1.
George B. Seitz
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George Brackett Seitz was an American playwright, screenwriter, film actor and director. Seitz did much of his work in Fort Lee, New Jersey when many other early film studios in Americas first motion picture industry were based there. He was the director of 107 films, the writer of 31 screenplays, and he worked at Columbia Pictures and at MGM where he directed 11 of the Andy Hardy series of films of the 1930s & 1940s. Although an acquaintance of the cinematographer John F. Seitz, they were not related and he was the father of George B. Seitz Jr. who was a writer/director active in the 1940s and 1950s in films and television. George B. Seitz at the Internet Movie Database
George B. Seitz
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George B. Seitz
2.
Lewis Stone
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Lewis Shepard Stone was an American actor known for his role as Judge James Hardy in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayers Andy Hardy film series and as an MGM contract player. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts to Bertrand Stone and Philena Heald Ball, Lewis served in the United States Army in the Spanish–American War, then returned to a career as a writer. In 1912 Stone found success in the popular play Bird of Paradise which starred Laurette Taylor, the play was later filmed in 1932 and 1951. Stones career was interrupted by World War I where he served again in the United States Army in the cavalry and he showed up in First Nationals 1920 Nomads of the North to good effect playing a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman. He portrayed the role in the 1922 silent film version of The Prisoner of Zenda. Stone was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929 for The Patriot, after that, he appeared in seven films with Greta Garbo, spanning both the silent and early sound periods. He played the role of Dr. Otternschlag in the Garbo film Grand Hotel, in which he utters the famous closing line and he played a larger role in the 1933 Garbo film Queen Christina. He played adventurers in the dinosaur epic The Lost World with Wallace Beery and The Mask of Fu Manchu with Boris Karloff, in 1937 Stone essayed the role which would become his most famous, that of Judge James Hardy in the Mickey Rooney Andy Hardy series. Stone appeared as the judge in fifteen movies, beginning with Youre Only Young Once, Stone died in Hancock Park, Los Angeles on September 12,1953, aged 73. He reportedly suffered an attack while chasing away some neighborhood kids who were throwing rocks at his garage. Another published report states that on that date Stone and his wife were watching television when they heard a racket in the back yard. When he investigated, Stone found lawn furniture once again floating in the pool, Stone gave chase despite his wife’s warning not to exert himself. Upon reaching the sidewalk, Stone suddenly collapsed, a gardener, Juan Vergara, witnessed the chase and summoned aid. A photo published in newspapers of the day showed Stones body on the immediately after the incident. The photo was included in Kenneth Angers Hollywood scandals book. Lewis Stone was later honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6524 Hollywood Blvd
Lewis Stone
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Photo of Stone from The Moving Picture World (1916)
Lewis Stone
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According to the Code (1916)
3.
Mickey Rooney
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Mickey Rooney was an American actor, vaudevillian, comedian and radio personality. In a career spanning nine decades and continuing until shortly before his death, a versatile performer, he became a celebrated character actor later in his career. Laurence Olivier once said he considered Rooney the best there has ever been, clarence Brown, who directed him in two of his earliest dramatic roles, National Velvet and The Human Comedy, said he was the closest thing to a genius I ever worked with. Rooney first performed in vaudeville as a child and made his debut at the age of six. At thirteen he played Puck in the play and later the 1935 film adaptation of A Midsummer Nights Dream, critic David Thomson hailed his performance as one of cinemas most arresting pieces of magic. In 1938, he co-starred in Boys Town, at nineteen he was the first teenager to be nominated for an Oscar for his leading role in Babes in Arms, and he was awarded a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1939. At the peak of his career between the ages of 15 and 25, he made films, which made him one of MGMs most consistently successful actors. Rooney was the top box office attraction from 1939 to 1941, and one of the actors of that era. Drafted into the Army during World War II, he served two years entertaining over two million troops on stage and radio and was awarded a Bronze Star for performing in combat zones. Returning from the war in 1945, he was too old for juvenile roles but too short to be a movie star. Nevertheless, Rooneys popularity was renewed with well-received supporting roles in such as Requiem for a Heavyweight, Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway in Sugar Babies, Rooney made hundreds of appearances on TV, including dramas, variety programs, and talk shows, and won an Emmy in 1964, with another Emmy plus a Golden Globe for his role in Bill. At his death, Vanity Fair called him the original Hollywood train wreck and he struggled with alcohol and pill addiction and married eight times, the first time to Ava Gardner. Despite earning millions during his career, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1962 due to mismanagement of his finances. Shortly before his death in 2014 at age 93, he alleged mistreatment by some members and testified before Congress about what he alleged was physical abuse. By the end of his life, his millions in earnings had dwindled to an estate that was valued at only $18,000 and he died owing medical bills and back taxes, and contributions were solicited from the public. His mother was a chorus girl and a burlesque performer. When Rooney was born, they were appearing in a Brooklyn production of A Gaiety Girl, Rooney later recounted in his memoirs that he began performing at the age of 17 months as part of his parents routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo
Mickey Rooney
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Rooney in 1945
Mickey Rooney
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Rooney with
Judy Garland in
Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
Mickey Rooney
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A scene from
Boys' Town (1938) with
Spencer Tracy
Mickey Rooney
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Rooney entertaining American troops in Germany in April 1945
4.
Judy Garland
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Judy Garland was an American singer, actress, and vaudevillian. Garland began performing in vaudeville with her two sisters and was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. She made more than two films with MGM, including nine with Mickey Rooney. Garlands most famous role was as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and her other roles at MGM included Meet Me in St. Louis, The Harvey Girls and Easter Parade. After 15 years, she was released from the studio and made record-breaking concert appearances, a recording career. Film appearances became fewer in her years, but included two Academy Award nominated performances in A Star Is Born and Judgment at Nuremberg. Garland received a Golden Globe Award, a Juvenile Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award, deMille Award for lifetime achievement in the film industry. She was the first woman to win a Grammy for Album of the Year for her recording of Judy at Carnegie Hall. In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the 10 greatest female stars of classic American cinema, from an early age, Garland struggled in her personal life. The pressures of adolescent stardom sent her to a psychiatrist at age 18 and her self-image was influenced by film executives who said she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. She was plagued by instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce and she also had a long battle with drugs and alcohol, which ultimately led to her death from a barbiturate overdose at the age of 47. Garland was born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10,1922, in Grand Rapids and she was the youngest child of Ethel Marion and Francis Avent Frank Gumm. Her parents were vaudevillians who settled in Grand Rapids to run a theater that featured vaudeville acts. She was of English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, named after both of her parents and baptized at a local Episcopal church, baby shared her familys flair for song and dance. The Gumm Sisters performed there for the few years, accompanied by their mother on piano. The family relocated to Lancaster, California, in June 1926, Frank purchased and operated another theater in Lancaster, and Ethel began managing her daughters and working to get them into motion pictures
Judy Garland
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Garland's birthplace in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, now a museum
Judy Garland
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Garland in 1945.
Judy Garland
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The Gumm Sisters, a.k.a. The Garland Sisters, circa 1935. Top row: Mary Jane and Dorothy Virginia Gumm; Bottom center: Frances Ethel (Judy Garland) Gumm.
Judy Garland
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Garland with
Mickey Rooney in
Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938).
5.
Cecilia Parker
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Cecilia Parker was a Canadian-born American film actress. Parker was born in Fort William, Ontario and she was brought to southern California as a child by her mother, Mrs. Naudy Anna Parker. Her father was an English soldier, Parker graduated from the Convent of the Immaculate Heart in Hollywood in June 1931. At the time she resided with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Parker, at 546 North Fuller Street in Los Angeles, Parker was selected from among a group of extras to attend the Fox Film studio training school for younger players. Soon she was selected to play opposite George OBrien in The Rainbow Trail, the Rainbow Trail, written by Zane Grey, was the novelists sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage. Parker starred with Tom Tyler and Carmelita Geraghty in a 1932-1933 movie serial produced by Universal Pictures entitled The Jungle Mystery, in July 1933, she was chosen to play the heroine in the Ken Maynard western, The Trail Drive. That same year, she was John Waynes leading lady in the first singing cowboy movie, after playing the sister of Greta Garbo in 1934s The Painted Veil, Parker signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The studio wanted a blonde who resembled Garbo as a young girl and her new contract called for a starting salary of $75 a week and scales up to $1000 a week for the seventh year. In November 1935, Parker purchased a new home in Beverly Hills, the following year she joined the ballet school of Dave Gould at MGM, along with Maureen OSullivan. By the fall of 1936, Parker was studying singing and she played Marian Hardy in the extremely popular Andy Hardy movies in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She was in the original Hardy film, A Family Affair, in 1937, mickey Rooney played the main character in the series, supported by such Hollywood pros as Lewis Stone, Ann Rutherford, and Fay Holden. The movies were directed by George one take Seitz, out West with the Hardys features the entire Hardy family on a western trek to a large ranch. Youre Only Young Once was the entry which revolved around Parkers romance with a lifeguard on Catalina Island. Parkers character, Marion, appeared in most of the movies, all was apparently forgiven, though, as she made five more pictures at MGM before she retired in 1942. Though she and the character she played were absent from the last two Andy Hardy films of the 1940s, Parker came out of retirement to play Marian Hardy in one more movie, in 1958. Andy Hardy Comes Home was an attempt to revive and update the series, Parker then returned to the real estate business that she and her husband operated in Ventura, California, and she acted only very rarely afterward. Parkers sister, Linda, was an actress who appeared in a number of uncredited roles in the early 1930s, both sisters once tested for the same part in David Copperfield. Parker was a friend of actress Anne Shirley
Cecilia Parker
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from the trailer of
Grand Central Murder (1942)
Cecilia Parker
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June Preisser Cecilia Parker
Mary Healy Peggy Moran Barbara Pepper
6.
Fay Holden
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Fay Holden, was a British-born American-based actress. She was known as Gaby Fay early in her career, Holden was born as Dorothy Fay Hammerton in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. After leaving England in 1929 Holden and her husband moved to Vancouver, British Columbia and they co-owned The Empress Theatre until 1933, and they created a theatre company, The British Guild Players, that specialized in comedies during the depression era. Eventually they left Vancouver and moved to Hollywood, Holden appeared in 46 films between 1935 and 1958, but is best known for her recurring role as Emily Hardy, Mickey Rooneys mother in the MGM Andy Hardy film series. Holden is also remembered for her performance as Hazel, the mother of Samson, deMilles Samson and Delilah, in which she utters her characters most notable line, He wants to marry a Philistine. She was married to David Clyde from 1914 until his death in 1945 and she died in Los Angeles, California, aged 79, from cancer. Fay Holden at the Internet Movie Database Fay Holden at Find a Grave Fay Holden at the Internet Broadway Database
Fay Holden
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Publicity still from about 1940
7.
Lana Turner
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Lana Turner was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly fifty-year career, Turner would achieve notoriety as both a model and a serious dramatic actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. In 1951, she was named the most glamorous woman in the history of international art, Turner was discovered in 1937 by William R. Wilkerson, founder of The Hollywood Reporter. At the age of 16, she was signed to a contract by Warner Bros. director Mervyn LeRoy. Turner attracted attention in her first film, LeRoys They Wont Forget and her auburn hair was bleached blonde for a 1939 film at MGM, and she remained blonde for the rest of her life, except for a few film roles. During the early 1940s, Turner established herself as an actress in such films as Johnny Eager, Honky Tonk, Ziegfeld Girl. She appeared in the 1941 horror film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and her popularity continued through the 1950s in such films as The Bad and the Beautiful and Peyton Place, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Turners next film, Imitation of Life, proved to be one of the greatest financial successes of her career, Turner spent most of the 1970s and early 1980s in semiretirement, only working occasionally. In 1982, she accepted a much publicized and lucrative recurring guest role in the television series Falcon Crest, Turner made her final film appearance in 1985, and died from throat cancer in 1995, aged 74. Lana Turner was born Julia Jean Turner on February 8,1921, in the mining town of Wallace. She was of Dutch, English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry, until her film career took off, young Julia Turner was known to family and friends as Judy. Turner expressed interest in performance at an age, performing short routines at her fathers Elks chapter in Wallace. Hard times eventually forced the family to relocate to San Francisco, California, on December 14,1930, her father won some money at a traveling craps game, stuffed his winnings in his left sock, and headed for home. He was later murdered on the corner of Minnesota and Mariposa Streets, on the edge of San Franciscos Potrero Hill. The robbery and homicide were never solved, Turner attended a Catholic church in Stockton, California with a local family. She converted to Catholicism taking the saints names Mildred Frances after her mother, in the mid-1930s, Mildred developed health problems and was advised by her doctor to move to a drier climate, she moved to Los Angeles with her daughter in 1936. Mildred and Lana were very poor, and Turner was sometimes separated from her mother and her mother worked eighty hours a week as a beautician to support them. After Turner was discovered, her mother became the overseer of her career, Turners discovery in Hollywood is considered by film historians to be a show-business legend
Lana Turner
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Turner in a publicity photo for Slightly Dangerous (1943)
Lana Turner
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Turner with
Clark Gable in Honky Tonk (1941)
Lana Turner
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in
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Lana Turner
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Lana Turner in
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
8.
David Snell (composer)
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David L. Snell was a pianist, conductor, composer and music director. He composed the music for over 170 shorts, series or feature films, david L. Snell was born on 10 September 1897 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He became a pianist, and studied at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Wisconsin College and he formed his own orchestra, and was the musical director for several stage productions. Snell joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayers music department in 1937, turning out music for a range of films from low-cost B movies to expensive features and he would spend his entire film career with MGM. He was conductor, composer, and music director for MGM for twenty-one years, the work could be high pressure. In November 1938 Franz Waxman had just five days to put together the score for A Christmas Carol so it could be released in time for the holiday season. Snell helped out, writing the opening and closing credit cues, Snell wrote music for many full-length films, shorts and B-movie series such as Dr. Kildare, Maisie and The Thin Man. His songs include Under The Stars, Downstream Drifter, Come Back Little Girl Of Mine, the moody music echoed Christmas carols. David L. Snell died at home in Glendale, California on March 27,1967, Snell is credited as composer in many films, including
David Snell (composer)
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David L. Snell
9.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California and it is one of the worlds oldest film studios. In 1971, it was announced that MGM would merge with 20th Century Fox, over the next thirty-nine years, the studio was bought and sold at various points in its history until, on November 3,2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MGM, is not currently affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. whose son Edgar Jr. would later buy Universal Studios, the studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were released through other studios, mostly United Artists. Kerkorian did, however, commit to increased production and a film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up production, as well as keeping production going at UA. It also incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production, the studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt, MGM was bought by Pathé Communications in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais, the major creditor. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso, and Australias Seven Network in 1996, the debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGMs ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem and he had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for a steady supply of films for his large Loews Theatres chain. With Loews lackluster assortment of Metro films, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 to improve the quality, however, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. Mayer, Loew addressed the situation by buying Louis B. Mayer Pictures on April 17,1924, Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Irving Thalberg as head of production. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years, in 1925, MGM released the extravagant and successful Ben-Hur, taking a $4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loews passed to Nicholas Schenck, in 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew familys holdings with Schencks assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with the decision, Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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MGM Tower, former company headquarters highlighted by the famous
Leo the Lion logo at the top
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Clark Gable
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Marie Dressler and
Wallace Beery in
Min and Bill (1930)
10.
Romantic comedy film
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Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is a movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily. Another definition states that its primary distinguishing feature is a plot in which two sympathetic and well-matched lovers are united or reconciled. Romantic comedy films are a genre of comedy films as well as of romance films. However a romantic comedy is classified as a film with two genres not a new genre. Some television series can also be classified as romantic comedies, a wedding-bells, fairy-tale-style happy ending is practically mandatory. The basic plot of a comedy is that two characters meet, part ways due to an argument or other obstacle, then ultimately reunite. Sometimes the two meet and become involved initially, then must confront challenges to their union. Sometimes they are hesitant to become involved because they believe that they do not like each other, because one of them already has a partner. However, the screenwriters leave clues that suggest that the characters are, in fact, attracted to each other, the protagonists often separate or seek time apart to sort out their feelings or deal with the external obstacles to their being together. While the two protagonists are separated, one or both of them realizes that they are ideal for each other, or that they are in love with each other. Then, after one of the two makes some effort to find the other person and declare their love, or through an astonishing coincidental encounter. Then, perhaps with some comic friction or awkwardness, they declare their love for each other, the couple does not, however, have to marry, or live together happily ever after. The ending of a comedy is meant to affirm the primary importance of the love relationship in its protagonists lives. There are many variations on this basic plotline, sometimes, instead of the two lead characters ending up in each others arms, another love match will be made between one of the principal characters and a secondary character. Alternatively, the film may be a rumination on the impossibility of love, the basic format of a romantic comedy film can be found in much earlier sources, such as Shakespeare plays like Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Nights Dream. Some comedy films, such as Knocked Up, combine themes of romantic comedies and stoner comedies, often known as bromance, such films usually use sexual elements which bring the two characters together. Films in this genre include American Pie 2 and even Wedding Crashers, romantic comedies have begun to spread out of their conventional and traditional structure into other territory
Romantic comedy film
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Marilyn Monroe and
Tom Ewell in
The Seven Year Itch trailer.
Romantic comedy film
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Kathryn Grayson in Seven Sweethearts (1942), a musical romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy film
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Mary Astor and
Joel McCrea in
The Palm Beach Story, a screwball romantic comedy
11.
Andy Hardy
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For those of a similar name, see Andrew Hardie. Not to be confused with The Hardy Boys or Andy Rooney, Andrew Andy Hardy is a fictional character played by Mickey Rooney in a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film series from 1937 to 1946, with an attempted revival film being released in 1958. Hardy and others were based on characters in the play Skidding by Aurania Rouverol, early films in the series focused on the entire Hardy family, but later films in the series focused on the character of Andy Hardy. All of the films were sentimental comedies celebrating ordinary American life, the initial Hardy film, A Family Affair, was based directly on Rouverols play and was produced without a view to producing a series. It featured Lionel Barrymore as Judge Hardy and Spring Byington as Mrs. Hardy, Andys parents, when the series was launched, most of the cast was changed, with the exception of Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Sara Haden as his Aunt Milly. The second and subsequent films starred Lewis Stone as Judge Hardy, Fay Holden as Mrs. Hardy, Cecilia Parker as Andys older sister Marian Hardy, the Hardys oldest child, married daughter Joan Hardy Martin, appeared only in the first film. Most of the movies were set in the Hardys fictional hometown of Carvel, located in Idaho in the original play, all of the films were sentimental comedies celebrating ordinary American life. The people in Carvel were generally pious, patriotic, generous, the town represented movie mogul Louis B. Mayers idealized vision of his adopted country and they were a big factor in Rooneys rise to stardom. The first two Hardy films dealt with the danger of adultery among the generation, but the later ones avoided such controversial themes. The central relationship in the movies was between Andy and his father, Judge Hardy, played by the grandfatherly looking Stone, was a man of absolute morality and integrity, with a stern demeanor, but a droll sense of humor. A typical plot involved Andy getting into trouble with money or girls, usually because of youthful selfishness. This would lead to a talk with his father, after which Andy would do the right thing. In three films, Rooney was paired with Judy Garland, beginning with Love Finds Andy Hardy, garlands character, Betsy Booth, is an aspiring singer and she sings in the first two of these films. However, although Garland songs were planned for the final film, unlike Garland-Rooney films outside of the Andy Hardy series, Rooneys Hardy character is not a musician, so Garland and Rooney do not perform together in the Hardy films. Rooney played the character continuously from age 16 to 25, wrapping up the series with Love Laughs at Andy Hardy, in which Hardy returned to civilian life after fighting in World War II. Twelve years later, an attempt to revive the series with an older, wiser Andy was made in 1958 with Andy Hardy Comes Home, thus, the series ended with a To Be Continued, which indeed has yet to be continued. Also, a 1940 short subject promoting the Community Chest was called Andy Hardys Dilemma, the Andy Hardy series served as a platform for MGM to introduce new performers, some of whom became stars themselves
Andy Hardy
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Judge Hardy, Andy, and Mrs. Hardy, as depicted in 1939 by
Lewis Stone,
Mickey Rooney, and
Fay Holden.
Andy Hardy
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Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in Love Finds Andy Hardy.
12.
Ann Rutherford
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Therese Ann Rutherford, known as Ann Rutherford, was a Canadian-American actress in film, radio, and television. She had a career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict during the 1930s and 1940s in the Andy Hardy series. Rutherford was born on November 2,1917, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to John Rutherford, an operatic tenor, and Lucille Mansfield. While Rutherford was still a baby, the moved to San Francisco. Soon afterwards, her parents separated and Lucille Mansfield moved to Los Angeles, California, with Ann Rutherford, while roller skating home from middle school in Hollywood, Rutherford would stop at some of the radio studios to listen to voice actors perform. After being criticized one day by her English teacher, Rutherford decided to show her up, the girl falsified an acting history and applied for work at radio station KFAC. A month later, Rutherford had a part in a serial drama. On December 31,1942, she married David May II, the grandson of the founder of the May Company department stores, on June 6,1953, Rutherford and May were divorced in a court in Juárez, Mexico. On October 7,1953, in New York City, Rutherford married actor/producer William Dozier, Dozier died in Santa Monica of a stroke on April 23,1991. In 1935, Rutherford began her Hollywood film career in the role of Joan OBrien in the dramatic film Waterfront Lady for Mascot Pictures. Rutherford soon established herself as a leading lady of Western films at Republic, costarring with actors Gene Autry. In 1937, Rutherford left Republic and signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. At MGM, Rutherford appeared as the Spirit of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol and Lydia Bennet in Pride, in 1938, MGM loaned Rutherford to Selznick International Pictures to appear as Carreen OHara, the sister of Scarlett OHara, in the film Gone with the Wind. MGM boss Louis Mayer originally refused the loan because he considered the role too minor, in December 1939, while promoting the new movie, Rutherford visited six Confederate Army veterans at the Confederate Soldiers Home near Atlanta. One of the veterans gave Rutherford a rose tied with Confederate colors. From 1937 until 1942, Rutherford portrayed Polly Benedict in the MGM Andy Hardy youth comedy film series with actor Mickey Rooney and her first film in this series was Youre Only Young Once and the last was Andy Hardys Double Life. Rutherfords performances as Andy Hardys sweet and patient girlfriend established her screen popularity, Rutherford also played Carol Lambert, comedian Red Skeltons screen girlfriend, for MGM in a series of mystery/comedies, Whistling in the Dark, Whistling in Dixie, and Whistling in Brooklyn. In the early 1940s, Rutherford left MGM to work without contract with different studios
Ann Rutherford
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Rutherford in a 1940s publicity photo
Ann Rutherford
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Ann Rutherford in
Dramatic School (1938)
Ann Rutherford
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Rutherford at the TCM Classic Film Festival in April 2010
13.
Mary Howard de Liagre
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Mary Howard de Liagre, née Rogers was an American actress usually credited as Mary Howard, or as Mary Rogers prior to 1937. Howard came from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and took dancing lessons when she was in kindergarten and she began her entertainment career as a dancer, performing in shows in New York City when she was 14. That talent ran in her family, as two sisters were in the Ziegfeld Follies. Howard helped organize the USO in Los Angeles during World War II, in 1945, she moved to New York City and married Alfred de Liagre Jr. a film producer who died in 1987
Mary Howard de Liagre
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Mary Howard de Liagre (Mary Rogers)
14.
Gene Reynolds
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Gene Reynolds is a former American actor turned award-winning television writer, director, and producer. He was one of the producers of the popular TV series M*A*S*H and he was born Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal on April 4,1923 to Frank Eugene Blumenthal and Maude Evelyn Blumenthal in Cleveland, Ohio. He was raised in Detroit, Michigan, where his father Frank was a businessman, the family relocated to Los Angeles, California, in 1934. He was contracted to MGM between 1937-1940 and he was in the U. S. Army during World War II. In 1957, Reynolds joined forces with Frank Gruber and James Brooks to create Tales of Wells Fargo for NBC, during the programs five-year run he wrote and directed numerous episodes. Additional directing credits include episodes of Leave It to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, The Farmers Daughter, My Three Sons, F Troop, Hogans Heroes, Room 222. As a writer, director, and producer, Reynolds was involved with two highly successful CBS series in the 1970s and early 1980s. Between 1972 and 1983, he produced 120 episodes of M*A*S*H, which he co-created with Larry Gelbart, during that same period, he produced 22 episodes of Lou Grant, for which he wrote five episodes and directed 11. Reynolds was elected President of the Directors Guild of America in 1993, Reynolds was married to actress-turned author Bonnie Jones, who appeared in five episodes of M*A*S*H as Lt. Barbara Bannerman, from 1967 until 1976, when the couple divorced. He and his current wife, actress Ann Sweeny, who appeared on M*A*S*H as Nurse Carrie Donovan in two episodes, married in 1979 and have one son, Andrew Reynolds. Growing Up on the Set, Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Film, the Moving Picture Boy, An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Gene Reynolds at the Internet Movie Database Gene Reynolds interview video at the Archive of American Television
Gene Reynolds
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Reynolds in the film Gallant Sons
15.
National Film Registry
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The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Boards selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The NFPB, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992,1996,2005, and again in October 2008. The NFPBs mission, to which the NFR contributes, is to ensure the survival, conservation, the 1996 law also created the non-profit National Film Preservation Foundation which, although affiliated with the NFPB, raises money from the private sector. To be eligible for inclusion, a film must be at least ten years old, for the first selection in 1989, the public nominated almost 1,000 films for consideration. Members of the NFPB then developed individual ballots of possible films for inclusion, the ballots were tabulated into a list of 25 films which was then modified by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and his staff at the Library for the final selection. Since 1997, members of the public have been able to nominate up to 50 films a year for the NFPB, the NFR includes films ranging from Hollywood classics to orphan films. A film is not required to be feature-length, nor is it required to have been released in the traditional sense. As of the 2016 listing, there are 700 films preserved in the Registry, currently, the earliest listed film is Newark Athlete, and the most recent is 13 Lakes. Counting the 11 multi-year serials in the NFR once each by year of completion, the years with the most films selected are 1928,1939, the time between a films debut and its selection varies greatly. The longest span is 119 years, Newark Athlete was originally released in 1891, the shortest span is the minimum 10 years, this distinction is shared by Raging Bull, Do the Right Thing, Goodfellas, Toy Story, Fargo and 13 Lakes. For purposes of this list, multi-year serials are counted once by year of completion
National Film Registry
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Logo for the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
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The 47-second long
The Kiss (1896) was one of the first films shown commercially to the public.
National Film Registry
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The Great Train Robbery (1903) used a variety of editing techniques that were becoming popular at the time of its release.
National Film Registry
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Although not the first animated film,
Gertie the Dinosaur became the first popular cartoon.
16.
Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, the Library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. it also maintains the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, which houses the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world and its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages. Two-thirds of the books it acquires each year are in other than English. The Library of Congress moved to Washington in 1800, after sitting for years in the temporary national capitals of New York. John J. Beckley, who became the first Librarian of Congress, was two dollars per day and was required to also serve as the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s, most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812. To restore its collection in 1815, the bought from former president Thomas Jefferson his entire personal collection of 6,487 books. After a period of growth, another fire struck the Library in its Capitol chambers in 1851, again destroying a large amount of the collection. The Library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to have two copies deposited of books, maps, illustrations and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections of British and other European works and it included several stories built underground of steel and cast iron stacks. Although the Library is open to the public, only high-ranking government officials may check out books, the Library promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book, and Poet Laureate. James Madison is credited with the idea for creating a congressional library, part of the legislation appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress. And for fitting up an apartment for containing them. Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and 3 maps, was housed in the new Capitol, as president, Thomas Jefferson played an important role in establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. The new law also extended to the president and vice president the ability to borrow books and these volumes had been left in the Senate wing of the Capitol. One of the only congressional volumes to have survived was a government account book of receipts and it was taken as a souvenir by a British Commander whose family later returned it to the United States government in 1940. Within a month, former president Jefferson offered to sell his library as a replacement
Library of Congress
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Construction of the
Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888, to May 15, 1894.
Library of Congress
Library of Congress
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The West façade of the Library of Congress in 1898
Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress inside the
U.S. Capitol Building c. 1890
17.
Stereophonic sound
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Stereophonic sound or, more commonly, stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that creates an illusion of multi-directional audible perspective. Thus the term applies to so-called quadraphonic and surround-sound systems as well as the more common two-channel. It is often contrasted with monophonic, or mono sound, where audio is heard as coming from one position, in the 2000s, stereo sound is common in entertainment systems such as broadcast radio and TV, recorded music and the cinema. The word stereophonic derives from the Greek στερεός, firm, solid + φωνή, sound, tone, voice and it was coined in 1927 by Western Electric, the signal is then reproduced over multiple loudspeakers to recreate, as closely as possible, the live sound. Secondly artificial or pan-pot stereo, in which a sound is reproduced over multiple loudspeakers. By varying the amplitude of the signal sent to each speaker an artificial direction can be suggested. The control which is used to vary this relative amplitude of the signal is known as a pan-pot, by combining multiple pan-potted mono signals together, a complete, yet entirely artificial, sound field can be created. In technical usage, true stereo sound recording and sound reproduction that uses stereographic projection to encode the relative positions of objects and events recorded. During two-channel stereo recording, two microphones are placed in strategically chosen locations relative to the source, with both recording simultaneously. The two recorded channels will be similar, but each will have distinct time-of-arrival and sound-pressure-level information, during playback, the listeners brain uses those subtle differences in timing and sound level to triangulate the positions of the recorded objects. Stereo recordings often cannot be played on systems without a significant loss of fidelity. This phenomenon is known as phase cancellation and this two-channel telephonic process was commercialized in France from 1890 to 1932 as the Théâtrophone, and in England from 1895 to 1925 as the Electrophone. Both were services available by coin-operated receivers at hotels and cafés, modern stereophonic technology was invented in the 1930s by British engineer Alan Blumlein at EMI, who patented stereo records, stereo films, and also surround sound. In early 1931, Blumlein and his wife were at a local cinema, Blumlein declared to his wife that he had found a way to make the sound follow the actor across the screen. The genesis of ideas is uncertain, but he explained them to Isaac Shoenberg in the late summer of 1931. His earliest notes on the subject are dated 25 September 1931, the application was dated 14 December 1931, and was accepted on 14 June 1933 as UK patent number 394,325. The patent covered many ideas in stereo, some of which are used today and these discs used the two walls of the groove at right angles in order to carry the two channels. Much of the development work on this system for cinematic use did not reach completion until 1935, in Blumleins short test films, his original intent of having the sound follow the actor was fully realised
Stereophonic sound
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Diagram of Clément Ader's
théatrophone prototype at the Opera during the World Exhibition in Paris (1881).
Stereophonic sound
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Label and sleeve from
Audio Fidelity Records ' second stereo demonstration record, ca. 1958.
Stereophonic sound
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HH Scott Model 350, ca. 1961: the first FM multiplex stereo tuner sold in the US
Stereophonic sound
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A compilation of LP stereo banners
18.
Betty Ross Clarke
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Betty Ross Clarke was an American stage and film actress. She appeared in more than 30 films between 1920 and 1940, including silent and sound films, in credited and uncredited roles. Betty Ross Clarke was born May Clarke on May 1,1892, in Langdon, North Dakota, at the age of 3, May Clarke moved with her family to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she was educated in the local schools and at the Stanley Hall School. She then studied dancing in New York City and spent a year on the vaudeville circuit. She had intended to pursue a career as a ballet dancer, on May 28,1921, Betty Ross Clarke married Arthur Collins, a Los Angeles banker and former lieutenant in the British Royal Flying Corps. The couple had met at a party during the filming of Mother o Mine. In 1923, Clarke and her husband moved to England, where she became a citizen, in 1926, the couple moved to Australia, where Clarke was engaged to perform in several plays. Arthur Collins and Betty Ross Clarke returned to the United States in July 1929 and she resumed her film career, primarily performing as a supporting or character actress, but also appearing in several uncredited roles. Her banker husband, who had been affected by the stock market crash of 1929, began producing plays, directing films. In 1930, Betty Ross Clarke was honored as an ardent feminist at a luncheon of the San Francisco Center of the League of Women Voters. She was lauded for her support of voting rights for women even though she herself could not vote in the United States because she did not have her citizenship papers and she finally became a naturalized U. S. citizen on December 28,1934. By that time, Betty Ross Clarke and Arthur Collins were divorced, Betty Ross Clarke died in Los Angeles, California on January 24,1970. She was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, Betty Ross Clarke made her first appearance on the stage in a stock company in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her later stock engagements included performances in Pittsburgh, Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1916, she starred in the hit play Fair and Warmer. She made her Broadway debut on September 19,1917, at the Comedy Theatre in the play The Family Exit, in the role of Evelyn de Gascoigne. She appeared in the play True to Form at the Bramhall Playhouse in September 1921, and performed the role of Liane in The Red Poppy in Greenwich Village in December 1922. After moving to England with her husband in 1923, Clarke made her London stage debut on June 2,1924, at the Royalty Theatre, other plays in which she appeared included, No Mans Land, The Monkey Talks, and The House of Glass. In 1926, Clarke was engaged to appear in theaters in Australia, where she performed in the plays The Ghost Train, Storm, Baby Cyclone, Rain, The Bride, and Tarnished
Betty Ross Clarke
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Photo of Betty Ross Clarke from the
George Grantham Bain Collection at the
Library of Congress
Betty Ross Clarke
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Cover of Movie Weekly featuring Betty Ross Clarke (misspelled as "Clark").
Betty Ross Clarke
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Still from the silent film Traveling Salesman, which starred Betty Ross Clarke (left) and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (right).
