Wheeler & Woolsey

Wheeler & Woolsey PDF Author: Edward Watz
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476616841
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
During the Depression years, the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were second only to Laurel and Hardy at the box office. Each of their over 20 comedies are analyzed in detail here; full filmographic data, production notes, plot synopses, and critical commentary are provided. The research is supplemented by an interview with Bert Wheeler.

Wheeler & Woolsey

Wheeler & Woolsey PDF Author: Edward Watz
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476616841
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
During the Depression years, the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were second only to Laurel and Hardy at the box office. Each of their over 20 comedies are analyzed in detail here; full filmographic data, production notes, plot synopses, and critical commentary are provided. The research is supplemented by an interview with Bert Wheeler.

Motion Picture Series and Sequels

Motion Picture Series and Sequels PDF Author: Bernard A. Drew
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317928946
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 415

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Book Description
In 1989 alone, for example, there were some forty-five major motion pictures which were sequels or part of a series. The film series phenomenon crosses all genres and has been around since the silent film era. This reference guide, in alphabetical order, lists some 906 English Language motion pictures, from 1899 to 1990, when the book was initially published. A brief plot description is given for each series entry, followed by the individual film titles with corresponding years, directors and performers. Animated pictures, documentaries and concert films are not included but movies released direct to video are.

These Movies Won No Hollywood Awards

These Movies Won No Hollywood Awards PDF Author: John Reid
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1411658469
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
This selection of movies that won no Hollywood awards includes some that are famous like Garbo's "Queen Christina" and "A Woman of Affairs," William Wyler's "Carrie" and "Detective Story," Fritz Lang's "Metropolis," John Farrow's "California," Hitchcock's "Young and Innocent," John Ford's "Wee Willie Winkie," Albert Lewin's "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman," Mae West's "She Done Him Wrong," and DeMille's original version of "The Ten Commandments"; some that deserve to be famous like "Tonight and Every Night," "Sunnyside Up," "Ambassador Bill," "Diplomaniacs," "The Nitwits," "Fallen Angel" and "Rhythm on the Range"; and some that had no chance at all like "The Noose Hangs High," "Words and Music," "The Bohemian Girl," and 'Wagon Wheels Westward." Special added feature: a monograph on one of Hollywood's greatest directors, Henry Hathaway.

Buffoon Men

Buffoon Men PDF Author: Scott Balcerzak
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 0814339662
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Film scholars and fans have used distinctive terms to describe the Classic Hollywood comedian: He is a "trickster," a "rebel," or a "buffoon." Yet the performer is almost always described as a "he." In Buffoon Men: Classic Hollywood Comedians and Queered Masculinity, Scott Balcerzak reads the performances of notable comedians such as W. C. Fields, Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, and Bud Abbott and Lou Costello through humor and queer theory to expose a problematic history of maleness in their personas. He argues that contrary to popular notions of Classic Hollywood history, these male comedians rearranged or, at times, rejected heteronormative protocols. Balcerzak begins by defining the particular buffoonish masculinity portrayed by early film comedians, a gender and genre construct influenced by the cultural anxieties of the 1930s and '40s. In chapter 1, he considers the onscreen pairing of W. C. Fields and Mae West to identify a queered sexuality and drag persona in Fields's performance, while in chapter 2 he examines the two major constructions of Fields's film persona-the confidence man and the husband-to show Fields to be a conflicted and subversive figure. In chapter 3, Balcerzak considers the assimilation and influence of Eddie Cantor as a Jewish celebrity, while he turns to the cross-media influence of Jack Benny's radio persona in chapter 4. In Chapters 5 and 6, he moves beyond the individual performer to examine the complex masculine brotherhood of comedy duos Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. Buffoon Men shows that the complicated history of the male comedian during the early sound era has much to tell us about multimedia comedic stars today. Fans and scholars of film history, gender studies, and broadcast studies will appreciate Balcerzak's thorough exploration of the era's fascinating gender constructs.

The First Hollywood Musicals

The First Hollywood Musicals PDF Author: Edwin M. Bradley
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786420292
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
As Hollywood entered the sound era, it was rightly determined that the same public fascinated by the novelty of the talkie would be dazzled by the spectacle of a song and dance film. In 1929 and 1930, film musicals became the industry's most lucrative genre--until the greedy studios almost killed the genre by glutting the market with too many films that looked and sounded like clones of each other. From the classy movies such as Sunnyside Up and Hallelujah! to failures such as The Lottery Bride and Howdy Broadway, this filmography details 171 early Hollywood musicals. Arranged by subgenre (backstagers, operettas, college films, and stage-derived musical comedies), the entries include studio, release date, cast and credits, running time, a complete song list, any recordings spawned by the film, Academy Award nominations and winners, and availability on video or laserdisc. These data are followed by a plot synopsis, including analysis of the film's place in the genre's history. Includes over 90 photographs.

Lupe Velez

Lupe Velez PDF Author: Michelle Vogel
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 078646139X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Here is the first extensive, full-length biography and career record on the life and work of Mexican whirlwind Lupe Velez (1908-1944). Over the years many crude myths have surfaced about Velez, the most notorious that she "died with her head in the toilet." This biography not only studies Lupe's personal life and career--including her tempestuous marriage to Johnny Weissmuller--but also examines her death in detail. It has been almost seven decades since her untimely end; at long last, the ugly rumors and myths are debunked--for good. Included are never-before-told family stories and photographs from Lupe's second cousin, and an analysis of the actress's lasting influence on popular culture. The foreword by Oscar-winning film historian Kevin Brownlow focuses on the fact and fancy behind Lupe Velez's colorful public image.

More Movie Musicals

More Movie Musicals PDF Author: John Howard Reid
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1411673425
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Many of your favorite movie musicals are sure to be represented in this book. Classics like "Rose Marie" and "Calamity Jane" rub shoulders with "Artists and Models," "Babes on Broadway," "The Bohemian Girl," "The Inspector General" and "The Kid from Brooklyn." Bing and Bob are off on "The Road to Singapore," Eddie Cantor is involved in "Roman Scandals," while Mitzi Gaynor enjoys her stay in "South Pacific." Will Rogers, Jeanne Crain and Alice Faye all have a go in the various versions of "State Fair" and we catch Deanna Durbin in "Three Smart Girls," "Three Smart Girls Grow Up," "It Started with Eve" and "Something in the Wind." And that's just a small sampling of the wonders in store in "More Movie Musicals."

The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville

The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville PDF Author: Anthony Slide
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1617032506
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 649

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Book Description
The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville provides a unique record of what was once America's preeminent form of popular entertainment from the late 1800s through the early 1930s. It includes entries not only on the entertainers themselves, but also on those who worked behind the scenes, the theatres, genres, and historical terms. Entries on individual vaudevillians include biographical information, samplings of routines and, often, commentary by the performers. Many former vaudevillians were interviewed for the book, including Milton Berle, Block and Sully, Kitty Doner, Fifi D'Orsay, Nick Lucas, Ken Murray, Fayard Nicholas, Olga Petrova, Rose Marie, Arthur Tracy, and Rudy Vallee. Where appropriate, entries also include bibliographies. The volume concludes with a guide to vaudeville resources and a general bibliography. Aside from its reference value, with its more than five hundred entries, The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville discusses the careers of the famous and the forgotten. Many of the vaudevillians here, including Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jimmy Durante, W. C. Fields, Bert Lahr, and Mae West, are familiar names today, thanks to their continuing careers on screen. At the same time, and given equal coverage, are forgotten acts: legendary female impersonators Bert Savoy and Jay Brennan, the vulgar Eva Tanguay with her billing as “The I Don't Care Girl,” male impersonator Kitty Doner, and a host of “freak” acts.

Hollywood Classic Movies 1

Hollywood Classic Movies 1 PDF Author: John Reid
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1411608755
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Everyone has a "best" list of favorite movies. I introduce my list and then provide complete details on 80 films, some from my "best" list, a few from my "worst", and a couple "in-between".

American Classic Screen Features

American Classic Screen Features PDF Author: John C. Tibbetts
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810876795
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
In American Classic Screen Features, editors John C. Tibbetts and James M. Welsh have assembled some of the most significant and memorable essays and critical pieces written for the magazine over its ten-year history. This collection contains fascinating accounts of Hollywood history including articles on Marilyn Monroe's first screen test, John Ford's favorite film, Olivia De Havilland's lawsuit against Warner Bros., Walt Disney's unfinished projects, and Stanley Kubrick's early noir classics. This volume also contains in-depth examinations of classic films, including Birth of a Nation, The Big Parade,The Jazz Singer, King Kong, and Citizen Kane. This compendium of essays recaptures the spirit and scholarship of that time and will appeal to both scholars and fans who have an abiding interest in the American motion picture industry.