1.
Anthology drama
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An anthology series is a radio or television series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each episode or season/series. Some anthology series, such as Studio One, began on radio, many popular old-time radio programs were anthology series. On some series, such as Inner Sanctum Mysteries, the constant was the host. One of the earliest such programs was The Collier Hour, broadcast on the NBC Blue Network from 1927 to 1932, as radios first major dramatic anthology, it adapted stories and serials from Colliers Weekly in a calculated move to increase subscriptions and compete with The Saturday Evening Post. Weird The Haunting Hour The Sealed Book Mystery in the Air The Weird Circle Quiet, the stars would own the studio and the program, as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had done successfully with Desilu studio. Powell had intended for the program to feature himself, Charles Boyer, Joel McCrea, when Russell and McCrea backed out, David Niven came on board as the third star. The fourth star was initially a guest star, CBS liked the idea, and Four Star Playhouse made its debut in fall of 1952. It ran on alternate weeks only during the first season, alternating with Amos n Andy and it was successful enough to be renewed and became a weekly program from the second season until the end of its run in 1956. Ida Lupino was brought on board as the de facto fourth star, though unlike Powell, Boyer, American television networks would sometimes run summer anthology series which consisted of unsold television pilots. Beginning in 1971, the long-run Masterpiece Theatre drama anthology series brought British productions to American television. k. a. Billy Roses Playbill Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre The Bold Ones Broadway Television Theatre Buick-Electra Playhouse Cameo Theatre Camera Three The Campbell Playhouse, Campbell Soundstage and Campbell Summer Soundstage Cavalcade of America CBS Playhouse CBS Summer Playhouse CBS Television Workshop CBS Workshop, a. k. a. CBS Repertoire Workshop Celanese Theatre Celebrity Playhouse Center Stage Cheer Television Theatre The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre a. k. a, Chevrolet on Broadway Chevron Hall of Stars Chevron Theatre Climax. Gruen Guild Theatre The Gulf Playhouse Hallmark Hall of Fame Hollywood Opening Night Hollywood Premiere Theatre, Hollywood Theatre Time International Playhouse John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You The Joseph Cotten Show, a. k. a. k. a. Max Liebman Presents Medallion Theatre, a. k. a, grimms Fairy Tale Classics Happily Ever After, Fairy Tales for Every Child The Harveytoons Show KaBlam. Late Night, Black and White Legends of Bikini Bottom Liquid Television The Looney Tunes Show Mickey Mouse Works Mickeys Mouse Tracks O Canada Off the Air Oh Yeah. Cartoons The Pink Panther Show The Popeye Show The Porky Pig Show Princes et princesses Random. M. k. a. Terribles House of Horrible The Eddie Cantor Comedy Theatre El Chapulín Colorado Ripping Yarns George Burns Comedy Week Good Heavens Human Remains Inside No. k. a. k. a. k. a. k. a, orson Welles Great Mysteries Out of the Fog Panic. Way of Life Family Theater Insight Lamp Unto My Feet Look Up, the Fisher Family Alcoa Presents, One Step Beyond Amazing Stories American Horror Story Are You Afraid of the Dark. L. k. a
2.
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
3.
English language
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English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. It is the third most common language in the world, after Mandarin. It is the most widely learned second language and a language of the United Nations, of the European Union. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch, English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible, and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries, English is an Indo-European language, and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English, Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic or North Sea Germanic languages. Modern English descends from Middle English, which in turn descends from Old English, particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other English languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Forth and Bargy dialects of Ireland. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares new language features with other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and these shared innovations show that the languages have descended from a single common ancestor, which linguists call Proto-Germanic. Through Grimms law, the word for foot begins with /f/ in Germanic languages, English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic. The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon, in the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. England and English are named after the Angles, Old English was divided into four dialects, the Anglian dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian, and the Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon. Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the period of Old English were written using a runic script. By the sixth century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms and it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩
4.
WABC (AM)
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WABC, known as NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of the Westwood One Network. WABC shares studio facilities with sister stations WNSH, WPLJ, WABCs transmitter is located in Lodi, New Jersey. Its 50,000 watt non-directional clear channel signal can be heard at night much of the eastern U. S. Beginning January 2009, its programming has also carried on WPLJs HD3 digital sub-channel. One of the countrys oldest radio stations, WABC began broadcasting, originally as WJZ in Newark, New Jersey, WABC has programmed a talk radio format since 1982. The station uses on-air slogans such as Breaking News and Stimulating Talk, New Yorks 50,000 Watt Beacon of Freedom, many WABC hosts moved on to national syndication. The station currently serves as the flagship for syndicated talk-radio hosts Mark Levin, John Batchelor and Don Imus. It was where the nationally syndicated programs hosted by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity got their start, from 1981 to 1982, WABC ran a full service news intensive adult contemporary format with some talk and sports programming weekday evenings. During this time, WABC was among the most listened to stations in North America. WABCs only current sports contract is with the United States Military Academy for Army football games. In addition to the aforementioned Yankees coverage, the station served two stints as the flagship for the New York Jets and was also the home of the New Jersey Devils beginning in 1988. WABC also previously carried Seton Hall University mens basketball, early in its Top 40 incarnation, WABC served as the original radio flagship of the New York Mets. A notable aspect of WABCs Mets coverage was Howard Cosell and former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca handling the pre-, the station lost those rights to WHN following the 1963 season. The Jets first called WABC home in the 1980s, but left toward the end of the decade for WCBS, the team would return to the station in 2000 after spending the previous seven seasons on WFAN. After then-sister station WEPN became the Jets flagship, WABC began simulcasting the games over their airwaves due to its stronger signal, the arrangement ended in 2008 as WEPN began simulcasting all its programming on two other stations. In December 2001, broadcast rights to the Yankees were lost after 21 years to WCBS, WABC also lost the radio rights to the Devils in 2005, as New Jerseys hockey team moved to WFAN to substitute for the stations loss of the New York Rangers to WEPN. The loss of evening sports programming has forced WABC to attempt to solidify its evening talk lineup, WJZs studio and transmitter were initially housed in a shack located on the factory roof, that was only accessible by ladder
5.
CBS
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
6.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
7.
Lux Video Theatre
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Lux Video Theatre is an American television anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1957. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays, the Lux Video Theatre was a spin-off from the successful Lux Radio Theater series broadcast on the NBC Blue Network and CBS. Lux Video Theatre began as a live 30-minute Monday evening CBS series on October 2,1950, in September 1953, the show relocated from New York to Hollywood. In August 1954, it moved to NBC as a show on Thursday nights. With the introduction of the format and the move to Hollywood. To introduce each act and interview the stars at the conclusion, NBC added a series of hosts, James Mason, Otto Kruger, Gordon MacRae. Kruger recalled, All I do is come up and tell the people who I am, I dont have a single thing to do with producing, directing or casting the show. Yet I get letters every week complimenting me on my production, my directing, my casting, New episodes were broadcast during the summer as the Summer Video Theatre. In 1957-58, Lux shifted sponsorship to a musical variety show. For the 1958-59 season, the series was brought back with a new name. The new series alternated weeks with Schlitz Playhouse, the series finished in the Nielsen ratings at #30 in the 1950-1951 season and #25 in 1955-1956
8.
Cecil B. DeMille
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Cecil Blount DeMille was an American filmmaker. Between 1913 and 1956, he made a total of 70 features and he is acknowledged as a founding father of the cinema of the United States and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their scale and by his cinematic showmanship. He made silent films of every genre, social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, DeMille began his career as a stage actor in 1900. He later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse Lasky, DeMilles first film, The Squaw Man, was also the first feature film shot in Hollywood. Its interracial love story made it a hit and it put Hollywood on the map. The continued success of his productions led to the founding of Paramount Pictures with Lasky and his first biblical epic, The Ten Commandments, was both a critical and financial success, it held the Paramount revenue record for twenty-five years. In 1927 he directed The King of Kings, a biography of Jesus of Nazareth, the Sign of the Cross was the first sound film to integrate all aspects of cinematic technique. Cleopatra was his first film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, after more than thirty years in film production, DeMille reached the pinnacle of his career with Samson and Delilah, a biblical epic which did an all-time record business. Along with biblical and historical narratives, he directed films oriented toward neo-naturalism. He went on to receive his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director for his circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth and his last and most famous film, The Ten Commandments, is currently the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation. He was also the first recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B, DeMille Award, which was later named in his honor. There are several variants of DeMilles surname and his familys Dutch surname was originally spelled de Mil and then became de Mille. As an adult, he adopted the spelling DeMille for professional purposes, the family name de Mille was used by his children Cecilia, John, Richard, and Katherine. DeMilles brother William and his daughters, Margaret and Agnes, as well as DeMilles granddaughter, Cecilia de Mille Presley, Cecil Blount DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, while his parents were vacationing there, and grew up in Washington, North Carolina. His father, Henry Churchill de Mille, was a North Carolina-born dramatist and lay reader in the Episcopal Church and his mother was Matilda Beatrice DeMille, whose parents were both of German Jewish heritage. She emigrated from England with her parents in 1871 when she was 18, Beatrice grew up in a middle-class English household. DeMilles mother was related to British politician Herbert Louis Samuel, DeMilles parents met as members of a music and literary society in New York
9.
Irving Cummings
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Irving Camisky was an American movie actor, director, producer and writer. Cummings was born in New York City and he is the father of the screenwriter and producer Irving Cummings, Jr. Cummings started his acting career in his late teens on Broadway stage, and appeared with the legendary Lillian Russell. He entered into movies in 1909 and quickly became a leading man. Both films are available on home video, as well as The Round-Up. Around that time, he started to direct action movies and occasional comedies, in 1934, Cummings directed Grand Canary, and in 1929, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his direction of In Old Arizona. Cummings was known for the big splashy 1930s Technicolor musicals with popular leading ladies such as Betty Grable, Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, in 1943, as part of the 50th anniversary of the birth of the motion picture industry, Cummings was awarded the Thomas A. Edison Foundation Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in the arts and sciences, Irving Cummings at the Internet Movie Database Irving Cummings at the Internet Broadway Database
10.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
11.
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
12.
Old-time radio
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The old-time radio era, sometimes referred to as the Golden Age of Radio, was an era of radio programming in the United States during which radio was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the beginning of broadcasting in the early 1920s and lasted until the 1950s. During this period radio was the only broadcast medium, and people regularly tuned into their favourite radio programs, according to a 1947 C. E. Hooper survey,82 out of 100 Americans were found to be radio listeners. Since this era, radio programming has shifted to a narrow format of news, talk, sports. It allowed subscribers to eavesdrop on live performances and hear news reports by means of a network of telephone lines. The development of radio eliminated the wires and subscription charges from this concept, on Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden is said to have broadcast the first radio program, consisting of some violin playing and passages from the Bible. The first apparent published reference to the event was made in 1928 by H. P, davis, Vice President of Westinghouse, in a lecture given at Harvard University. In 1932 Fessenden cited the Christmas Eve 1906 broadcast event in a letter he wrote to Vice President S. M, Fessendens wife Helen recounts the broadcast in her book Fessenden, Builder of Tomorrows, eight years after Fessendens death. The issue of whether the 1906 Fessenden broadcast actually happened is discussed in Donna Halpers article In Search of the Truth About Fessenden and also in James ONeals essays. It was not until after the Titanic catastrophe in 1912 that radio for communication came into vogue. Radio was especially important during World War I as it was vital for air, after the war, numerous radio stations were born in the United States and set the standard for later radio programs. The first radio program was broadcast on August 31,1920 on the station 8MK in Detroit, owned by The Detroit News. This was followed in 1920 with the first commercial station in the United States, KDKA. The first regular entertainment programs were broadcast in 1922, and on March 10, Variety carried the front page headline, a highlight of this time was the first Rose Bowl being broadcast on January 1,1923 on the Los Angeles station KHJ. Several radio networks broadcast in the United States, airing programs nationwide and their distribution made the golden age of radio possible. The networks declined in the early 1960s, Mutual and NBC both closed down their operations in the 1980s, while ABC lasted until 2007 and CBS still operates its network as of 2016. Mutual, ABC and NBCs radio assets now reside with Cumulus Medias Westwood One division through numerous mergers, cBSs radio assets are in the process of being integrated with Entercom as of 2017. Mutual was run as a cooperative in which the stations owned the network
13.
Anthology series
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An anthology series is a radio or television series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each episode or season/series. Some anthology series, such as Studio One, began on radio, many popular old-time radio programs were anthology series. On some series, such as Inner Sanctum Mysteries, the constant was the host. One of the earliest such programs was The Collier Hour, broadcast on the NBC Blue Network from 1927 to 1932, as radios first major dramatic anthology, it adapted stories and serials from Colliers Weekly in a calculated move to increase subscriptions and compete with The Saturday Evening Post. Weird The Haunting Hour The Sealed Book Mystery in the Air The Weird Circle Quiet, the stars would own the studio and the program, as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had done successfully with Desilu studio. Powell had intended for the program to feature himself, Charles Boyer, Joel McCrea, when Russell and McCrea backed out, David Niven came on board as the third star. The fourth star was initially a guest star, CBS liked the idea, and Four Star Playhouse made its debut in fall of 1952. It ran on alternate weeks only during the first season, alternating with Amos n Andy and it was successful enough to be renewed and became a weekly program from the second season until the end of its run in 1956. Ida Lupino was brought on board as the de facto fourth star, though unlike Powell, Boyer, American television networks would sometimes run summer anthology series which consisted of unsold television pilots. Beginning in 1971, the long-run Masterpiece Theatre drama anthology series brought British productions to American television. k. a. Billy Roses Playbill Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre The Bold Ones Broadway Television Theatre Buick-Electra Playhouse Cameo Theatre Camera Three The Campbell Playhouse, Campbell Soundstage and Campbell Summer Soundstage Cavalcade of America CBS Playhouse CBS Summer Playhouse CBS Television Workshop CBS Workshop, a. k. a. CBS Repertoire Workshop Celanese Theatre Celebrity Playhouse Center Stage Cheer Television Theatre The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre a. k. a, Chevrolet on Broadway Chevron Hall of Stars Chevron Theatre Climax. Gruen Guild Theatre The Gulf Playhouse Hallmark Hall of Fame Hollywood Opening Night Hollywood Premiere Theatre, Hollywood Theatre Time International Playhouse John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You The Joseph Cotten Show, a. k. a. k. a. Max Liebman Presents Medallion Theatre, a. k. a, grimms Fairy Tale Classics Happily Ever After, Fairy Tales for Every Child The Harveytoons Show KaBlam. Late Night, Black and White Legends of Bikini Bottom Liquid Television The Looney Tunes Show Mickey Mouse Works Mickeys Mouse Tracks O Canada Off the Air Oh Yeah. Cartoons The Pink Panther Show The Popeye Show The Porky Pig Show Princes et princesses Random. M. k. a. Terribles House of Horrible The Eddie Cantor Comedy Theatre El Chapulín Colorado Ripping Yarns George Burns Comedy Week Good Heavens Human Remains Inside No. k. a. k. a. k. a. k. a, orson Welles Great Mysteries Out of the Fog Panic. Way of Life Family Theater Insight Lamp Unto My Feet Look Up, the Fisher Family Alcoa Presents, One Step Beyond Amazing Stories American Horror Story Are You Afraid of the Dark. L. k. a
14.
Blue Network
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The Blue Network, and its immediate predecessor, the NBC Blue Network, were the on-air names of the now defunct American radio production and distribution service, which ran from 1927 to 1945. The Blue Network can be dated to 1923, when the Radio Corporation of America acquired WJZ, Newark from Westinghouse and moved it to New York City in May of that year. When RCA commenced operations of WRC, Washington on August 1,1923, Radio historian Elizabeth McLeod states that it would not be until 1924 that the Radio Group formally began network operations. The core stations of the Radio Group were RCAs stations WJZ and WRC, the Westinghouse station WBZ, then in Springfield, Massachusetts, and WGY, RCAs principal rival prior to 1926 was the radio broadcasting department of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company. AT&T, starting in 1921, had been using this department as a test-bed for equipment being designed and manufactured by its Western Electric subsidiary, nevertheless, the WJZ network sought to compete toe-to-toe with the AT&T network, which was built around WEAF. For example, both stations sent announcer teams to cover the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City. RCA were to receive a break in 1926, when AT&T made a decision to exit the broadcasting business. The first step by AT&T was to create the Broadcasting Company of America on May 15,1926, the Oakland Tribune stated that 4/5ths of the purchase price of WEAF could be attributed to good-will and the line access. On July 28,1926, the Washington Post reported in a story that RCA had acquired WCAP. The Oakland Tribune reported the day that WCAP had departed the field, and WRC would be operating on the frequency that they had shared. It is also announced that this opening Victor program inaugurates a new system to be operated by the National Broadcasting Company. This new chain, which will be known as the network, will allow simultaneous broadcasting from WJZ through WBZ, Springfield and Boston, KDKA, Pittsburgh. For broadcasting of the first program, therefore, the network will be joined with the red network, as the WEAF chain is designated. The Red and Blue Networks shared a pool of engineers and facilities. There are two examples, from the biggest news events of 1927. On May 20,1927, both of the NBC networks covered the return of Charles Lindbergh to America from his trans-Atlantic flight, star announcer Graham McNamee doing the honors. Three months later, a combined hookup of 67 stations on the two presented the second Dempsey–Tunney fight, broadcast by McNamee and NBC colleague Phillips Carlin. See Elizabeth McLeods discussion of surviving NBC broadcast material from this era, during the 1932–1933 season, Standard Oil of New Jersey sponsored an unusual program, the Five-Star Theater, which each weeknight presented a show in a different format
15.
National Broadcasting Company
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
16.
American Broadcasting Company
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The network is headquartered on Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in Manhattan, New York City. There are additional offices and production facilities elsewhere in New York City, as well as in Los Angeles and Burbank. Since 2007, when ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC originally launched on October 12,1943, as a radio network, separated from and serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network, which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble. It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS, in the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. Leonard Goldenson, who had been the head of UPT, made the new television network profitable by helping develop, in 1996, most of Capital Cities/ABCs assets were purchased by The Walt Disney Company. The television network has eight owned-and-operated and over 232 affiliated television stations throughout the United States, most Canadians have access to at least one U. S. ABC News provides news and features content for radio stations owned by Citadel Broadcasting. In the 1930s, radio in the United States was dominated by three companies, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Mutual Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company. The last was owned by electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation of America, in 1938, the FCC began a series of investigations into the practices of radio networks and published its report on the broadcasting of network radio programs in 1940. The report recommended that RCA give up control of either NBC Red or NBC Blue, at that time, the NBC Red Network was the principal radio network in the United States and, according to the FCC, RCA was using NBC Blue to eliminate any hint of competition. Once Mutuals appeals against the FCC were rejected, RCA decided to sell NBC Blue in 1941, the newly separated NBC Red and NBC Blue divided their respective corporate assets. Investment firm Dillon, Read & Co. offered $7.5 million to purchase the network, Edward John Noble, the owner of Life Savers candy, drugstore chain Rexall and New York City radio station WMCA, purchased the network for $8 million. Due to FCC ownership rules, the transaction, which was to include the purchase of three RCA stations by Noble, would require him to resell his station with the FCCs approval, the Commission authorized the transaction on October 12,1943. Soon afterward, the Blue Network was purchased by the new company Noble founded, Noble subsequently acquired the rights to the American Broadcasting Company name from George B. Meanwhile, in August 1944, the West Coast division of the Blue Network, both stations were then managed by Don Searle, the vice-president of the Blue Networks West Coast division. The ABC Radio Network created its audience slowly, the network also became known for such suspenseful dramas as Sherlock Holmes, Gang Busters and Counterspy, as well as several mid-afternoon youth-oriented programs. S. From Nazi Germany after its conquest, to pre-record its programming, while its radio network was undergoing reconstruction, ABC found it difficult to avoid falling behind on the new medium of television. To ensure a space, in 1947, ABC submitted five applications for television station licenses, the ABC television network made its debut on April 19,1948, with WFIL-TV in Philadelphia becoming its first primary affiliate
17.
CBS Radio
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CBS Radio is a radio broadcasting company owned by CBS Corporation. It is among the United States largest radio groups, operating 116 radio stations in 26 media markets. In 1999, Infinity became a division of Viacom, in 2005, Viacom spun CBS and Infinity Broadcasting back into a company. In 2016, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves stated that the company was exploring selling or spinning off CBS Radio. While the company announced its intent to perform a public offering. CBS Radio is one of the oldest units within CBS Corporation, however, the actual CBS Radio Network was launched in 1927, when CBS itself was known as United Independent Broadcasters. Columbia Records later joined in and that company was renamed the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System, in September 1927, Columbia Records sold the company to William S. Paley and in 1928, Paley streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. It became a traded company twice, in 1986. Westinghouse Electric Corporation, which acquired CBS, Inc. in 1995, Westinghouse acquired American Radio Systems in 1997. In 1999, CBS Corporation was merged into Viacom, in August 2006, CBS Radio announced the sale of its 15 radio stations in Cincinnati, Ohio, Memphis, Tennessee, Austin, Texas, and Rochester, New York to Entercom Communications. This group deal was granted FCC approval in mid-November 2007 after it faced regulatory review and numerous challenges for over a year, several other stations, most in smaller markets, have also been sold to companies like Border Media Partners and Peak Media Corporation. On April 30,2008, CBS Radio and AOL entered a partnership and these stations were folded into the AOL Radio mobile app. On July 31,2008, CBS Radio announced that it would sell 50 more radio stations in 12 mid-size markets, on December 15,2008, CBS Radio and Clear Channel Communications reached an agreement to swap seven stations. The deal closed on April 1,2009, on December 20,2008, CBS Radio announced that it would sell the entire Denver cluster to Wilks Broadcasting for $19.5 Million, including KIMN, KWOF, and KXKL. On August 10,2009, CBS Radio announced that it would sell the entire Portland cluster to Alpha Broadcasting for $40 Million, the stations included in the sale are KCMD, KINK, KUFO, and KUPL. On February 4,2010, all CBS Radio stations, as well as AOL Radio, music Radio have restricted all non U. S. listeners from streaming online content. CBS Radio redirects to sister property Last. fm,2011 saw the biggest AC format removal of the company dropping AC for hot adult contemporary on Washington, D. C. s WIAD in March, followed by New York Citys WWFS on October 12. On August 1, WCFS-FM Chicago removed its AC format for all-news to simulcast WBBM, by November 2011, WLTE in Minneapolis/St
18.
Columbia Broadcasting System
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
19.
NBC Radio
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
20.
Unilever
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Unilever is a Dutch-British transnational consumer goods company co-headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands and London, United Kingdom. Its products include food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products and it is the worlds largest consumer goods company measured by 2012 revenue. Unilever is the worlds largest producer of food spreads, such as margarine, Unilever is one of the oldest multinational companies, its products are available in around 190 countries. It is a company consisting of Unilever N. V. based in Rotterdam. The two companies operate as a business, with a common board of directors. Unilever is organised into four main divisions – Foods, Refreshment, Home Care and it has research and development facilities in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, China, India and the United States. Unilever was founded in 1930 by the merger of the Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie, during the second half of the 20th century the company increasingly diversified from being a maker of products made of oils and fats, and expanded its operations worldwide. It has made numerous acquisitions, including Lipton, Brooke Bond, Chesebrough-Ponds, Best Foods, Ben & Jerrys, Alberto-Culver. Unilever divested its speciality chemicals businesses to ICI in 1997, in 2015, under leadership of Paul Polman, the company gradually shifted its focus towards health and beauty brands and away from food brands showing slow growth. Unilever N. V. has a listing on Euronext Amsterdam and is a constituent of the AEX index. Unilever plc has a listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index. The company is also a lux of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, in 1872, Anton Jurgens, founded the first margarine factory in the world in Oss, Netherlands. Then, in 1888, Samuel van den Bergh, also from Oss and these two companies merged in 1927 to form Margarine Unie. The initial harvesting of palm oil was from British West Africa, in 1911, the company received a concession for 750,000 hectares of forest in Belgian Congo, mostly south of Bandundu, where a system of forced labour operated. In 1922 Lever Brothers acquired Mac Fisheries, owner of T, the merger made sound commercial sense, as palm oil was a major raw material for both margarines and soaps, and could be imported more efficiently in larger quantities. In the 1930s business grew and new ventures were launched in Africa, the Nazi occupation of Europe during the Second World War meant that Unilever was unable to reinvest its capital into Europe, so it instead acquired new businesses in the UK and the US. In 1943 it acquired T. J. Lipton, a majority stake in Frosted Foods and Batchelors Peas, after 1945 Unilevers once successful US businesses began to decline. As a result, Unilever began to operate a hands off policy towards the subsidiaries, sunsilk was first launched in the UK in 1954
21.
Lux (soap)
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LUX is a global brand developed by Unilever. The range of products includes beauty soaps, shower gels, bath additives, hair shampoos, Lux started as “Sunlight Flakes” laundry soap in 1899. In 1925, it became the first mass-market toilet soap in the world and it is noted as a brand that pioneered female celebrity endorsements. As of 2009, Lux revenue was estimated at €1 billion, today, Lux is the market leader in countries like India, Pakistan, Brazil, Thailand and South Africa Developed by Unilever, Lux is now headquartered in Singapore. The brand was founded by the Lever Brothers in 1899 and now known as Unilever. The name changed from “Sunlight Flakes” to “Lux” in 1900, a Latin word for “light” and suggestive of “luxury. ”Lux toilet soap was launched in the United States in 1925 and in the United Kingdom in 1928. Subsequently, Lux soap has been marketed in several forms, including handwash, shower gel, lux’s early advertising campaigns aimed to educate users about its credentials as a laundry product and appeared in magazines such as Ladies Home Journal. By the early 1920s, it was a successful brand and in 1924. Introduced in the United States in 1924, Lux became the world’s first mass market toilet soap with the tagline “made as fine as French Soap”, in the first two years of launch, Lux concentrated on building its beauty soap credentials. Advertisements offered consumers “a beauty soap made in the French method” at an affordable price, made with fine-texture, rich in fragrance, and manufactured using a method created in France, the first Lux toilet soap was sold for 10 cents apiece. This era saw key launches of LUX in the UK, India, Argentina, the brand concentrated on building its association with the increasingly popular movie world, focusing more on movie stars and their roles rather than on the product. In 1929, advertising featured 26 of the biggest female stars of the day and this was followed by Hollywood directors talking about the importance of smooth and youthful skin. This pioneered the trend of celebrity product endorsements, in 1931, Lux launched a campaign with older stars, “I am over 31”. The series of print ads had stars talking about preserving youthful skin, while still retaining the star element, the focus shifted to the consumer and the role of the brand in her life. Advertising commercials showed ordinary looking women with direct references to leading ladies from the movies such as Deanna Durbin, in the 1960s, advertising was shifted to product stories and the romanticizing of brand through its “sensorial & emotional” dimensions. This was the era of film star feeling’ and the ‘Golden Lux’, featuring stars such as Sandra Dee, Diana Rigg. The bathing ritual, the element that has been the imagery of Lux, was created in this era. The brand also moved forward with launching LUX in the Middle East, the executions were more of ‘a day in the life’ of the stars with focus on their ‘natural beauty’
22.
Seventh Heaven (1927 film)
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7th Heaven is a 1927 American silent romantic drama directed by Frank Borzage, and starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. The film is based upon the 1922 play Seventh Heaven, by Austin Strong and was adapted for the screen by Benjamin Glazer, 7th Heaven was initially released as a standard silent film. On September 10,1927, Fox Film Corporation re-released the film with a synchronized Movietone soundtrack with a musical score, upon its release, 7th Heaven was a critical and commercial success and helped to establish Fox Film Corporation as a major studio. It was one of the first of three films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 1st Academy Awards held on May 16,1929, Janet Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film. Director Frank Borzage also won the first Academy Award for Best Directing while screenwriter Benjamin Glazer won the first Academy Award for Best Writing. In 1995, 7th Heaven was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, when the play was adapted for the screen, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell were cast in the lead roles. The pairing proved to be so popular, the two went on to star in 11 more films together and were dubbed Americas Favorite Lovebirds, 7th Heaven features the song Diane by Ernö Rapée and Lew Pollack, who wrote the song specifically for the film. The song is included on the version of the film. 7th Heaven initially premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles replacing another Fox melodrama What Price Glory. which had been playing since November 1926, a second opening was held at the Sam H. Harris Theatre in New York City on May 25. Both openings earned a total of $14,500, a series of Movietone shorts featuring Ben Bernie and his Orchestra, Gertrude Lawrence, Raquel Meller, and Charles Chic Sale preceded the film. Upon its release, 7th Heaven was a critical and commercial success, the critic also praised Borzages direction, stating that the director has given it all that he could put through the medium of the camera. The film went on to play for 19 weeks in New York City, the re-release version premiered at New York Citys Roxy Theatre on September 10,1927. By 1932, 7th Heaven had become the 13th-highest-grossing American silent, a comparatively unknown 1937 remake of the film was produced as a sound feature, starring Simone Simon, James Stewart, Jean Hersholt, and Gregory Ratoff, with Henry King directing. Unlike the 1927 version, the remake was not as financially successful. On October 17,1938, a adaptation of 7th Heaven aired on the Lux Radio Theatre, starring Don Ameche as Chico. A television adaptation was aired on October 26,1953, on the anthology series Broadway Television Theatre, the episode stars Hurd Hatfield and Geraldine Brooks and was directed by Robert St. Aubrey. On May 26,1955, a musical version of the film opened at the ANTA Theatre starring Gloria DeHaven. It closed on July 2,1955, after 44 performances, on December 9,2008, 7th Heaven was included in the Murnau, Borzage and Fox DVD box set released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
23.
Miriam Hopkins
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Ellen Miriam Hopkins was an American film and TV actress known for her versatility. She first signed with Paramount in 1930, working with Ernst Lubitsch and Joel McCrea and her long-running feud with Bette Davis was publicized for effect. Later she became a pioneer of TV drama, Hopkins was a distinguished Hollywood hostess, who moved in intellectual and creative circles. Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Bainbridge and her maternal great-grandfather, the fourth mayor of Bainbridge, helped establish St. Johns Episcopal Church, in Bainbridge, where Hopkins sang in the choir. In 1909, she lived in Mexico. After her parents separated, she moved as a teen with her mother to Syracuse, New York, to be near her uncle, Thomas Cramer Hopkins and she attended Goddard Seminary in Barre, Vermont and Syracuse University. She became estranged from her father, and when at the age of 19 she applied for a passport in 1922 in preparation for a tour of South America. At age 20, Hopkins became a girl in New York City. In 1930, she signed with Paramount Pictures, and made her film debut in Fast. Her first great success was in the 1931 horror drama film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in which she portrayed the character Ivy Pearson, a prostitute who becomes entangled with Jekyll and Hyde. Her pre-Code films were considered even at that time, with The Story of Temple Drake depicting a rape scene and Design for Living featuring a ménage à trois with Fredric March. Hopkins was one of the first actresses approached to play the role of Ellie Andrews in It Happened One Night and she did audition for the role of Scarlett OHara in Gone with the Wind, having one advantage none of the other candidates had, she was a native Georgian. But the part went to Vivien Leigh, Hopkins had well-publicized fights with her arch-enemy Bette Davis, when they co-starred in their two films The Old Maid and Old Acquaintance. Davis admitted to enjoying very much a scene in Old Acquaintance in which she shakes Hopkins forcefully during a scene where Hopkins character makes unfounded allegations against Daviss. There were even press photos taken with both divas in a ring with gloves up and director Vincent Sherman between the two. Davis described Hopkins as a good actress but also terribly jealous in later interviews. After Old Acquaintance, Hopkins did not work again in films until The Heiress, in Mitchell Leisens 1951s comedy The Mating Season, she gave a comic performance as Gene Tierneys characters mother. She also acted in The Childrens Hour, which is the basis of her film These Three
24.
John Boles (actor)
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John Boles was an American actor best known for playing Victor Moritz in the 1931 film Frankenstein. Boles was born in Greenville, Texas to a middle-class family and he graduated with honors from the University of Texas in 1917. He returned to Greenville, where he was selected by a producer to act in an opera at the King Opera House. This experience convinced John that he preferred music and the stage to the preference of his parents, during World War I, he was a US spy in Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey. He started out in Hollywood in silent movies, but became a star with the advent of talkies. After the war, Boles moved to New York to study music and he quickly became well known for his talents and was selected to replace the leading man in the 1923 Broadway musical Little Jesse James. He became a star on Broadway and attracted the attention of Hollywood producers and actors. He was hired by MGM to appear in a silent film in 1924 and he starred in two more films for that studio before returning to New York and the stage. In 1927, he returned to Hollywood to star in The Love of Sunya opposite Gloria Swanson, unfortunately, because the movies were still silent he was unable to show off his singing ability until late in the decade. In 1929, Warner Brothers hired him to star in their lavish musical operetta The Desert Song and this film featured sequences in Technicolor and was a box-office success. Soon after, Radio Pictures selected him to play the man in their extravagant production of Rio Rita. Audiences were enthralled by his voice, and John Boles suddenly found himself in huge demand. RCA Victor even hired him to make records of songs that he had sung in his films. As soon as Rio Rita was completed, Boles went back to Warner Brothers as the man in an even more extravagant musical entitled Song of the West that was filmed entirely in Technicolor. Shortly after this film, Universal Pictures offered John Boles a contract and he starred in a number of pictures for them, most notably the all-Technicolor musical revue entitled The King of Jazz and a historical operetta entitled Captain of the Guard. In 1931, he starred in One Heavenly Night, which would prove to be his last major musical, Boles portrayed Victor Moritz in Frankenstein. In 1943, he co-starred with Mary Martin and Kenny Baker in One Touch of Venus, Boles retired from the screen and stage in 1952, after starring opposite Paulette Goddard in Babes in Baghdad
25.
Marlene Dietrich
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Marie Magdalene Marlene Dietrich was a German actress and singer who held both German and American citizenship. Throughout her unusually long career, which spanned from the 1910s to the 1980s, in the 1920s in Berlin, Dietrich acted on the stage and in silent films. Her performance as Lola-Lola in The Blue Angel brought her international fame, Dietrich starred in Hollywood films such as Morocco, Shanghai Express, and Desire. She successfully traded on her glamorous persona and exotic looks, throughout World War II, she was a high-profile entertainer in the United States. Although she still made occasional films after the war, Dietrich spent most of the 1950s to the 1970s touring the world as a marquee live-show performer. Dietrich was noted for her efforts during the war, housing German and French exiles, providing financial support. For her work on improving morale on the front lines during the war, she received honors from the United States, France, Belgium. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Dietrich the ninth-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema, Dietrich was born on 27 December 1901 on Leberstraße 65 in the neighborhood of Rote Insel in Schöneberg, now a district of Berlin. She was the younger of two daughters of Wilhelmina Elisabeth Josephine and Louis Erich Otto Dietrich, who married in December 1898, Dietrichs mother was from an affluent Berlin family who owned a jewelry and clock making firm. Her father was a lieutenant who died in 1907. Von Losch never officially adopted the Dietrich girls, so Dietrichs surname was never von Losch, Dietrichs family nicknamed her Lena and Lene. Around age 11, she contracted her two first names to form the name Marlene, Dietrich attended the Auguste-Viktoria Girls School from 1907 to 1917 and graduated from the Victoria-Luise-Schule in 1918. She studied the violin and became interested in theater and poetry as a teenager. Her dreams of becoming a concert violinist were curtailed by a wrist injury and she was fired after only four weeks. Her earliest professional stage appearances were as a girl on tour with Guido Thielschers Girl-Kabarett vaudeville-style entertainments. She did not attract any attention at first. She made her film debut playing a bit part in the film The Little Napoleon and she met her future husband, Rudolf Sieber, on the set of Tragödie der Liebe in 1923. Dietrich and Sieber were married in a ceremony in Berlin on 17 May 1923
26.
Clark Gable
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William Clark Gable was an American film actor, often referred to as The King of Hollywood or just simply as The King. Gable began his career as an actor and appeared as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926, and progressed to supporting roles with a few films for MGM in 1931. The next year, he landed his first leading Hollywood role and he also starred with Lana Turner in four features, and with Norma Shearer and Ava Gardner in three each. Gables final film, The Misfits, united him with Marilyn Monroe, Gable is considered one of the most consistent box-office performers in history, appearing on Quigley Publishings annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll 16 times. He was named the seventh-greatest male star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute, William Clark Gable was born in Cadiz, Ohio, to William Henry Will Gable, an oil-well driller, and his wife, Adeline. Gable was named William after his father, but even in childhood and he was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate. Among Gables ancestors were Pennsylvania Dutch, Rhinelanders, and Bavarians, when he was six months old, his mother had him baptized as a Roman Catholic. She died when he was ten months old, possibly from a brain tumor, will Gable refused to raise his son Catholic, provoking criticism from Adelines side of the family. The dispute was resolved when Will Gable agreed to allow his son to spend time with his uncle, Charles Hershelman. In April 1903, Gables father married Jennie Dunlap, whose family came from the neighboring town of Hopedale. Gable was a tall, shy child with a loud voice and his stepmother raised him to be well-dressed and well-groomed. Jennie played the piano and gave her lessons at home. Later he took up brass instruments, at 13, he was the only boy in the mens town band. He was very mechanically inclined and loved to strip down and repair cars with his father, though his father insisted on Gable doing manly things, like hunting and hard physical work, Gable loved language. Among trusted company, he would recite Shakespeare, particularly the sonnets, will Gable agreed to buy a 72-volume set of The Worlds Greatest Literature to improve his sons education, but claimed he never saw his son use it. In 1917, when Gable was in school, his father had financial difficulties. Will decided to settle his debts and try his hand at farming, despite his fathers insistence that he work the farm, Gable soon left to work in Akron for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. At 17, Clark Gable was inspired to be an actor after seeing the play The Bird of Paradise, by then, his stepmother had died, and his father moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to go back to the oil business
27.
Leslie Howard (actor)
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Leslie Howard was an English stage and film actor, director and producer. Howard also wrote stories and articles for The New York Times, The New Yorker. Howard was one of the biggest box-office draws and movie idols of the 1930s but is probably best remembered for playing Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, Howards Second World War activities included acting and filmmaking. Howard was born Leslie Howard Steiner to a British mother, Lilian, Howard was educated at Alleyns School, London. He worked as a clerk before enlisting at the outbreak of the Great War. He served in the British Army as a subaltern in the Northamptonshire Yeomanry but suffered shell shock, Outward Bound and The Green Hat. He became an undisputed Broadway star in Her Cardboard Lover, Howard would return, however, many times—later repeating the Standish role in the 1933 film version of Berkeley Square. The stage, however, continued to be an important part of his career, Howard frequently juggled acting, producing and directing duties in the Broadway productions in which he starred. Howard was also a dramatist and starred in the Broadway production of his play, Murray Hill and he played Matt Denant in John Galsworthys 1927 Broadway production Escape in which he first made his mark as a dramatic actor. His stage triumphs continued with The Animal Kingdom and The Petrified Forest and he later repeated both roles in the film versions. Howards production, his stage role, lasted for only 39 performances before closing. Howard was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981, in 1920 Howard suggested forming a film production company, British Comedy Films Ltd. to his friend Adrian Brunel. The two eventually settled on the name Minerva Flims Ltd, the Companys Board of Directors consisted of Howard, Brunel, C. Aubrey Smith, Nigel Playfair and A. A. Milne, one of the Companys investors was H. G. Wells. Early films include four written by A. A. Milne, including The Bump, aubrey Smith, Twice Two, Five Pounds Reward, and Bookworms, the latter two starring Howard. Some of these survive in the archives of the British Film Institute. Following his move to Hollywood, Howard often played stiff upper lipped Englishmen and he appeared in the film version of Outward Bound, though in a different role than the one he portrayed on Broadway. He had second billing under Norma Shearer in A Free Soul and he starred in the film version of Berkeley Square, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor
28.
Edward Arnold (actor)
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Edward Arnold was an American actor. Arnold was born as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider on the Lower East Side of New York City and his schooling came at the East Side Settlement House. Arnold was married three times, Harriet Marshall, with whom he had three children, Elizabeth, Jane and William, Olive Emerson and Cleo McLain, interested in acting since his youth, Arnold made his professional stage debut in 1907. He found work as an extra for Essanay Studios and World Studios, in 1919, he left film for a return to the stage, and did not appear again in movies until he made his talkie debut in Okay America. He recreated one of his roles in one of his early films. His role in the 1935 film Diamond Jim boosted him to stardom and he reprised the role of Diamond Jim Brady in the 1940 film Lillian Russell. Arnold appeared in over 150 movies, although he was labeled box office poison in 1938 by an exhibitor publication, he never lacked for work. Rather than continue in leading man roles, he gave up losing weight, Arnold was quoted as saying, The bigger I got, the better character roles I received. He was such an actor, he often worked on two pictures at the same time. Arnold was an expert at playing rogues and authority figures, and he was the first actor to portray Rex Stouts famous detective Nero Wolfe, starring in Meet Nero Wolfe, the film based on the first novel in the series. He played blind detective Duncan Maclain in two based on the novels by Baynard Kendrick, Eyes in the Night and The Hidden Eye. From 1947 to 1953, Arnold starred in the ABC radio program Mr. President and he also played a lawyer, Mr. Reynolds, in The Charlotte Greenwood Show. In 1953, he was host of Spotlight Story on Mutual, Arnold was host for Your Star Showcase, a series of 52 half-hour television dramas. Released by Television Programs of America, the series was launched January 1,1954, to run in 1950 cities. He also co-starred in Ever Since the Day, an episode of Ford Theatre on NBC, midwestern University awarded Arnold an honorary Doctor of Letters degree on May 24,1951. Arnold has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6225 Hollywood Blvd, Arnold was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1940–42. In 1940, his autobiography, Lorenzo Goes to Hollywood, was published and he was also the co-founder of the I Am An American Foundation. Starting in the 1940s, Arnold became involved in Republican politics and was mentioned as a possible G. O. P. candidate for the United States Senate
29.
Sponsor (commercial)
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Sponsoring something is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is known as sponsor. Sponsorship is a cash and/or in-kind fee paid to a property in return for access to the commercial potential associated with that property. While the sponsoree may be nonprofit, unlike philanthropy, sponsorship is done with the expectation of a commercial return, while sponsorship can deliver increased awareness, brand building and propensity to purchase, it is different from advertising. Unlike advertising, sponsorship can not communicate specific product attributes, nor can it stand alone, as sponsorship requires support elements. A range of psychological and communications theories have been used to explain how commercial sponsorship works to impact consumer audiences, cornwell, Weeks and Roy have published an extensive review of the theories so far used to explain commercial sponsorship effects. Title sponsor is highest status of sponsorship and it characterizes the most significant contribution to a company in organizing and hosting an event. Often the name of sponsor is placed next to the name of competition, teams. In case of title sponsors presence the general sponsor position may remain free, general sponsor is a sponsor that makes one of the largest contributions and that receives for it the right to use the image of competition as well as extensive media coverage. If necessary, the status of the sponsor may be supplemented by the general sponsors for certain categories. Official sponsor is a sponsor that makes a part of raised funds. Typically, the status may be granted by category. Technical sponsor is a sponsor which promotes organization of sporting events through the partial or full payment of goods, participating sponsor is a company, the sponsorship fee size of which usually does not exceed 10% of total raised funds. Informational sponsor is an organization that provides support through media coverage, conducting PR-actions, joint actions. All sponsorship should be based on contractual obligations between the sponsor and the sponsored party, sponsors and sponsored parties should set out clear terms and conditions with all other partners involved, to define their expectations regarding all aspects of the sponsorship deal. Sponsorship should be recognisable as such, the terms and conduct of sponsorship should be based upon the principle of good faith between all parties to the sponsorship. There should be clarity regarding the rights being sold and confirmation that these are available for sponsorship from the rights holder. Sponsored parties should have the right to decide on the value of the sponsorship rights that they are offering
30.
Lever Brothers
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Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by brothers William Hesketh Lever and James Darcy Lever. They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson, in 1930, Lever Brothers merged with Margarine Unie to form Unilever. Starting with a grocery business begun by his father, William Lever. The brothers teamed up with a Bolton chemist, William Hough Watson, Watson invented the process which resulted in a new soap, using glycerin and vegetable oils such as palm oil, rather than tallow. The resulting soap was a good, free-lathering soap, at first named Honey Soap then later named Sunlight Soap, production reached 450 tons per week by 1888. Larger premises were built on marshes at Bromborough Pool on the Wirral Peninsula at what became Port Sunlight, though the company was named Lever Brothers, William Levers brother and co-director James never took a major part in running the business. He fell ill in 1895, probably as a result of diabetes, Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its employees. By 1900 Lifebuoy, Lux and Vim brands had been added and subsidiaries had set up in the United States, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Germany. By 1911 the company had its own oil palm plantations in Belgian Congo, Lever Brothers Ltd also acquired other soap companies including A&F Pears, Gossages of Widnes, Watsons of Leeds, Crosfields of Warrington, Hazlehurst & Sons of Runcorn and Hudsons of Liverpool. The town Leverville was founded in the Bandundu district, named after William Lever, Lever Brothers rode the cresting late-Victorian consumer revolution to build a vast worldwide industrial empire. Four years after William Levers death in 1925, his enterprises were amalgamated as Unilever, by 1930, it employed 250,000 people and in terms of market value, was the largest company in Britain. The company grew and operated until 1930, when it merged with a Dutch margarine company, Margarine Unie, to form Unilever, as part of the agreement, Lever Brothers changed its name to Unilever plc, and forms the British half of the dual-listed company. Although the two companies have separate shareholders and stock exchange listings, they have a board of directors. The Lever Brothers name was kept for a time as an imprint, as well as the name of the US subsidiary, Lever Brothers Company, Lever Brothers was sold to a US capital firm Pensler Capital Corporation and renamed Korex in 2008. Korex Don Valley assumed operations of the Lever Brothers Toronto plant and it has since closed and gone bankrupt. The Toronto plant is now being redeveloped into an office and industrial district by First Gulf Corporation, among its presidents was Charles Luckman who in the 1950s championed the construction of the Lever House in New York City. Breeze detergent Lever & Kitchen Lever Brothers Factory originally located in Balmain, New South Wales, Australia Port Sunlight
31.
Hollywood
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
32.
Morocco (film)
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Morocco is a 1930 American Pre-Code romance drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, and Adolphe Menjou. The film is most famous for the scene in which Dietrich performs a song dressed in a tailcoat and kisses another woman. Morocco was nominated for four Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Director. In 1992, Morocco was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, the film is set in the late 1920s. It opens in Morocco, with the French Foreign Legion returning from a campaign, among them is Légionnaire Private Tom Brown. Meanwhile, on a bound for Morocco is the disillusioned nightclub singer Amy Jolly. Wealthy La Bessière attempts to make her acquaintance, offering to assist her on her first trip to Morocco, when she politely refuses any help, he gives her his calling card, which she later tears up and tosses away. They meet again at the nightclub where she is a new headliner, also in the audience is Private Tom Brown. Amy, who comes out in a tophat and tails, is first greeted by boos, Tom begins to clap, interrupting their jeers, and others follow suit. After the noise subsides she sings her number and is met with ecstatic applause, seeing a woman in the audience with a flower in her hair, she asks if she may keep it, to which the woman responds of course. She playfully kisses the woman on the mouth, and throws the flower to Private Tom Brown and her second performance, this time in feminine dress, is also a hit. After the number she sells apples to the audience, including La Bessière, when Amy gives the latter his change, she slips him her key. That night, Tom sets out to take Amy up on her offer, on the street he encounters Adjudant Caesars wife. It is clear that she has a past clandestine relationship with him, which she desires intensely to maintain, entering Amys house, they become acquainted. Her house is plastered with photos from her past, which she, like a Foreign Legion soldier and he asks Amy if the man in the photographs is her husband, and she answers that she has never found someone good enough, a sentiment shared by Tom. She has become embittered with life and men after repeated betrayals and he answers that he is the wrong man for that, and that no one should have faith in him. As they talk, she finds herself coming to like him, unwilling to risk heartbreak once again, she asks him to leave before anything serious happens. As he leaves, he encounters Caesars wife again and her husband, Toms commanding officer, watches undetected from the shadows
33.
The Thin Man (film)
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The Thin Man is a 1934 American Pre-Code comedy-mystery film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The film stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, Nick is a hard-drinking, retired private detective and their wire-haired fox terrier Asta is played by canine actor Skippy. The films screenplay was written by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, in 1934, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The titular Thin Man is not Nick Charles, but the man Charles is initially hired to find – Clyde Wynant. The Thin Man moniker was thought by many viewers to refer to Nick Charles and, after a time, Nick Charles, a retired detective, and his wife Nora are attempting to settle down. They are based in San Francisco but decide to spend the Christmas holidays in New York, there Nick is pressed back into service by Dorothy Wynant, a young woman whose father was an old client of Nicks. The man, Clyde Wynant, was supposed to be on a business trip and promised to be home before his daughters wedding. She convinces Nick to take the case, much to the amusement of his socialite wife, the detective begins to uncover clues and eventually solves the mystery of the disappearance through a series of investigative steps. The murderer is revealed in a classic dinner-party scene that features all of the suspects. A skeletonized body, found during the investigation, had assumed to be that of a fat man because it is wearing oversize clothing. The clothes are revealed to be planted, and the identity of the body is determined by an old war wound to the leg. It turns out that the belongs to a thin man. The double murder has been disguised in such a way as to make it seem that Wynant is the killer, the real killer is uncovered at the dinner party, before he almost takes the life of someone who knows too much. The film was based on the novel of the name by Dashiell Hammett. Hammetts inspiration drew on his experiences as a union-busting Pinkerton detective in Butte, Montana, Hammett based Nick and Noras banter upon his rocky on-again, off-again relationship with playwright Lillian Hellman. The novel was released in January 1934, MGM loved the novel and paid Hammett $21,000 for the screen rights to the novel. The screenplay was written by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, who were a couple since 1931. Director W. S. Van Dyke encouraged them to use Hammetts writing as a basis only, Skippy played Asta, the dog of Nick and Nora
34.
Myrna Loy
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Myrna Loy was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to a career following a few minor roles in silent films. She was originally typecast in roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent. During World War II, Loy served as assistant to the director of military and she was later appointed a member-at-large of the U. S. While the height of her popularity was during the 1930s and 40s, she continued to pursue stage, television. Loy was born in Helena, Montana, the daughter of Adelle Mae and rancher David Franklin Williams and she had a younger brother, David Williams. Loys paternal grandparents were Welsh, and her grandparents were Scottish and Swedish. Her first name was derived from a stop near Broken Bow, Nebraska. Her father was also a banker and real estate developer and the youngest man elected to the Montana state legislature. Her mother studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, during the winter of 1912, Loys mother nearly died from pneumonia, and her father sent his wife and daughter to La Jolla, California. Loys mother saw great potential in Southern California, and during one of her husbands visits, among the properties he bought was land he later sold at a considerable profit to Charlie Chaplin so the filmmaker could construct his studio there. Although her mother tried to persuade her husband to move to California permanently, he preferred ranch life and the three eventually returned to Montana. Loys father died on November 7,1918, of Spanish influenza, and Loys mother was able to realize her dream to permanently relocate her family to California. Loy attended the exclusive Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles, California, when her teachers objected to her participating in theatrical arts, her mother enrolled her in Venice High School, and at 15, she began appearing in local stage productions. In 1921, Loy posed for Venice High School sculpture teacher Harry Fielding Winebrenner for the central figure Inspiration in his sculpture group Fountain of Education. Completed in 1922, the group was erected in front of the campus outdoor pool in May 1923 where it stood for decades. Fountain of Education can be seen in the scenes of the 1978 film Grease. Loy left school at the age of 18 to help with the familys finances and she obtained work at Graumans Egyptian Theatre, where she performed in elaborate musical sequences that were related to and served as prologues for the feature film
35.
William Powell
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William Horatio Powell was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the Thin Man series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, for The Thin Man, My Man Godfrey, and Life with Father, an only child, Powell was born in Pittsburgh to Nettie Manila and Horatio Warren Powell, on July 29,1892. His father was born in West Middlesex, Pennsylvania, to William S. in 1907, he moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated from Central High School in 1910. After high school, he left home for New York and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts at the age of 18, in 1912, Powell graduated from the AADA, and worked in some vaudeville and stock companies. Powells most famous role was that of Nick Charles in six Thin Man films, beginning with The Thin Man in 1934, Myrna Loy played his wife, Nora, in each of the Thin Man films. Their on-screen partnership, beginning alongside Clark Gable in 1934 with Manhattan Melodrama, was one of Hollywoods most prolific, Loy and Powell starred in the Best Picture of 1936, The Great Ziegfeld, with Powell in the title role and Loy as Ziegfelds wife Billie Burke. That same year, he received his second Academy Award nomination. In 1935, he starred with Harlow in Reckless, a serious romance developed between them, and in 1936, they were reunited on screen and with Loy and Spencer Tracy in the screwball comedy Libeled Lady. Harlow died from uremia at the age of 26 in June 1937 before they could marry and his distress over her death, as well as a cancer diagnosis, caused him to accept fewer acting roles. Powells career slowed considerably in the 1940s, although he received his third Academy Award nomination in 1947 for his role as the cantankerous Clarence Day and his last film was 1955s Mister Roberts. In 1915, he married Eileen Wilson who was born Julia Tierney, with whom he had his child, William David Powell. Powells son became a writer and producer before a period of ill health led to his suicide in 1968. On June 26,1931, Powell married actress Carole Lombard, the marriage lasted just over two years. They were divorced in 1933, though they, too, remained on good terms, Powell was devastated when he learned of her death in 1942. In 1937, Powell was diagnosed with cancer and he underwent surgery and experimental radium treatment which put the disease in full remission within two years. Given his own health and sorrow over Jean Harlows death, Powell did not undertake any film roles for over a year during this period, three weeks after they met, on January 6,1940, Powell married actress Diana Lewis, whom he called Mousie. Powell died in Palm Springs, California, on March 5,1984, at the age of 91 and he is buried at the Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California, near his son William David Powell and wife Diana Lewis
36.
Jim Jordan (actor)
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James Edward Jim Jordan was the American actor who played Fibber McGee in Fibber McGee and Molly and voiced the albatross Orville in Disneys The Rescuers. Jordan was born in 1896 on a farm near Peoria, Illinois and he attended St. Johns Church in Peoria, and his family eventually sold the farm and moved into Peoria. It was at church choir practice that he met Marian Driscoll, Jim Jordan went on the vaudeville circuit, both as a solo act and with his wife, Marian, at various times until 1924. They went entirely broke in 1923, having to be wired money by their parents to get back to Peoria from Lincoln, Illinois. By the end of the evening, Jim and Marian had their first radio contract, at $10 per show for 26 weeks as The OHenry Twins, Marian Jordan died in April 1961. Jim Jordan married Gretchen Stewart, the widow of radio comic Harry Stewart in 1962, they remained married for the rest of his life, and he remained in semi-retirement. In 1988, he died at the age of 91 in Los Angeles from a clot in his brain. He is buried next to Marian Jordan in the Saint Ann section of Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, and is next to the plot of Sharon Tate
37.
Marian Jordan
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Marian Irene Driscoll Jordan was an American actress and radio personality. She was most remembered for portraying the role of Molly McGee and she starred on this series opposite her real-life husband Jim Jordan. Jordan was born Marian Irene Driscoll on April 15,1898 in Peoria and she was the twelfth of thirteen children born unto parents Daniel P. Driscoll, and Anna Driscoll. As a teenager and young adult, Driscoll gave music lessons, while at choir practice one day, she met a member of the choir named James Edward Jim Jordan. The two wed on August 31,1918 and they had two children together, a son and a daughter. The two would endure a long career in showbiz together, the two earned very little income. Marian settled on becoming a teacher and Jim became a mailman. Jim enlisted in the military and was drafted and stationed in France in 1918 during the first world war. Jim contracted a case of influenza during the 1918 flu pandemic, after the war ended, Jim stayed in Europe to do Vaudeville performances for wounded soldiers. Jordan first came unto the scene with her husband Jim in 1924 after a bet that Jim made with his brother. The couples performance was a success, the couple began performing at WIBO, a radio station in Chicago where they earned $10 a week. In 1927, Jordan and Jim debuted their radio show. The series was entitled The Smith Family and debuted on WENR radio in Chicago, the show was a great boost to Marian and Jims career. The radio series ended around 1930, in 1931, while in Chicago, the Jordans met cartoonist Don Quinn. The three of them created the radio sitcom Smackout, the series starred Jordan as a gossipy green-grocer. Jim played the manager of the grocery store, Jordan was memorably known by her catchphrase on the program which was that he, was smack out of everything cept hot air. The show, for which Quinn also served as writer for the series, was the Jordans first major hit after going national in 1933. It was also one of the earliest forms of the sitcom genre, the show ended in 1935 after the show was purchased by Johnson Wax, made by the S. C. Johnson and Company
38.
Fibber McGee and Molly
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Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series. The title characters were created and portrayed by Jim and Marian Jordan, as with most radio comedies of the era, Fibber McGee and Molly featured an announcer, house band and vocal quartet for interludes. The stars of the program were real-life husband and wife team James Jim Jordan and Marian Driscoll, Jordan was the seventh of eight children born to James Edward Jordan and Mary Jordan, while Driscoll was the twelfth out of thirteen children born to Daniel P. and Anna Driscoll. The son of a farmer, Jim wanted to be a singer, Marian, both attended the same Catholic church, where they met at choir practice. Marians parents had attempted to discourage her professional singing and acting aspirations, when she started seeing young Jim Jordan, the Driscolls were far from approving of Jim and his ideas. Jims voice teacher gave him a recommendation for work as a professional in Chicago and he was able to have steady work but soon tired of the life on the road. In less than a year, Jim came back to Peoria and his occupation was now acceptable to Marians parents, and they stopped objecting to the couples marriage plans. The pair were married in Peoria on August 31,1918, Five days after the wedding, Jim received his draft notice. He was sent to France and became part of a touring group that entertained the armed forces after World War I. When Jim came home from France, he and Marian decided to try their luck with a vaudeville act and they had two children, Kathryn Therese Jordan and James Carroll Jordan, both born in Peoria. Marian returned home for the birth of Kathryn but went back to performing with Jim, after Jim Jr. was born in 1923, Marian stayed with the children for a time, while Jim performed as a solo act. Marian and the children joined him on the road for a short time, the couples parents had to wire them money for their return to Peoria. Jim went to work at a department store but still felt the attraction of being in show business. He and Marian went back into vaudeville, while staying with Jims brother in Chicago in 1924, the family was listening to the radio, Jim said that he and Marian could do better than the musical act currently on the air. Jims brother bet him $10 that they could not, to win the bet, Jim and Marian went to WIBO, where they were immediately put on the air. At the end of the performance, the offered the couple a contract for a weekly show. The sponsor of the show was Oh Henry, candy, and they appeared for six months on The Oh Henry. Twins program, switching to radio station WENR by 1927, when it appeared to the couple that they were financially successful, they built a home in Chicago, which was a replica of their rented home, complete to building it on the lot next door
39.
Arthur Q. Bryan
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Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Bryan sang in a number of churches in the New York City area and had plans to be a professional singer. He sang tenor with the Seiberling Singers and the Jeddo Highlanders on NBC radio, Bryan came to prominence in the late 1930s as the voice of Egghead and Elmer Fudd at Warner Brothers animation unit, headed by Leon Schlesinger. Along with several characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, or Porky Pig, all voiced by Mel Blanc, one of Warners early big stars was Bryans Elmer Fudd. When watching him perform, director Bob Clampett thought Bryans girth added to the hilarity of his dialogue, after a few shorts, Clampett decided it was a mistake, and Fudd returned to his classical form. Bryans name does not appear in Looney Tunes credits because of Mel Blancs contract with Warner Brothers, despite this, Bryan and Blanc remained good friends throughout their careers with Warner Brothers. In the late 1920s, Bryan was an announcer at WOR radio in New York City, contemporary radio listings in a daily newspaper indicate that he was still at WOR as late as September 13,1931. In October 1931, he working as an announcer at WCAU in Philadelphia. In 1938-1939, he was a regular on The Grouch Club on the CBS Pacific network and was featured in some films made by the group. Bryans work in animation did not go unnoticed by radio producers, the Gildersleeve character, played by Harold Peary, became series broadcastings first successful spin-off hit, that plus the onset of World War II nabbed nearly every other remaining male voice. His work on the series so impressed Quinn and Leslie, that Bryan was added to the cast of their show, Fibber McGee and Molly. On Fibber, Bryan found himself in the position of being smarter than, more educated than. Playing Doc Gamble, Bryan was a polar opposite of the Fudd character—Gamble was well-spoken, even-tempered, and usually got the better of McGee, in the early 1940s, Bryan played Waymond Wadcliffe on the Al Pearce & His Gang program on CBS. Bryan starred as Major Hoople in The Charlotte Greenwood Show. and played Lt. Levinson on radios Richard Diamond, in the mid-1940s, he had the role of Duke on Forever Ernest. Bryan first became involved with the industry when he moved to Hollywood in 1936 to become a scenario writer for Paramount Pictures. Bryans live action work remained largely in uncredited roles, usually employing the Fudd persona. He appeared frequently in live-action short-subjects for Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures, Bryans final original work as Fudd came in the Warner Bros. Edward R. Murrow spoof Person To Bunny, Bryan was a panelist on the early TV quiz show Quizzing the News. He would be found in numerous productions in the early 1950s predominantly in 1-episode bit parts, such as in the early filmed for television comedy, Beulah
40.
Phil Harris
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Wonga Philip Phil Harris was an American comedian, jazz musician, singer and actor. Harris is also noted for his performances in animated films. He played Baloo the bear in The Jungle Book, Thomas OMalley in The Aristocats, in 1981, he sang Back Home Again in Indiana before the Indianapolis 500. Phil Harris was born on June 24,1904, in Linton, Indiana as Wonga Phillip Harris, but grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and he was born to Harry and Dollie Harris. His mother was of Irish descent and his upbringing accounted for both his trace of a Southern accent and, in later years, the self-deprecating Southern jokes of his radio character. The son of two performers, Harriss first work as a drummer came when his father, as tent bandleader. Harris began his career as a drummer in San Francisco, forming an orchestra with Carol Lofner in the latter 1920s. The partnership ended by 1932, and Harris led and sang with his own band, Harris also played drums in the Henry Halstead Big Band Orchestra during the mid-1920s. In 1931, Lofner-Harris recorded for Victor, after Harris recorded for Columbia in 1933, he recorded for Decca in 1935. From December 1936, through March 1937, he recorded 16 sides for Vocalion, most were hot swing tunes that used an interesting gimmick, they faded up and faded out with a piano solo. These were probably arranged by pianist Skippy Anderson, on September 2,1927, he married actress Marcia Ralston in Sydney, Australia, they had met when he played a concert date. The couple adopted a son, Phil Harris, Jr, in 1933, he made a short film for RKO called So This Is Harris. Which won an Academy Award for best live action short subject and he followed with a feature-length film, Melody Cruise. Both films were created by the team that next produced Flying Down to Rio. Phil also starred in I Love a Bandleader with Leslie Brooks in 1945, here he played a housepainter who gets amnesia, then starts to lead a band. Additionally, he appeared in The Wild Blue Yonder a. k. a, Phil also appeared in the 1956 film Goodbye, My Lady, co-starring with Walter Brennan. In 1936, Harris became musical director of The Jell-O Show Starring Jack Benny, singing and leading his band and his first trademark was his jive-talk nicknaming of the others in the Benny orbit. Benny was Jackson, for example, Harriss usual entry was a cheerful Hiya and he usually referred to Mary Livingstone as Livvy or Liv
41.
Jack Benny
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Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, radio, television and film actor, and violinist. Recognized as a leading American entertainer of the 20th century, Benny portrayed his character as a miser, in character, he would claim to be 39 years of age, regardless of his actual age. Benny was known for comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a pregnant pause or a single expression and his radio and television programs, popular from the 1930s to the 1970s, were a major influence on the sitcom genre. Benny was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Waukegan and he was the son of Meyer Kubelsky and Emma Sachs Kubelsky. Meyer was an owner and later a haberdasher who had immigrated to America from Poland. Benny began studying violin, an instrument that became his trademark, at the age of 6 and he loved the instrument, but hated practice. His music teacher was Otto Graham Sr. a neighbor and father of Otto Graham of NFL fame, at 14, Benny was playing in dance bands and his high school orchestra. He was a dreamer and poor at his studies, and was expelled from high school. He did poorly in business school later and at attempts to join his fathers business, at age 17, he began playing the violin in local vaudeville theaters for $7.50 a week. He was joined by Ned Miller, a composer and singer. In 1911, Benny was playing in the theater as the young Marx Brothers. Minnie, their mother, enjoyed Bennys violin playing and invited him to accompany her boys in their act, Bennys parents refused to let their son go on the road at 17, but it was the beginning of his long friendship with the Marx Brothers, especially Zeppo Marx. The next year, Benny formed a musical duo with pianist Cora Folsom Salisbury. This provoked famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who feared that the young vaudevillian with a name would damage his reputation. Under legal pressure, Benjamin Kubelsky agreed to change his name to Ben K. Benny, when Salisbury left the act, Benny found a new pianist, Lyman Woods, and renamed the act From Grand Opera to Ragtime. They worked together for five years and slowly integrated comedy elements into the show and they reached the Palace Theater, the Mecca of Vaudeville, and did not do well. Benny left show business briefly in 1917 to join the United States Navy during World War I, and often entertained the troops with his violin playing. One evening, his performance was booed by the troops, so with prompting from fellow sailor and actor Pat OBrien, he ad-libbed his way out of the jam
42.
Alice Faye
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Alice Faye was an American actress and singer, described by the The New York Times as one of the few movie stars to walk away from stardom at the peak of her career. She is often associated with the Academy Award–winning standard Youll Never Know, born Alice Jeane Leppert in New York City, she was the daughter of a New York police officer of German descent, Charles Leppert, and his Irish-American wife, Alice Leppert. Fayes entertainment career began in vaudeville as a girl before she moved to Broadway. By this time, she had adopted her name and first reached a radio audience on Rudy Vallées The Fleischmanns Yeast Hour. Faye got her first major break in 1934, when Lilian Harvey abandoned the lead role in a film version of George Whites 1935 Scandals. Hired first to perform a number with Vallee, Faye ended up as the female lead. She became a hit with audiences of the 1930s, particularly when Fox production head Darryl F. Zanuck made her his protégée. He softened Faye from a show girl to a youthful, yet somewhat motherly, figure. Faye also received a makeover, going from a version of Jean Harlow to a wholesome appearance, in which her platinum hair. In 1938, Faye was cast as the lead in In Old Chicago. Zanuck initially resisted casting Faye, as the role had been written for Jean Harlow. The film was memorable for its twenty-minute ending, a recreation of the Great Chicago Fire. Her co-stars in that film were Tyrone Power and Don Ameche, Faye, Power, and Ameche were reunited for the 1938 release Alexanders Ragtime Band, which was designed to showcase more than twenty Irving Berlin songs, Faye again received strong reviews. One of the most expensive films of its time, it became one of the most successful musicals of the 1930s. By 1939, Faye was named one of the top ten box office draws in Hollywood and that year, she made Rose of Washington Square with Tyrone Power. Although a big hit, the film was based on the real life of comedian Fanny Brice and Brice sued Fox for stealing her story. Because of her status, Fox occasionally placed Faye in films that were put together more for the sake of making money than showcasing Fayes talents. Films like Tail Spin and Barricade were more dramatic in nature than regular Faye films, but, due to her immense popularity, none of the films that she made in the 1930s and 1940s lost money
43.
Fred Allen
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Roosevelt and novelists William Faulkner, John Steinbeck and Herman Wouk. Allen was honored with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for contributions to television, John Florence Sullivan was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Irish Catholic parents. Allen barely knew his mother, Cecilia Herlihy Sullivan, who died of pneumonia when he was not quite three years old and his father was so shattered by his mothers death that, according to Allen, he drank more heavily. Eventually, Allens father remarried and offered his sons the choice between coming with him and his new wife or staying with Aunt Lizzie, Allens younger brother chose to go with their father, but Allen decided to stay with his aunt. I never regretted it, he wrote, Allen took piano lessons as a boy, his father having brought an Emerson upright along when they moved in with his aunt. He learned exactly two songs – Hiawatha and Pitter, Patter, Little Raindrops – and would be asked to play half or all my repertoire when visitors came to the house. He also worked at the Boston Public Library, where he discovered a book about the origin, enduring various upheavals at home, Allen also took up juggling while learning as much as possible about comedy. Some library co-workers planned to put on a show and asked him to do a bit of juggling and some of his comedy. When a girl in the crowd told him, Youre crazy to keep working here at the library, you ought to go on stage, in 1914 at the age of 20 he took a job with a local piano company, in addition to his library work. Eventually he became Freddy James, often billing himself as the worlds worst juggler, Allen refined the mix of his deliberately clumsy juggling and the standard jokes and one-liners, directing much of the humor at his own poor juggling abilities. During a ten-year world tour, his vaudeville act evolved towards more monologue comedy, the Allen came from Edgar Allen, a booker for the Fox theaters. In 1922, Allen commissioned comic-strip artist Martin Branner to cover a theater curtain with a mural painting depicting a cemetery with a punchline on each gravestone. This was the Old Joke Cemetery, where overworked gags go to die, in Allens act, the audiences would see the curtain before Allen made his entrance. Audiences typically would be laughing at the curtain before Allen even appeared, Robert Taylors biography of Allen includes an impressive full-length photo of Branners curtain painting, and many of the punchlines are clearly legible in the photo. Allen used a variety of gimmicks in his act, from a ventriloquist dummy to juggling to singing, but the focus was always on his comedy. One recurring bit was to read a letter from home with material such as the following, The man next door has bought pigs. Your father had a fight with him about it. It didnt bother your father, he is deaf in that ear
44.
Mary Livingstone
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Mary Livingstone, was an American radio comedian and actress. She was the wife and radio partner of comedian Jack Benny, enlisted almost entirely by accident to perform on her husbands popular program, she proved a talented comedian. Livingstone was born Sadie Marcowitz in Seattle, Washington, but raised in Vancouver and her father, David Marcowitz, was a Jewish immigrant from Romania. Her mother was Esther Wagner Marcowitz, according to the International Jack Benny Fan Club, claims that Livingstone was related to the Marx Brothers or their uncle Al Shean of Gallagher and Shean are unfounded. She first met her husband, Jack Benny, at a Passover seder at her family home when she was 14 years old. Benny was invited by his friend Zeppo Marx while Benny and the Marx Brothers were in together to perform. Three years later, aged 17, Sadie visited California with her family while Jack Benny was in the town for a show. Still nursing a crush on the comedian, Sadie went to the theater to re-introduce herself to him. As he approached her in a hallway, she smiled and said, Hello, Mr. Benny, Im. They met again a few years later — while she was said to be working as a salesgirl at a May Company department store in downtown Los Angeles —. Invited on a double-date by a friend who had married Sadies sister, Babe and this time, the couple clicked, Jack was finally smitten with Sadie and asked her on another date. She turned him down at first — she was seeing another young man — but Benny persisted. He visited her at the May Company almost daily and was reputed to buy so much ladies hosiery from her that he helped her set a sales record, he also called her several times a day when on the road. Sadie took part in some of Jacks vaudeville performances but never thought of herself as a full-time performer, then came the day he called her at home and asked her to come to the studio quickly. At first, it seemed like a role, she played the part on that nights. But NBC received so much fan mail that the character was revived into a feature on the Benny show. Livingstones chiss sweeze sandwich order in a lunch counter sketch was referred to for years afterwards. Another flubbed line was How could you possibly hit a car when it was up on the grease rack, instead, she asked, How could you possibly hit a car when it was up on the grass reek
45.
George Burns
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George Burns was an American comedian, actor, singer, and writer. He was one of the few entertainers whose career spanned vaudeville, radio, film. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three-quarters of a century and he and his wife, Gracie Allen, appeared on radio, television, and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen. Burns, who became a centenarian in 1996, continued to work until just weeks before his death of a cardiac arrest at his home in Beverly Hills, Burns was a member of the First Roumanian-American Congregation. His father was a cantor at the local synagogue but usually worked as a coat presser. During the influenza epidemic of 1903, Lippe Birnbaum contracted the flu, Nattie went to work to help support the family, shining shoes, running errands and selling newspapers. In order to try to hide his Jewish heritage, he adopted the name by which he would be known for the rest of his life. He claimed in a few interviews that the idea of the name originated from the fact that two major league players were playing major league baseball at the time. Both men achieved over 2000 major league hits and hold some major league records, Burns also was reported to have taken the name George from his brother Izzy, and the Burns from the Burns Brothers Coal Company. He normally partnered with a girl, sometimes in a dance routine. Though he had an apparent flair for comedy, he never quite clicked with any of his partners, and all of a sudden, he said famously in later years, the audience realized I had a talent. I did have a talent—and I was married to her for 38 years and his first wife was Hannah Siegel, one of his dance partners. The marriage, never consummated, lasted 26 weeks and happened because her family would not let go on tour unless they were married. They divorced at the end of the tour, Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen was an American comedian born into an Irish Catholic show-business family and educated at Star of the Sea Convent School in San Francisco, California, in girlhood. She began in vaudeville around 1909, teamed as an Irish-dance act The Four Colleens with her sisters, Bessie, Hazel, while attending secretarial school in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1923, she met Burns at a vaudeville theater in adjacent Union City. Allen came to call Burns by the nickname Nattie, while he called her Googie, the two immediately launched a new partnership, with Gracie playing the role of the straight man and George delivering the punchlines as the comedian. Burns knew something was wrong when the audience ignored his jokes, Burns cannily flipped the act around, After a Hoboken, New Jersey performance in which they tested the new style for the first time, Burns hunch proved right. Gracie was the better laugh-getter with the logic that formed her responses to Burns prompting comments or questions
46.
Gracie Allen
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Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Gracie Allen was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man. For contributions to the industry, Gracie Allen was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6672 Hollywood Boulevard. The team of Burns and Allen was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1988, Allen was born in San Francisco, California, to George Allen and Margaret Theresa Allen, who were both of Irish Catholic extraction. She made her first appearance on stage at age three and was given her first role on the radio by Eddie Cantor and she was educated at the Star of the Sea Convent School and during that time became a talented dancer. She soon began performing Irish folk dances with her three sisters, who were billed as The Four Colleens, in 1909, Allen joined her sister, Bessie, as a vaudeville performer. At a performance in 1922, Allen met George Burns and the two formed a comedy act and they were married on January 7,1926, in Cleveland, Ohio. Allen was born with heterochromia, giving her two different color eyes, one blue and one green, depending on the source, Allen is alleged to have been born on July 26 in 1895,1896,1902 or 1906. All public records held by the City and County of San Francisco were destroyed in the earthquake and great fire of April 1906. Her husband, George Burns, also professed not to know exactly how old she was, though it was presumably he who provided the date July 26,1902 and her crypt marker also shows her year of birth as 1902. The most reliable information comes from the U. S. Census data collected on June 1,1900, the Burns and Allen act began with Allen as the straight man, setting up Burns to deliver the punchlines—and get the laughs. Audiences immediately fell in love with Allens character, who combined the traits of naivete, zaniness, the reformulated team, focusing on Allen, toured the country, eventually headlining in major vaudeville houses. Many of their famous routines were preserved in one- and two-reel short films, including Lambchops, Burns attributed all of the couples early success to Allen, modestly ignoring his own brilliance as a straight man. He summed up their act in a quip, All I had to do was say, Gracie. And she talked for 38 years, and sometimes I didnt even have to remember to say Gracie, hows your brother. In the early 1930s, like many stars of their era, Burns, the show was originally a continuation of their original flirtation act. Burns and Allen frequently used running gags as publicity stunts, during 1932–33, they pulled off one of the most successful in the business, a year-long search for Allens supposedly missing brother. They would make unannounced cameo appearances on shows, asking if anyone had seen Allens brother. Gracie Allens real-life brother was apparently the person who did not find the gag funny
47.
William Bendix
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William Bendix was an American film, radio, and television actor, who typically played rough, blue-collar characters. He is best remembered in films for the role in The Babe Ruth Story. He also memorably portrayed the clumsily-earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and he received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for Wake Island. Bendix, named William after his grandfather, was born in Manhattan. His uncle was composer, conductor, and violinist Max Bendix, in the early 1920s, Bendix was a batboy for the New York Yankees and said he saw Babe Ruth hit more than a hundred home runs at Yankee Stadium. However, he was fired after fulfilling Ruths request for an order of hot dogs and soda before a game. In 1927, Bendix married Theresa Stefanotti and he worked as a grocer until the Great Depression. Bendix began his career at age 30 in the New Jersey Federal Theatre Project. He made his debut in 1942. He played in supporting roles in dozens of Hollywood films, usually as a gangster, detective. He began with appearances in film noir, including a performance in The Glass Key and he soon gained attention after appearing in Alfred Hitchcocks Lifeboat as Gus, a wounded and dying American sailor. He played Nick the bartender in the version of William Saroyans The Time of Your Life starring James Cagney. Bendix had appeared in the version, but in the role of Officer Krupp. He was also cast in The Blue Dahlia, starring for the time alongside Ladd. In 1949, Bendix starred in an adaptation of his radio program The Life of Riley. It was Bendixs appearance in The McGuerins of Brooklyn, playing a rugged blue-collar man, the show began as a proposed Groucho Marx radio series, The Flotsam Family, but the sponsor balked at what would have been essentially a straight head-of-household role for the comedian. Then creator and producer Irving Brecher saw Bendix as taxicab company owner Tim McGuerin in Hal Roachs The McGuerins from Brooklyn, Brecher stated, He was a Brooklyn guy and there was something about him. I thought, This guy could play it, hed made a few films, like Lifeboat, but he was not a name
United States
