Bridges accepted the part and turned it into a hit, Williams did star as a former Navy frogman in Assignment, Underwater, which ran for just one season. He played a variety of roles on Perry Mason, in which his wife Barbara Hale co-starred as Raymond Burrs secretary Della Street, in a 1962 episode, The Case of the Crippled Cougar, he played defendant Mike Preston. In 1963, he was murder victim Floyd Grant in The Case of the Bluffing Blast, in 1965 Williams played murderer Charles Shaw in The Case of the Murderous Mermaid, and was murderer Burt Payne in The Case of the 12th Wildcat. Williams appeared with his son in a season episode of Ironside. He also made numerous guest appearances on television and worked in low-budget science fiction films until his retirement, Williams married actress Barbara Hale June 22,1946. They met during the filming of West of the Pecos and had two daughters, Jodi and Juanita, and a son, actor William Katt, Bill Williams died of a brain tumor at age 77 in 1992. For his contributions to television, Bill Williams has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and it is at 6161 Hollywood Blvd
11.
Dragnet (franchise)
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Dragnet was an American radio, television and motion picture series, enacting the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from the police dragnet, meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects. Dragnet is perhaps the most famous and influential police procedural drama in media history, the series gave audience members a feel for the danger and heroism of police work. Dragnet earned praise for improving the public opinion of police officers, Actor and producer Jack Webbs aims in Dragnet were for realism and unpretentious acting, he achieved both goals, and Dragnet remains a key influence on subsequent police dramas in many media. Another Dragnet trademark is the opening narration, Ladies and gentlemen. Only the names have changed to protect the innocent. This underwent minor revisions over time, the only and ladies and gentlemen were dropped at some point, and for the television version hear was changed to see. Variations on this narration have been featured in subsequent crime dramas, Webb relaunched Dragnet in 1966, with NBC once again chosen to air the series. He tried to persuade Ben Alexander to rejoin him as Frank Smith, Alexander was then committed to an ABC police series, Felony Squad, and the producers would not release him. Webb reluctantly came up with a new character to take the role of Joe Fridays partner, Morgan had previously portrayed rooming house proprietor Luther Gage in the 1949 radio series episode James Vickers. George Fenneman returned as the primary announcer with John Stephenson replacing Hal Gibney in the role of announcing the trial dates. Fenneman replaced Stephenson in that role during the fourth season, unlike the previous Dragnet series, the revival was produced and aired in color. Webb produced a TV movie pilot for the new version of the show for Universal Television, NBC bought the show on the strength of the movie and it debuted as a midseason replacement for the sitcom The Hero on Thursday nights in January 1967. To distinguish it from the original, the year was included in the title of the show, although Friday had been promoted to lieutenant in the final episode of the 1950s production, Webb chose to have Friday revert to sergeant with his familiar badge,714. Cooke was technical advisor to the KNBC documentary Police Unit 2A-26, the show had good ratings on NBCs schedule for four seasons, although its popularity did not exceed that of the 1950s version. Much as was done 11 years earlier, Webb decided voluntarily to discontinue Dragnet after its season to focus on producing and directing his other projects through Mark VII Limited. The first of these projects was a spinoff of Dragnet titled Adam-12, a 30-minute police procedural like its parent series, the series premiered in the fall of 1968 and ran for seven seasons, coming to an end in 1975. Adam-12, in turn, spawned its own spinoff in early 1972 called Emergency, running as a weekly series until 1977 and as a series of made-for-television movies for two years after that, Emergency
12.
Jack Webb
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John Randolph Jack Webb, also known by the pen name John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sgt. Joe Friday in the Dragnet franchise and he was also the founder of his own production company, Mark VII Limited. Webb was born in Santa Monica, California on Good Friday 1920, son of Samuel Chester Webb and he grew up in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles. His father left home before Webb was born, and Webb never knew him and he was raised a Roman Catholic by his Irish and Native American mother. One of the tenants in his mothers boarding house was an ex-jazzman and began Webbs lifelong interest in jazz by giving him a recording of Bix Beiderbeckes At the Jazz Band Ball. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Webb lived in the parish of Our Lady of Loretto Church and attended Our Lady of Loretto Elementary School in Echo Park, where he served as an altar boy. He then attended Belmont High School, near downtown Los Angeles and later, St. Johns University, Minnesota, in Belmont High, Webb was a student body president. He wrote to the student body in the 1938 edition of its yearbook, Campanile, You who showed me the magnificent warmth of friendship which I know, during World War II, Webb enlisted in the United States Army Air Force, but he washed out of flight training. He later received a discharge, since he was the primary financial support for both his mother and grandmother. Following his discharge, he moved to San Francisco, where a shortage of announcers led to a temporary appointment to his own radio show on ABCs KGO Radio. The Jack Webb Show was a comedy that had a limited run on ABC radio in 1946. Prior to that, he had a program, One Out of Seven. By 1949, he had abandoned comedy for drama, and starred in Pat Novak for Hire, a radio show originating from KFRC about a man who worked as an unlicensed private detective. Pat Novak was notable for writing that imitated the style of such writers as Raymond Chandler, with lines such as. Her voice was hot and sticky--like a furnace full of marshmallows, Webbs radio shows included Johnny Madero, Pier 23, Jeff Regan, Investigator, Murder and Mr. Malone, Pete Kellys Blues, and One Out of Seven. Webb provided all of the voices on One Out of Seven, often vigorously attacking racial prejudice, Webbs most famous motion-picture role was as the combat-hardened Marine Corps drill instructor at Parris Island in the 1957 film The D. I. with Don Dubbins as a callow Marine private. Webbs hard-nosed approach to this role, that of Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant James Moore, but The D. I. was a box-office failure. Webb had a role as a crime lab technician in the 1948 film He Walked by Night
13.
Perry Mason
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Perry Mason is a fictional character, a criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason is featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, typically, Mason establishes his clients innocence by implicating another character, who then confesses. The character of Perry Mason was adapted for motion pictures and a radio series. These were followed by its adaptation, the CBS television series Perry Mason starring Raymond Burr. The Perry Mason series ranks third in the top ten best selling book series, in 2015 the American Bar Associations publishing imprint, Ankerwycke, began reissuing Gardners Perry Mason books, which had been out of print in the United States. The name Perry Mason dates to creator Gardners childhood, as a child, Gardner was a reader of the magazine Youths Companion. The magazine was published in Boston, Massachusetts, by the Perry Mason Company, when Gardner created his fictional attorney, he borrowed the name of the company which published his favorite childhood magazine. Gardner provided more information about Masons character in the novels, knowledge of his character is largely taken for granted in the later works. In the first novel, Mason describes himself, Youll find that Im a lawyer who has specialized in trial work, and in a lot of criminal work. Im a specialist on getting people out of trouble. They come to me when theyre in all sorts of trouble, If you look me up through some chap in the District Attorneys office, hell tell you that Im a dangerous antagonist but he doesnt know very much about me. Gardner depicts Mason as a lawyer who fights hard on behalf of his clients and he frequently accepts clients on a whim based on his curiosity about their problem, for a minimal retainer, and finances the investigation of their cases himself if necessary. In The Case of the Caretakers Cat, his principal antagonist, District Attorney Hamilton Burger, says, when you turn your mind to the solution of a crime, you ferret out the truth. The Court feels you are capable of looking after your own as well as your clients interests. Another frequent antagonist, Lieutenant Arthur Tragg of the squad, has a discussion with Mason about his approach to the law. Mason is recovering from having been poisoned, and Tragg is investigating and he says, How does it feel to be the victim for once. … Youve been sticking up for criminals and now you can see the side of the picture. Not sticking up for criminals, protested indignantly, I have never stuck up for any criminal. I have merely asked for the administration of an impartial justice … Due legal process is my own safeguard against being convicted unjustly
14.
Raymond Burr
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Raymond William Stacy Burr was a Canadian-American actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. He was prominently involved in multiple charitable endeavors, such as working on behalf of the United Service Organizations, Burrs early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain. His portrayal of the murderer in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Rear Window is regarded as his best-known film role. He won two Emmy Awards, in 1959 and 1961, for the role of Perry Mason, which he played for nine seasons and his second hit TV series, Ironside, earned him six Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. After Burrs death from cancer in 1993, his life came into question. In 1996, Burr was listed as one of the 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time by TV Guide, a 2014 study found that Burr was rated as the favorite actor by Netflix users, with the greatest number of dedicated microgenres. Raymond William Stacy Burr was born May 21,1917, in New Westminster, British Columbia and his father, William Johnston Burr, was a hardware salesman, his mother, Minerva Annette, was a pianist and music teacher who had been born in Chicago, Illinois. Burrs ancestry included Irish, English, Scottish, and German, when Burr was six, his parents divorced. Burrs mother moved to Vallejo, California, with him and his siblings, Geraldine. His father remained in New Westminster, Burr attended San Rafael Military Academy in San Rafael, California, for awhile and graduated from Berkeley High School. In later years, Burr freely invented stories of a happy childhood, in 1986 he told journalist Jane Ardmore that when he was 12 years old his mother sent him to New Mexico for a year to work as a ranch hand. He developed a passion for growing things and, while still a teenager, throughout his teenage years, he had some acting work, making his stage debut at age 12 with a Vancouver stock company. Growing up during the Great Depression, Burr hoped to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, a community theater and school in Pasadena, California. In 1934 he joined a theatre group in Toronto that toured throughout Canada, then joined another company that toured India, Australia. He briefly attended Long Beach Junior College and taught for a semester at San Jose Junior College, working nights as a radio actor and he also began his association with the Pasadena Playhouse in 1937. Burr moved to New York in 1940, and made his first Broadway appearance in Crazy With the Heat and his first starring role on the stage came in November 1942, when he was an emergency replacement in a Pasadena Playhouse production of Quiet Wedding, directed by Lenore Shanewise. He became a member of the Pasadena Playhouse drama faculty for 18 months and he returned to the Broadway stage for Patrick Hamiltons The Duke in Darkness, a psychological drama set during the French Wars of Religion. Burrs performance as the friend of the imprisoned protagonist led to a contract with RKO Radio Pictures
15.
Leave It to Beaver
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Leave It to Beaver is an American television sitcom about an inquisitive and often naïve boy, Theodore The Beaver Cleaver, and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood. The show also starred Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont as Beavers parents, June and Ward Cleaver, the show has attained an iconic status in the United States, with the Cleavers exemplifying the idealized suburban family of the mid-20th century. The show was created by the writers Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher and these veterans of radio and early television found inspiration for the shows characters, plots and dialogue in the lives, experiences and conversations of their own children. Leave It to Beaver is one of the first primetime sitcom series written from a point of view. Like several television dramas and sitcoms of the late 1950s and early 1960s, in a typical episode, Beaver gets into some sort of boyish scrape, then faces his parents for reprimand and correction. Neither parent was omniscient, the series showed the parents debating their approach to child rearing. Leave It to Beaver ran for six full 39-week seasons, the series had its debut on CBS on October 4,1957. The following season, it moved to ABC, where it stayed until completing its run on June 20,1963, throughout the shows run, it was shot with a single camera on black-and-white 35mm film. The shows production companies included the comedian George Gobels Gomalco Productions and Kayro Productions with filming at Revue Studios/Republic Studios, the show was distributed by MCA TV. Contemporary commentators praised Leave It to Beaver, with Variety comparing Beaver to Mark Twains Tom Sawyer, much juvenile merchandise was released during the shows first run, including board games, novels, and comic books. The show has enjoyed a renaissance in popularity since the 1970s through off-network syndication, a reunion telemovie, in 1997, a movie version based on the original series was released to moderate acclaim. In October 2007, TV Land celebrated the shows 50th anniversary with a marathon, although the show never broke into the Nielsen ratings top 30 or won any awards, it placed on Time magazines unranked 2007 list of The 100 Best TV Shows of All-Time. According to Tony Dow, If any line got too much of a laugh and they didnt want a big laugh, they wanted chuckles. In 1957, the radio, film and television writers Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher developed a concept for a TV show about childhood and family life featuring a fictional suburban couple, working titles during the shows gestation period included Its a Small World and Wally and the Beaver. The pilot aired April 23,1957, as Its a Small World on the anthology series Heinz Studio 57, the stars of the pilot were Casey Adams and Paul Sullivan. They were replaced as production of the series neared, six months after the broadcast of the pilot, the series debuted on CBS on Friday October 4,1957, as Leave It to Beaver, with the episode third in production order, Beaver Gets Spelled. The intended premiere, Captain Jack, displayed a toilet tank, Captain Jack has claimed its place in television history as the first American TV show to display a toilet tank. In 1997, it was ranked number 42 in TV Guides 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time, remington Rand was a potential sponsor during the shows conception and counseled against the shows suggested title, Wally and the Beaver, believing viewers would think the show was a nature program
16.
Jerry Mathers
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Gerald Patrick Jerry Mathers is an American television, film, and stage actor. Mathers was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the son of a school principal, and grew up in Rock Rapids, about 75 miles north. He has two siblings, Susie Mathers McSweeney and Jim Mathers, who also became child actors. Mathers began his career at the age of 2 when he appeared as a model for a department store ad. Soon after, he starred in a commercial for PET Milk opposite vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn and his early movies included This is My Love, Men of the Fighting Lady, The Seven Little Foys and The Trouble with Harry. Mathers states that he got the role of Beaver Cleaver after telling the producers he would rather be at his Cub Scout meeting than auditioning for the part. The producers found his candidness appealing and perfect for the role, Mathers played the Beaver for six years, appearing in all 234 episodes of the series. He was the first child ever to make a deal to get a percentage of the merchandising revenue from a television show. The Leave It to Beaver show still generates merchandise revenue today, the original sitcom has been shown in over 80 countries in 40 languages. Mathers has noted that the Leave It to Beaver phenomenon is worldwide, I can go anywhere in the world, and people know me, Mathers has said. In Japan the show’s called The Happy Boy and His Family, so I’ll be walking through the airport in Japan, and people will come up and say, Hi, Happy Boy. I had worked since I was two years old, so we did that for six years because that was the length of the contracts at those times. So thats why there are 39 for six years, and then it was off the air, during his high school years, Mathers had a band called Beaver and the Trappers. As he moved into his years, Mathers retired from acting to concentrate on high school. He attended Notre Dame High School, in Sherman Oaks, California, during this time he led a musical band called Beaver and the Trappers. While he was still in school, Mathers joined the United States Air Force Reserve. He appeared as a presenter at the 1967 Emmy Awards ceremony in his dress uniform, after graduating high school in 1967, Mathers continued to serve in the Reserve and made the rank of Sergeant. In December 1969, a rumor began that Mathers was killed in action in the Vietnam War, although the origin of the rumor is unclear, Mathers never saw action and was never stationed outside of the United States
17.
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
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The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, is one of the 11 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a university had combined all three of these aspects into a single administration. The undergraduate program is ranked among the worlds top drama departments. The graduate programs are usually ranking within the top three nationally, according to the U. S. News & World Report. Among the schools resources are the Geffen Playhouse and the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Archive constitutes one of the largest collections of media materials in the United States — second only to the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. Its vaults hold more than 220,000 motion picture and television titles and 27 million feet of newsreel footage, the Schools enrollment, in 2014, consisted of 631 students. For Fall 2014, the School received 4,442 applications, with 140 faculty members teaching 335 undergrads and 296 graduate students, the teacher to student ratio is about 1,5. The roots of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television go back to 1947 when the Theater Arts Department was created at UCLA, twenty years later, in 1987, The College of Fine Arts was disbanded. The School of Theater, Film and Television was created in 1990, and Gilbert Cates, curriculum was expanded, new faculty was hired, and entertainment industry connections were strengthened. In 1999, Robert Rosen became UCLA TFT’s second dean, a distinguished professor and film historian, Rosen had earlier spearheaded the expansion of the UCLA Film & Television Archive into one of the largest collections of moving image material. As dean, Rosen expanded the School’s international influence with strong alliances, UCLA alumna Teri Schwartz became dean of UCLA TFT in 2009. A former award-winning feature film producer, she was previously the dean of the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. ”The Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment at UCLA TFT was created in partnership with Participant Media founder. Skoll donated $10 million for the center, the first of its kind dedicated solely to advancing entertainment, the work of the Center is organized around three pillars, research, education and special initiatives, and public programming and exhibition. The program teaches the general studies of theater broadly, before allowing the student to study their specified area of study, offering Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees, the graduate program requires an audition for all acting applicants, and a possible interview for other candidates. Each applicant must apply for an area of study. Offering Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees, a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy degree are available for critical studies. The School also offers certificate programs modeled after the world-renowned MFA curriculum. The goal of this program, which takes place over one academic year, is for the student to start
18.
Character actor
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A character actor or character actress is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters. The term, often contrasted with that of leading actor, is somewhat abstract, in a literal sense, all actors can be considered character actors since they all play characters, but in the usual sense it is an actor who plays a distinctive and important supporting role. In either case, character actor roles are more substantial than bit parts or non-speaking extras, the term is used primarily to describe television and film actors, and is less used to describe theater actors. An early use of the term was in the 1883 edition of The Stage, Actors with a long career history of playing character roles may be difficult for audiences to recognize as being the same actor, if they play such roles convincingly and memorably. Unlike leading actors, they are seen as less glamorous. Generally, the names of actors are not featured prominently in movie and television advertising on the marquee. Some character actors have distinctive voices or accents, or they develop memorable mannerisms, a character actor with a long career may not have a well-known name, yet may be instantly recognizable. During the course of a career, an actor can sometimes shift between leading roles and secondary roles. Some leading actors, as they get older, find that access to leading roles is limited by their increasing age, in the past, actors of color, who were often barred from roles for which they were otherwise suited, found work performing ethnic stereotypes. Sometimes character actors have developed based on specific talents needed in genre films, such as dancing, horsemanship, acrobatics, swimming ability. Some character actors develop a following with a particular audience. Ed Lauter usually portrayed a menacing figure because of his long, angular face which was recognized in public. Character actors can play a variety of types, such as the femme fatale, gunslinger, sidekick, town drunk, villain, whore with a heart of gold, Character actors subsume themselves into the characters they portray, such that their off-screen acting persona is practically unrecognizable. According to one view, great actors are rarely out of work. They are also highly regarded by fellow actors. Stock character Commedia dellarte Quinlan, David, quinlans Illustrated Directory of Film Character Actors. Character Kings, Hollywoods Familiar Faces Discuss the Art & Business of Acting
19.
Byron Foulger
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Byron Kay Foulger was an American film character actor. He was born in Ogden, Utah, Foulger attended the University of Utah, and started acting through his participation in community theatre. He made his Broadway debut in March 1920 in a production of Medea featuring Moroni Olsen and he then toured with Olsens stock company, and ended up at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he both acted and directed. Foulger made his first three films in 1932 and 1936 with small roles in Night World, The Little Minister, and The Presidents Mystery, from this point on, Foulger worked steadily in motion pictures. His earliest films show him clean-shaven, but in the 1940s he adopted a wispy mustache that emphasized his characters worried manner, when the mustache went gray in the 1950s, he reverted to a clean-shaven look. In real life, Foulger was not as much of a pushover as the characters he played. In one memorable incident at a party he threatened to punch Errol Flynn for flirting with his wife, the actress Dorothy Adams, with whom he was married from 1921 until his death in 1970. In A pictures, such as those of Sturges, Foulger would often not receive a credit, in B movies such as 1939s The Man They Could Not Hang. By the late 1950s, Foulger was so well established as a mild-mannered worrywart that just the showing of his face would receive an audience laugh. He played multiple-episode characters on Dennis the Menace, Lassie and The Andy Griffith Show, on Petticoat Junction he played two recurring roles, Mr. Guerney and engineer Wendell Gibbs. Byron Foulgers last film appearances were in The Love War, a made-for-TV movie and he died of heart problems in Hollywood on 4 April of that year at the age of 70, and is buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. Foulger died on the day the final episode of Petticoat Junction was broadcast. He was survived by his wife Dorothy Adams and daughter, Rachel Ames, Byron Foulger at the Internet Broadway Database Byron Foulger at the Internet Movie Database Byron Foulger at AllMovie Byron Foulger at the TCM Movie Database Byron Foulger at Find a Grave
20.
Soap opera
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A soap opera, soap, or soapie, is a serial drama on television or radio that examines the lives of many characters, usually focusing on emotional relationships to the point of melodrama. The term soap opera originated from such dramas being typically sponsored by soap manufacturers in the past, the first serial considered to be a soap opera was Painted Dreams, which debuted on October 20,1930 on Chicago radio station WGN. The first nationally broadcast radio soap opera was Clara, Lu, and Em, a crucial element that defines the soap opera is the open-ended serial nature of the narrative, with stories spanning several episodes. One of the features that makes a television program a soap opera. While Spanish language telenovelas are sometimes called soap operas, telenovelas have conflicts that get resolved, but with soap operas each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode. You spend more time even with the characters, the apparent villains grow less apparently villainous. Soap opera storylines run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments, each episode may feature some of the shows current storylines, but not always all of them. Soap operas rarely bring all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time, when one storyline ends, there are several other story threads at differing stages of development. Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger, evening soap operas and those that air at a rate of one episode per week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode, and to represent all current storylines in each episode. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger, the article explained that at that time, many prime time series lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs. Fitting in with these characteristics, most soap operas follow the lives of a group of characters who live or work in a particular place, the storylines follow the day-to-day activities and personal relationships of these characters. These elements may be found across the gamut of soap operas, Due to the prominence of English-language television, most soap-operas are completely English. In many soap operas, in particular daytime serials in the US, Soap operas from the United Kingdom and Australia tend to focus on more everyday characters and situations, and are frequently set in working class environments. Many of the soaps produced in two countries explore social realist storylines such as family discord, marriage breakdown or financial problems. This diverges from US soap operas where such comedy is rare, UK soap operas frequently make a claim to presenting reality or purport to have a realistic style. Romance, secret relationships, extramarital affairs, and genuine hate have been the basis for many soap opera storylines, in US daytime serials, the most popular soap opera characters, and the most popular storylines, often involved a romance of the sort presented in paperback romance novels. Crimes such as kidnapping, rape, and even murder may go unpunished if the perpetrator is to be retained in the ongoing story, Australian and UK soap operas also feature a significant proportion of romance storylines. In Russia, most popular serials explore the romantic quality of criminal and/or oligarch life, in soap opera storylines, previously unknown children, siblings and twins of established characters often emerge to upset and reinvigorate the set of relationships examined by the series
21.
Rachel Ames
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Rachel Kay Foulger, known professionally as Rachel Ames, is an American film and television actress. The daughter of actors Byron Foulger and Dorothy Adams, she was raised in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles and she attended the University of California, Los Angeles studying drama before signing an acting contract with Paramount Pictures, using the stage name Judith Ames. She made her debut in the studios science fiction film When Worlds Collide. She would go on to have a career in television. Ames role is the longest-running in the history, spanning over fifty years. Ames was born Rachel Kay Foulger on November 2,1929 in Portland, Oregon, through her father, she is of English descent, the fourth generation of English immigrants from Norfolk who settled in the Salt Lake City area. Ames spent her life in Portland, but relocated to California so her parents could work performing and teaching at the Pasadena Playhouse. She graduated from University High School and later enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, Ames debuted professionally in 1949 in Pilgrimage Play, and she joined her parents in acting in One Foot in Heaven at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. The same year, she had appeared in Toast to Our Brother, a film documenting fraternity life at UCLA. She had a role in the film noir The Turning Point. The following year, she had a role in the Western comedy Ricochet Romance. In her only role on prime-time television, Ames played Policewoman Sandy McAllister on The Lineup in that programs final season during 1959. She appeared in a role in the 1960 Western Gunfighters of Abilene, opposite Buster Crabbe. On February 23,1964, Ames debuted on ABCs daytime serial, General Hospital, playing Audrey Hardy and her tenure in the part is the longest-running role in the networks history, spanning five decades. She also played Audrey Hardy on the General Hospital spin-off series Port Charles in the late 1990s and her contract was not renewed for General Hospital in 2003, but she still appeared as a recurring character from 2003 until 2007, and made a brief appearance in 2009. On February 13,2013 Genie Francis announced on Katie that Ames returned to the show on March 29,2013 and she reprised the role again for one episode on October 30,2015. Ames has been nominated three times for a Daytime Emmy Award as Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama for her role on General Hospital. In 2004, Ames was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 31st Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in New York City
22.
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
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Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. Woodland Hills is an affluent neighborhood in the region of the San Fernando Valley which is located east of Calabasas. On the north it is bordered by West Hills, Canoga Park, and Winnetka, some neighborhoods are in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. Running east–west through the community are U. S. Route 101 and Ventura Boulevard, the first Europeans to enter the San Fernando Valley were the Portola Expedition in 1769, exploring Alta California for Spanish missions and settlements locations. Seeing it from present-day Sepulveda Pass, the oak savanna inspired them to call the area El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bononia de Los Encinos, the Mission San Fernando Rey de España was established in 1797 and controlled the Valleys land, including future Woodland Hills. Ownership of the half of the valley, south of present-day Roscoe Boulevard from Toluca Lake to Woodland Hills. Moses Sherman and others in 1910, victor Girard Kleinberger bought 2,886 acres in the area from Chandlers group and founded the town of Girard in 1922. He sought to attract residents and businesses by developing an infrastructure, advertising in newspapers and his 300 pepper trees formed a canopy over Canoga Ave. between Ventura Boulevard and Saltillo St. became Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #93 in 1972. The community of Girard was eventually incorporated into Los Angeles, Woodland Hills has a firmly subtropical mediterranean climate. Within the San Fernando Valley, Woodland Hills generally experiences some of the extreme temperature changes season to season than other regions. During the summer, temperatures are very hot, while during the winter. On July 22,2006, Woodland Hills recorded the highest temperature ever in Los Angeles County, the climate is classified as a Csa in the Köppen climate classification, which is characterized by mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. This climate is referred to as mediterranean. Precipitation in Woodland Hills averages much the same as most other regions of the west San Fernando Valley, in 2008 the population of Woodland Hills was approximately 63,000. The median age in 2000 was 40, considered old when compared to city and county jurisdictions. As of the 2000 census, and according to the Los Angeles Almanac, there were 67,006 people and 29,119 households residing in Woodland Hills. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 79. 90% White,6. 97% Asian,0. 13% Pacific Islander,3. 34% African American,0. 33% Native American,4. 80% from other races, and 4. 52% from two or more races. 11. 94% of the population were Hispanic of any race, in population, it is one of the least dense neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and the percentage of white people is high for the county
23.
Bachelor Mother
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Bachelor Mother is an American comedy film directed by Garson Kanin, and starring Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Charles Coburn. The screenplay was written by Norman Krasna based on an Academy Award nominated story by Felix Jackson written for the 1935 Austrian-Hungarian film Little Mother, with a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment. It was remade in 1956 as Bundle of Joy, starring Debbie Reynolds and this movie also inspired some Bollywood movies like Kunwara Baap. Polly Parrish is a salesgirl at the department store John B, Merlin and Son in New York City. Hired as temporary help for the Christmas season, she receives her dismissal notice as the comes to a close. During her lunch break, she sees a stranger leaving a baby on the steps of an orphanage, fearing the baby will roll down the steps, Polly picks it up. An attendant opens the door and mistakenly believes that Polly is the babys mother, David Merlin, the playboy son of the stores owner J. B. Merlin, is sympathetic to the unwed mother and arranges for her to get her job back. Mrs. Weiss, Pollys landlady, offers to care of the boy when Polly is at work. Unable to convince anyone that she is not the mother, and threatened by David with loss of her job if she doesnt assume that role, Polly gives up and starts raising the child. Davids involvement with Polly gradually turns into love, but he keeps the relationship a secret from his father, when he finds that New Years Eve has arrived and he has no date, David turns to Polly. He orders clothes to be sent from the store and takes her to a party, although David is falling for Polly, he does not relish the idea of a ready-made family. When J. B. learns about the child, he assumes that David is the father and his suspicions are reinforced when, in a bit of bad timing, Polly and David each produce a different man whom they claim is the father. To his sons surprise, J. B. is delighted, in the end, David decides that he is in love with Polly and baby John. He tells his father that he is the father of the child and plans to marry Polly, the film was a big hit and earned RKO a profit of $827,000. Bushman and David Niven, the fourth starred Lucille Ball, Joseph Cotten and Charles Coburn and it was also adapted as an hour-long play on Lux Radio Theater with Ginger Rogers and Fredric March and on Screen Directors Playhouse with Lucille Ball and Robert Cummings. Bachelor Mother at the Internet Movie Database Bachelor Mother at AllMovie Bachelor Mother at the TCM Movie Database
24.
On Borrowed Time
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On Borrowed Time is a 1939 film about the role death plays in life, and how humanity cannot live without it. It is adapted from Paul Osborns 1938 Broadway hit play, the play, based on a novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin, has been revived twice on Broadway since its original run. Academy Award winner Harold S. Bucquet directed, the story is a retelling of a Greek fable in which Death is tricked into climbing a pear tree which had been blessed by Saint Polycarp to trap anyone who was trying to steal an old womans pears. Set in small-town America, the film stars Lionel Barrymore, Beulah Bondi, Barrymore plays Julian Northrup, a wheelchair user, who, with his wife Nellie, played by Bondi, are raising their orphaned grandson, Pud. Hardwicke plays Mr. Brink, the personification of death, Brink has recently taken Puds parents in an auto wreck. Believing Brink to be a stranger, the crotchety old Gramps orders Mr. Brink off the property. Pud comes out of the house and asks who the stranger was, Gramps is surprised and relieved that someone else could see the stranger, he was not merely a dream or apparition. Pud tells Gramps that when he does a good deed, he will be able to make a wish, because his apples are constantly being stolen, Gramps wishes that anyone who climbs up his apple tree will have to stay there until he permits them to climb down. Pud inadvertently tests the wish when he has trouble coming down from the tree himself, Puds busybody Aunt Demetria has designs on Pud and the money left him by his parents. Gramps spends much time fending off her efforts to adopt the boy, Brink takes Granny Nellie in a peaceful death just after she finishes a bit of knitting. When Mr. Brink returns again for Gramps, the old man finally realizes who his visitor is, determined not to leave Pud to Demetria, Gramps tricks Mr. Brink into climbing the apple tree. While stuck in the tree, he cannot take Gramps or anyone else, the only way anyone or anything can die is if they touch Mr. Brink or the apple tree. Demetria plots to have Gramps committed to a hospital when he claims that Death is trapped in his apple tree. Gramps proves his story first by proving that his doctor, Dr. Evans and he offers further proof of his power by shooting Mr. Grimes, the orderly who has come to take him to the asylum, Grimes lives when he should have died. Dr. Evans is now a believer, but he tries to convince Gramps to let Death down so people who are suffering can find release, Gramps refuses, so the doctor arranges for the local sheriff to commit Gramps while Pud is delivered to Demetrias custody. With the help of his housekeeper, Gramps tricks both of them believing they are scheduled to go with Mr. Brink when he comes down from the tree. They beg Gramps to convince Brink otherwise, and Demetria vows never to bother Gramps or Pud again, Gramps realizes that sooner or later he will have to let Brinks down—Death is an ultimately unavoidable part of life. He tries to say goodbye to Pud, who reacts angrily, Mr. Brink sees Pud in the yard and dares him to climb the tree
25.
The Women (1939 film)
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The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. Ruth Hussey, Virginia Weidler, Butterfly McQueen, and Hedda Hopper also appeared in smaller roles, fontaine was the last surviving actress with a credited role in the film, she died in 2013. The film continued the plays all-female tradition—the entire cast of more than 130 speaking roles was female, throughout The Women, not a single male is seen — although the males are much talked about, and the central theme is the womens relationships with them. Lesbianism is intimated in the portrayal of one character, Nancy Blake. The attention to detail was such that even in such as portraits, only female figures are represented. The only exceptions are a poster-drawing clearly of a bull in the show segment. On DVD, the black and white fashion show, which is a different take, is available for the first time. The Women follows the lives of Manhattan women, focusing in particular on Mary Haines, after a bit of gossip flies around the salon these wealthy women visit, Marys cousin Sylvia Fowler goes to a salon to get the newest, exclusive nail color, Jungle Red. She learns from a manicurist that Marys husband has been having an affair with a perfume counter girl named Crystal Allen. A notorious gossip, Sylvia delights in sharing the news with Marys friends, while Marys mother urges her to ignore the gossip, Mary begins to have her own suspicions about her husbands increasingly frequent claims that he needs to work late. She decides to travel to Bermuda with her mother to think about the situation, upon her return, Mary heads to a fashion show and learns that Crystal is in attendance, trying on clothes in a dressing room. Mary, at Sylvias insistence, confronts her about the affair, heartbroken and humiliated, Mary leaves quickly. The gossip continues, exacerbated by Sylvia and her friend Edith, Mary chooses to divorce her husband despite his efforts to convince her to stay. As she is packing to leave for Reno, Mary explains the divorce to Little Mary, Mary and her new friends settle in at a Reno ranch, where they get plenty of unsolicited advice from Lucy, the gruffly warm-hearted woman who runs the ranch. The Countess tells tales of her husbands and seems to have found another prospect in Reno. Miriam reveals she has been having an affair with Sylvia Fowlers husband, Peggy, who has discovered that she is pregnant, is urged to call her husband, resolve their misunderstanding, and end the divorce proceedings. Sylvia arrives at the ranch, now that her husband has requested a divorce, when she discovers that Miriam is to become the new Mrs. Fowler, a catfight ensues. Mary succeeds in breaking up the fight, Miriam convinces her that she, too, should forget her pride, get her husband on the phone, and try to patch things up before their divorce becomes legal in a few hours
26.
Ninotchka
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Ninotchka is a 1939 American film made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by producer and director Ernst Lubitsch which stars Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. It is written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and Walter Reisch, Ninotchka is Greta Garbos first full comedy, and her penultimate film. Three Russians, Iranov, Buljanov, and Kopalsky, are in Paris to sell jewelry confiscated from the aristocracy during the Russian Revolution of 1917. Upon arrival, they meet Count Leon dAlgout, on a mission from the Russian Grand Duchess Swana and he corrupts them and talks them into staying in Paris. The Soviet Union then sends Nina Ivanovna Ninotchka Yakushova, an envoy whose goal is to go through with the jewelry sale. Rigid and stern at first, she becomes seduced by the West and the Count. The three Russians also accommodate themselves to capitalism, but the last joke of the film is one of them carries a sign protesting that the other two are unfair to him. It was, however, banned in the Soviet Union and its satellites, despite that, it went on to make $2,279,000 worldwide. In a play on the famous Garbo Talks. ad campaign used for her debut in Anna Christie. Commenting on Garbos serious and melancholy image and implying she had not laughed or played comedy before, however, her canon reveals this not to be the case. Although all her previous films were dramatic, Garbo had occasions to laugh in several of them, in Queen Christina, she disguises herself as a man and jokes with her co-star John Gilbert and others throughout the first half of the picture. In Camille, she feigns exuberant laughter in a scene with actor Henry Daniell. Stalin, we repeat, wont like it, but, unless your tastes hew too closely to the party line, we think you will, immensely. More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz discussed the humor of Ninotchka, writing, The sly political jokes include Garbo saying, there are going to be fewer but better Russians and there are a few well-placed jokes mocking the failed Soviet Five-Year-Plan. The most noteworthy Lubitsch touch scene revolves around a stag feast in a luxury hotel ordered by capitalist Douglas for the three grateful comrade emissaries, who cant believe their good fortune. An attempt to revive the film later during World War II was suppressed on the grounds that the Soviets were then allies of the West. In 1955, a Broadway musical Silk Stockings, written by Cole Porter based on the 1939 story and script, starring Hildegard Neff, the musical was adapted as a 1957 film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Actor George Tobias, who played the commissar in Silk Stockings, the films Comrade X, starring Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr and The Iron Petticoat, starring Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn, both borrow heavily from Ninotchka
27.
Dr. Christian Meets the Women
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Dr. Christian Meets the Women is a 1940 American film directed by William C. McGann, one of the series of six Dr. Christian films featuring Jean Hersholt, professor Kenneth Parker, a God-fearing physical culturist, arrives to work in the serene little town of River’s End. He claims to be a specialist and top authority on health matters, the town physician, Dr. Paul Christian, reacts to Parker’s promises to the women in town of dramatic weight loss, if they followed his advice. The head of the town club, Mrs. Browning, is charmed by the questionable professor. Parker and invites him to her home and to have a lecture when the club is meeting and he is welcome to use the club as his forum for his teachings. The professor starts teaching the women about strict diet being the best road to self-satisfaction, the professor’s teachings result in the disruption of the town womens eating routines. They also disrupt the peace and quiet in the Browning family life, causing Mrs. Browning and her husband to argue about the professor’s teachings and intrusions on the town life. The Browning’s daughter, Kitty, has taken an interest in the assistant, Bill Ferris. Dr. Christian claims the professor is a fraud and a charlatan, the town doesn’t listen to his warnings. Kitty’s condition gets worse and Dr. Christian, exhausted from an abnormal workload because of the professor’s teachings, while examining her he discovers that the professor has given the girl, and the other women, benzedrine. Dr. Christian finally discloses the professor and his cultist teachings as a public hazard, the heresies of the professor come to Bill’s knowledge, and he finally realizes that his boss is a fraud. He quits and runs to Kitty’s bedside, with the help of a blood transfusion he manages to save Kitty’s life. The town women are taken off their unhealthy diets and life in town returns to normal, after the professor is driven off, later, Bill and Kitty are married. Jean Hersholt as Dr. Paul Christian Dorothy Lovett as Judy Price Edgar Kennedy as George Browning Rod La Rocque as Prof
28.
Lucky Partners
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Lucky Partners is a 1940 American comedy romance drama film directed by Lewis Milestone for RKO Radio Pictures. The film is based on the 1936 Sacha Guitry story Bonne Chance, and stars Ronald Colman and Ginger Rogers marking their only film together, and Rogers eleventh and final film written by Allan Scott. Portrait painter and caricaturist David Grant, newly arrived in Greenwich Village, when Jean delivers books, a woman makes her the gift of an expensive dress. She is quarreling with her son-in-law, who had given the dress to his wife, believing David to be lucky, Jean asks him to partner with her on a ticket for the Irish Sweepstakes. He agrees only on condition that, if their horse wins, she accompany him on a trip to see the sights before she settles down to married life in Poughkeepsie. She and her fiance, Frederick Freddie Harper, are dubious about the proposition, when their $2.50 ticket is one of the few that draw a horse, its value shoots up. Freddie wants to sell it, but the two decide to try for the jackpot. Their horse does not even place, but Freddie informs Jean afterward that he sold their half for $6000, outraged at his duplicity, she offers half the money to David. He only accepts provided she keep their bargain, once again, he gets her to go against her better judgment. They drive to Niagara Falls in a new car David has bought in Jeans name, Freddie, suspicious of Davids intentions, follows them there. Even though he finds they have separate rooms and have registered as brother and sister. Meanwhile, when David and Jean go dancing, they attract the attention of the Sylvesters and they persuade the couple to accompany them to their favorite spot, making David pick Jean up and carry her across a footbridge. On the other side, David kisses Jean, later, realizing things have gone far beyond what he had intended, David checks out and drives off in the car. He is stopped by a policeman and, when he admits the car is not his, Jean becomes furious when she realizes he has gone. Then, she and Freddie are also picked up by the police, the court reporters seize upon the story, and the courtroom is packed with the elite of society. Both Jean and David act as their own counsels, by questioning himself on the witness stand, David reveals he is genuinely in love with Jean, and the two are reconciled. Finally he got the hang of it, the film was a big hit, earning a profit of $200,000. The New York Times noted that screen stories, like wines, are not always good travelers in that they can suffer when plot and story is adapted from one language and they wrote that Lucky Partners is distinctly not one of those occasions
29.
The Devil Commands
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The Devil Commands is a 1941 American horror film directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring Boris Karloff. The working title of the film was The Devil Said No, in it, a man obsessed with contacting his dead wife falls in with a sinister phony medium. The Devil Commands is one of the films from the thirties and forties in which Karloff was cast as a mad scientist with a good heart. It was one of the last in line of the horror movies that were produced before Universal Studios The Wolf Man. The story was adapted from the novel The Edge of Running Water by William Sloane, dr. Julian Blair is engaged in unconventional research on human brain waves when his wife Helen is tragically killed in a freak auto accident. He moves his laboratory to an isolated New England mansion where he continues to try to out to his dead wife. He is aided by his mentally-challenged servant Karl and abetted by the obsessive Mrs. Walters, a phony medium, when their overly curious housekeeper discovers the truth about their experiments, her death brings the local sheriff in to investigate. The encyclopedia of film, Ali Baba to Zombies. The Devil Commands at the Internet Movie Database The Devil Commands at AllMovie The Devil Commands at the TCM Movie Database
30.
Back Street (1941 film)
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Back Street is a 1941 drama film made by Universal Pictures, directed by Robert Stevenson. The film stars Charles Boyer and Margaret Sullavan and it is a remake of the 1932 film of the same name, also from Universal. The film follows the 1931 Fannie Hurst novel and the 1932 film version very closely and it is a sympathetic tale of an adulterous woman and the man she loved. The 1941 version was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Margaret Sullavan so much wanted Charles Boyer to play her leading man that she gave up her top billing in order to persuade him to play this unsympathetic role. The film is set in the early 1900s and it tells the story of a pretty and independent young woman, Rae Smith, who lives in Cincinnati. She has many suitors, none of whom she takes seriously, one day she meets an extremely charming and handsome banker named Walter Louis Saxel, and they fall immediately into a strong attraction, which for her is real love. After a few days of closeness she is shocked when he tells her he is engaged to someone else. Nonetheless the two of very nearly marry one another on an impulse, but they are prevented from doing so by arbitrary external forces. After five years, they once again, by chance. The banker is now married with two children and is successful in his career, but Rae and he still share the same strong attraction. Rae loves him so much that she gives up her career in design and becomes his kept mistress. Walter keeps up the appearance of a marriage and never considers divorcing his wife. Raes loyalty to Walter collapses only once, when he fails to contact her after he has been on a trip to Europe with his wife. Rae goes back to Ohio and agrees to marry Curt, an attractive, however, Walter travels to Ohio to find her, and is able to persuade her to return with him. Once Walters children reach adulthood they understand who Rae is, people in Walters social circle also point condemning fingers at Rae, who suffers all this with patience and fortitude. In old age, dying of a stroke in his home, Walters last faltering word is to Rae. She dies not long afterwards in her apartment
31.
Tobacco Road (film)
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Tobacco Road is a 1941 film directed by John Ford starring Charley Grapewin, Marjorie Rambeau, Gene Tierney, William Tracy Dana Andrews and Ward Bond. It was based on the novel of the name by Erskine Caldwell. In March 1940, Columbia Pictures showed interest, but was informed that Tobacco Road was on the list of banned titles, eventually, 20th Century Fox won the rights in August 1940, with RKO as its main competitor. It was believed that Fox won due to the success of The Grapes of Wrath and they were the main preference of the copyright holders Erskine Caldwell and Jack Kirkland, who were reluctant to sell the rights unless the film would be picturized honestly and fearlessly. Initially, Henry Hull was sought from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to reprise the role previously portrayed on Broadway. However, in October 1940 he was revealed to be only in consideration, along with Walter Brennan, much to the immense satisfaction of the studio, John Ford was signed on as the director as early as March 1940. On production, he commented in a December 1940 interview, We have no dirt in the picture, weve eliminated the horrible details and what weve got left is a nice dramatic story. Its a tear-jerker, with some comedy relief, what were aiming at is to have the customers sympathize with our people and not feel disgusted. The decision was most likely a result of a November 1940 warning that many religious folk throughout the nation may be offended by the religious aspects, casting was a huge problem, and it was reported that producer Darryl F. Zanuck and director Ford deliberated for weeks. Marjorie Rambeau and Gene Tierney were cast in November 1940, most other cast members were signed on in the same month. Ford personally insisted that Charley Grapewin was cast as Jeeter, because of their previous collaboration on The Grapes of Wrath, to portray Dude, William Tracy had to diet and lose teeth. On his role, Tracy commented in a December 1940 interview and its one you can sink your teeth in, if you have your teeth. While in production, Tobacco Road was thought to be received as even greater than The Grapes of Wrath. Filming was initially set on location in Georgia, but to any controversy. To further prevent the film from being banned before its release, despite the studios concerns over the censorship, the film was only banned in Australia for unknown reasons. Although the film received mixed reviews, it became a success at the box office, list of American films of 1941 Southern Gothic Tobacco Road at AllMovie Tobacco Road at the Internet Movie Database New Georgia Encyclopedia article on Tobacco Road TCM synopsis
32.
Penny Serenade
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Penny Serenade is a 1941 film melodrama starring Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Beulah Bondi, and Edgar Buchanan. Grant was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, Applejack Carney pulls from a shelf an album of records entitled The Story of a Happy Marriage and places the song You Were Meant for Me on the Victrola. Julie Adams, Applejacks old friend and owner of the album, asks him to turn off the tune and announces that she is leaving her husband Roger. After glancing at the nursery, Julie restarts the song and remembers meeting Roger years earlier, when the record begins to skip, passerby Roger Adams enters the store and meets Julie. The two begin to date, and while at the one day, Julie breaks open a fortune cookie. Roger, a bachelor who has no patience with children, hides his fortune, which predicts a wedding soon. Roger, a reporter, changes his mind, however, when he bursts into a New Years Eve party with the news that his paper is assigning him to a post in Japan and asks Julie to marry him that evening. Knowing that they not see each other for three months until Roger can earn enough money for Julies passage to Japan, the newlyweds kiss goodbye in Rogers train compartment. As they embrace, the train pulls out, and as a result, three months later, when Julie is reunited with Roger in Japan, she reports that she is pregnant. Julie becomes concerned for the future of her family when she learns that Roger has lavishly furnished their house by spending advances on his salary, at that moment, a violent earthquake strikes, demolishing the house and causing Julie to lose the baby. Roger and Julie return to San Francisco, and while hospitalized there, Roger tries to console her by telling her that he wants to settle down and buy a small town paper, but Julie responds that a baby is all she ever wanted. Soon after, Roger buys the Rosalia Courier Press, and the moves into the apartment above the newspaper office. Roger hires their friend Applejack to manage the paper, but despite their hard work, two years later, while Roger is working late one night, Applejack encourages Julie to adopt a child, and when Roger returns home, Applejack prods him into agreeing to consider adoption. At first disapproving because the Adams house is a mess, Mrs. Oliver is charmed by the little nursery. When Julie and Roger protest that they wanted a two-year-old boy, Roger and Julie consent to see the infant, and when Julie falls in love with the baby, Mrs. Oliver allows them to take her home for a one-year probation period. One year later, as the time for the adoption hearing approaches, when Julie admits that the paper has gone out of business and that Roger has no income, Mrs. Oliver solemnly caps her pen. Steeling themselves to return their baby, whom they have named Trina, to the orphanage, Roger bundles up the infant, when the judge denies the adoption, Roger, near tears, begs to keep the little girl, pleading that she is like his own child. Moved by Rogers plea, the judge relents and grants the adoption, Years pass, and Trinas proud parents watch their daughter sing the echo to Silent Night in her schools Christmas play
33.
The Flame of New Orleans
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The Flame of New Orleans is a 1941 comedy film directed by René Clair and starring Marlene Dietrich and Bruce Cabot in his first comedy role. The supporting cast features Roland Young, Andy Devine and Franklin Pangborn, the movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction by Martin Obzina, Jack Otterson and Russell A. Gausman. The legend of Claire of New Orleans is born after two fishermen find a wedding dress floating around on the Mississippi River one day and this is how the story begins, and then we find out what really happened, as the story of Claire Ledux is revealed. When Claire arrives in New Orleans for the first time in her life she has an ambition to become Mrs Charles Giraud - a very rich. She gets her opening one night at the opera, when she manages to bet the seat next to the banker, trying to catch the unsuspecting bankers attention she fakes fainting in her seat. The banker immediately rushes to her rescue and Claires mission is accomplished, desperate to the beautiful Claire again, Charles sends his valet over to Claires maid Clementine after the opera. The maid forwards the message, asking Claire to meet with Charles in the park, Claire and the maid make a plan to let a man harass Claire in the park, so that Charles can come to her rescue. But even the simplest plans go wrong, and on the way to the park Claires carriage runs over a monkey by accident, the monkey belongs to river boat captain Robert Latour. He stops the carriage, but since Clementine believes this is the man hired to make a fuzz with them, she tells the driver to go on. Robert Latour is aggravated by this behaviour and tips the carriage over and he also vows to properly take care of and guard Claire every night from now on. Attending a Mardi Gras festivity, Claire recognizes Robert Latour in the crowd, and points him out to Charles, Robert gets to choose weapons, and he chooses knives, something Charles isnt quite prepared for. Robert gets an advantage over Charles in the duel. She tells Charles that she mistook Robert for someone else, thus ending the battle, so settle the matter once and for all, Robert invites Claire to dinner on his rover boat the following night. He borrows 150 dollars to pay for the feast, but while Claire is getting ready for her meeting with Robert, Charles arrives and throws her a proposal of marriage there on the spot. Claire accepts his proposl, and sends a message via her maid to Robert, Robert fears that Claire is taken ill and in need of a doctor. He rushes over to her house to offer his assistance, but sees Charles through the window, only two days before their wedding Charles throws a party in Claires honor. To the party comes many distinguished guests, and among them are the newly arrived Russian gentleman Zolotov and this man sees Claire and recognizes her from St. Petersburg. During the evening Zolotov tells stories of Claire to a friend of his, Bellows, Charles hears of the stories and is upset, challenging Zolotov to a duel
34.
The Shepherd of the Hills (film)
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The Shepherd of the Hills is a 1941 American drama film starring John Wayne, Betty Field and Harry Carey. The supporting cast includes Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond, Marjorie Main, the picture was Waynes first film in Technicolor and was based on the novel of the same name by Harold Bell Wright. The director was Henry Hathaway, who directed several other Wayne films including True Grit almost three decades later, the story was filmed previously in the silent era by author Wright himself in 1919, released on State Rights basis. It was filmed again, in 1928, at First National Pictures, in the novel shes a nurturing, kindly, loyal wife and friend, but in this film she is a shrill, nasty moonshiner. Other characters differ as markedly from Wrights novel, John Wayne filmography The Shepherd of the Hills at the Internet Movie Database The Shepherd of the Hills at the TCM Movie Database The Shepherd of the Hills at AllMovie
35.
Whistling in the Dark (1941 film)
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Whistling in the Dark is the first of three comedy films starring Red Skelton as Wally the Fox Benton, who writes and acts in radio murder mysteries. Wally is kidnapped by a cult leader, who threatens to kill Wallys girlfriend. The film was based on the Broadway play of the name by Laurence Gross. Uncredited contributing writer Elliott Nugent wrote and directed the film adaptation of the same name. The two sequels are Whistling in Dixie and Whistling in Brooklyn, Wally Benton is the star of a mystery series on radio, The Fox, which he writes himself, inventing for each episode a crime that has only one loophole so the criminal can be caught. He is about to elope with Carol Lambert, but his agent tells him he must go out with the daughter, Fran Post. Outside the city, at a mansion called Silver Haven, Joseph Jones runs a cult that promises serenity and contact with the dead, but is really just a scam to collect donations. He learns that a member has died and bequeathed a life interest in $1,000,000 to her nephew Harvey Upshaw, with the principal going to Silver Haven on Upshaws death. Jones, angry that she did not leave the money directly to his cult, determines to have Upshaw killed at once, but he must avoid suspicion. Some of Joness henchmen are fans of The Fox and admire Bentons plots, so he gets the idea to kidnap Benton, learning that two different women are expecting to meet Benton that night and one is his fiancée, he has Lambert and Post kidnapped as well. Benton tries to protect the women, but is out of his depth, after a bumbling escape attempt through a secret passage fails, he decides he needs to come up with a plot as Jones demands. He has the idea to substitute poison for the powder that Upshaw will undoubtedly take along as he flies overnight to meet his aunts lawyer. The women are aghast at Bentons cooperation, but when the poison is brought to Benton, he puts it in a packet, however, this gets lost and another packet is made up with real poison, Upshaw is in real danger. And so are Benton, Lambert, and Post, as Jones will have no reason to let them live once the plot succeeds, Benton finds a hidden telephone, but before he can reach the police, he is seen and the phone is ripped from the wires. Jones leaves and Benton is locked in with the women in the same room and he touches the telephone wires together to simulate dialing 0, but cannot talk to the operator without a telephone. He reaches the telephone operator and tries to get a message sent to Upshaws flight, but Joness man on the finds a way to disable the aircraft radio. Benton then has the operator contact his radio station, where it is almost time for The Fox and they patch his phone call through to the transmitter and he begins telling all his listeners what has been happening. But they have to speak loudly, and the one dim-witted guard who was left outside the door bursts in and they save themselves by convincing him they are just passing the time by pretending to do a radio show
36.
One Foot in Heaven
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One Foot in Heaven is a 1941 American biographical film starring Fredric March, Martha Scott, Beulah Bondi, Gene Lockhart and Elisabeth Fraser. The film was adapted by Casey Robinson from the autobiography by Hartzell Spence and it was directed by Irving Rapper. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, in Stratford, Ontario in 1904, William Spence, a medical student on the verge of becoming a doctor, receives The Call while passing a Methodist church one Sunday. His bride-to-be, Hope Morris, accepts his decision to enter the ministry with a whole heart despite the disappointment of her prominent and affluent parents. Hope yearns for a decent parsonage and a sense of permanence for their children, but uncomplainingly provides them a good life, for his part, Will understands his own nature and laughs at his own foibles, bending where he can in good conscience. He often enters situations in anger or to instruct but leaves humbled and renewed in spirit, while Will sincerely lives by and teaches by example the tenets of the Methodist Discipline, he also learns from his congregations to be flexible and change with the times. When their third child, a boy, is born, Hope and Will cannot agree on a name, Hope wants to name the baby William Spence, Jr. but Will does not like the idea of his son going without a middle name as he did. He wants the boy to have and be called in the good old Canadian custom by the name of Frazer. Will seems to give in to Hope but the following Sunday baptizes him William Frazer Spence, oldest son Hartzell has a hard time coping with the idea that a ministers son should be an example to the other boys. Will explains that a pastors family walks a tightrope, balancing with one foot on earth and one foot already in Heaven. After learning that Hartzell has been sneaking into the movies, a pastime seemingly forbidden by the Discipline and they see a western but rather than finding it sinful, Will is impressed by its moral. The following Sunday he preaches a sermon advising his congregation that people may have something to teach their elders. In the 1920s the family is assigned to a church in Denver, Colorado, in a time of economic prosperity for the country, the Spences cope with possibly their most dilapidated parsonage yet. Will has come to appreciate his wifes serenity with life and resolves to provide her a decent parsonage by building a new church and his plans at first are thwarted by power struggles among several snobbish members of the church. He loses one wealthy patron, Mrs. Thurston, her family, soon after, Hartzell is expelled from school because of a gossip campaign falsely accusing him of making a young girl pregnant and forcing her family to move to San Francisco. He seeks out the family and learns that there is no truth to any part of the rumor. Raymond Massey was Hartzell Spences choice to play his father, while his mother preferred Fredric March, the studios decision to cast March was made independently of the familys wishes. The Reverend Norman Vincent Peale was hired as advisor on the film
