Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan was an American actress, producer and entrepreneur. Born in Texas to Irish immigrant parents, Guinan decided at an early age to become an entertainer. After becoming a star on the New York stage, the repercussions of her involvement in a weight loss scam motivated her to switch careers to the film business. Spending several years in California appearing in numerous productions, she eventually formed her own company.
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame in the 1940s as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, appearing primarily in musicals, and became one of the studio's most valuable stars of that decade. She was noted for her energetic and sometimes manic performance style.
Wintertime is a 1943 Twentieth Century-Fox musical film directed by John Brahm and starring Sonja Henie and Cesar Romero. It also features Woody Herman and His Orchestra.
Night After Night is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film starring George Raft, Constance Cummings, and Mae West in her first movie role. Others in the cast include Wynne Gibson, Alison Skipworth, Roscoe Karns, Louis Calhern, and Bradley Page. Directed by Archie Mayo, it was adapted for the screen by Vincent Lawrence and Kathryn Scola, based on the Cosmopolitan magazine story Single Night by Louis Bromfield, with West allowed to contribute to her lines of dialogue.
"Ragtime Cowboy Joe" is a popular western swing song. The lyrics were written by Grant Clarke and the music was composed by Lewis F. Muir and Maurice Abrahams. It was copyrighted and published in 1912 by F.A. Mills.
Legally Blonde is a 2007 musical with music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach. It is based on the novel Legally Blonde by Amanda Brown and the 2001 film of the same name.
Coney Island is a 1943 American Technicolor musical film released by Twentieth Century Fox and starring Betty Grable in one of her biggest hits. A "gay nineties" musical, it also featured George Montgomery, Cesar Romero, and Phil Silvers, was choreographed by Hermes Pan, and was directed by Walter Lang. Betty Grable also starred in the 1950 remake, Wabash Avenue.
Blossom Seeley was an American singer, dancer, and actress.
Annie Get Your Gun is a 1950 American musical Technicolor comedy film loosely based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer release, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a screenplay by Sidney Sheldon based on the 1946 stage musical of the same name, was directed by George Sidney. Despite several production and casting problems, the film won the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture and received three other nominations. Star Betty Hutton was recognized with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
Barbara Stanwyck was a prolific American actress and dancer who appeared in a total of 95 theatrically released full-length motion pictures. Orphaned before she was old enough to attend school, she became fascinated by the burgeoning film industry, and actress Pearl White in particular, whom she would mimic on the playgrounds. "Pearl White was my goddess, and her courage, her grace, and her triumphs lifted me out of this world."
Joan Shawlee, nee Joan Fulton, was an American film and television actress. She is known for her recurring role as "Pickles" in The Dick Van Dyke Show, a career-defining turn in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959) playing Sweet Sue, the abrasive martinet in charge of Marilyn Monroe's all-girl jazz band, and as the flamboyant Madame Pompey in the 1957 Maverick episode "Stampede" with James Garner.
The Perils of Pauline is a 1947 American Technicolor comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Betty Hutton, John Lund and William Demarest. It was produced and released by Paramount Pictures. The film is a fictionalized Hollywood account of silent film star Pearl White's rise to fame, starring Hutton as White.
Week-End in Havana is a 1941 20th Century Fox Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang and starring Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda. It was the second of three pictures the two stars made together and the second Faye film to have a Latin-American theme, typical of Fox musicals of the early 1940s. Faye was pregnant during filming.
The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend is a 1949 romantic comedy Western film starring Betty Grable and featuring Cesar Romero and Rudy Vallee. It was directed by Preston Sturges and written by him based on a story by Earl Felton.
Pin Up Girl is a 1944 American Technicolor musical romantic comedy motion picture starring Betty Grable, John Harvey, Martha Raye, and Joe E. Brown.
Two Weeks with Love is a 1950 romantic musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Roy Rowland and based on a story by John Larkin, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dorothy Kingsley.
The Stork Club is a 1945 American musical comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Betty Hutton. The supporting cast features Barry Fitzgerald, Don DeFore and Robert Benchley.
Diamond Horseshoe is a 1945 Technicolor musical film starring Betty Grable, Dick Haymes and William Gaxton, directed by George Seaton, and released by 20th Century Fox. It was filmed in Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe, a nightclub located in the basement of the Paramount Hotel. The film's original score is by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, introducing the pop and jazz standard "The More I See You".
Let's Dance is a 1950 American Technicolor musical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Norman Z. McLeod starring Betty Hutton, Fred Astaire and Roland Young. It was produced and released by Paramount Pictures.
Maurice Rocco was an American pianist, singer, actor, and composer known for playing boogie-woogie piano and his disdain for using a piano bench. He was a top nightclub and theater draw in the 1940s, and made several film appearances. He toured the United States, Canada, and Europe before becoming a fixture in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was murdered.
