The Man with the Golden Arm is a 1955 American independent drama film noir directed by Otto Preminger, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren. Starring Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin, it recounts the story of a drug addict who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to stay that way in the outside world. Although the addictive drug is never identified in the film, according to the American Film Institute "most contemporary and modern sources assume that it is heroin", although in Algren's book it is morphine. The film's initial release was controversial for its treatment of the then-taboo subject of drug addiction.
Jill St. John is an American retired actress. She is best known for playing Tiffany Case, the first American Bond girl of the James Bond film franchise, in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever. Additional performances in film include Holiday for Lovers, The Lost World, Tender Is the Night, Come Blow Your Horn, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, Who's Minding the Store?, Honeymoon Hotel, The Liquidator, The Oscar, Tony Rome, Sitting Target and The Concrete Jungle.
Robin and the 7 Hoods is a 1964 American musical film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Bing Crosby. It features Peter Falk and Barbara Rush, with an uncredited cameo by Edward G. Robinson.
James Van Heusen was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television, and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his compositions later went on to become jazz standards.
Cannonball Run II is a 1983 American action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds and an all-star cast, released by Warner Bros. and Golden Harvest. The film is the second installment of the Cannonball Run trilogy and a sequel to The Cannonball Run (1981). Like the first film, it is set around an illegal cross-country race.
Lee J. Cobb was an American actor, known both for film roles and his work on the Broadway stage, as well as for his television role in the series, The Virginian. He often played arrogant, intimidating and abrasive characters, but he also acted as respectable figures such as judges and police officers. Cobb originated the role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's 1949 play Death of a Salesman under the direction of Elia Kazan, and was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for On the Waterfront (1954) and The Brothers Karamazov (1958).
John Alfred Mandel was an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. The musicians he worked with include Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Diane Schuur and Shirley Horn. He won five Grammy Awards, from 17 nominations; his first nomination was for his debut film score for the multi-nominated 1958 film I Want to Live!
Alan David "Bud" Yorkin was an American film and television producer, director, screenwriter, and actor.
Come Blow Your Horn is Neil Simon's first play, which premiered on Broadway in 1961 and had a London production in 1962 at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Simon rewrote the script more than two dozen times over several years, resulting in a hit premiere that allowed Simon to leave his full-time television writing career to write stage and film scripts.
Molly Picon was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller.
Softly, as I Leave You is a 1964 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra. Arranged by Ernie Freeman, several tracks such as "Softly, as I Leave You", "Then Suddenly Love" and "Available" departed from Sinatra's signature vocal jazz style by flirting with a more contemporary pop sound. The rest of the album is pieced together with leftovers from various early-'60s sessions, from many different arrangers and conductors.
L.A. Is My Lady is the fifty-seventh and final solo studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1984 and produced by Quincy Jones. While the album was Sinatra's last, he recorded five further songs, only four of which have been officially released.
Joyce Nizzari is an American model, dancer, and actress. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its December 1958 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Bunny Yeager. She was born in The Bronx, New York and is of Italian descent.
Baby It's You is a 1983 American romantic comedy drama film written and directed by John Sayles. It stars Rosanna Arquette and Vincent Spano.
"It Could Happen to You" is a popular standard with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was written in 1943 and was introduced by Dorothy Lamour in the Paramount musical comedy film And the Angels Sing (1944).
Milt Bernhart was a West Coast jazz trombonist who worked with Stan Kenton, Frank Sinatra, and others. He supplied the solo in the middle of Sinatra's 1956 recording of I've Got You Under My Skin conducted by Nelson Riddle.
Lawrence Benjamin Bunker was an American jazz drummer, vibraphonist, and percussionist. A member of the Bill Evans Trio in the mid-1960s, he also played timpani with the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra.
The Chez Paree was a Chicago nightclub known for its glamorous atmosphere, elaborate dance numbers, and top entertainers. It operated from 1932 until 1960 in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago at 610 N. Fairbanks Court. The club was the epitome of the golden age of entertainment, and it hosted a wide variety of performers, from singers to comedians to vaudeville acts. A "new" Chez Paree opened briefly in the mid-1960s on 400 N. Wabash Avenue and was seen in the film Mickey One with Warren Beatty.
Two Guys from Milwaukee is a 1946 American comedy film directed by David Butler, and starring Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson and Joan Leslie. It was distributed by Warner Bros. The film is about a Balkan prince who wants to see for himself what America is really like. So he slips away from his entourage in New York City and pretends to be an average guy. The film closely mimics the style of Paramount's popular Road pictures, with Morgan in the Bing Crosby romantic straight role and Carson as the comedic Bob Hope sidekick.
"The Second Time Around" is a song with words by Sammy Cahn and music by Jimmy Van Heusen. It was introduced in the 1960 film High Time, sung by Bing Crosby with Henry Mancini conducting his orchestra, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It lost out to "Never on Sunday".
