John P. Medbury (died June 29, 1947) was a humorist who wrote for newspapers and film, and did narration for several films. His most notable newspaper contribution was a regular series for the New York Journal called Mutter and Muble. [1] A 1931 edition of the Motion Picture Herald referred to him as noted humorist of Hearst paper fame. [2] He wrote comedic content for the Reservist, a newspaper produced at the San Pedro Naval Reserve Training Camp. [3] In the late 1920s he wrote the comic strip "Molly the Manicure", drawn by Virginia Huget. [4]
In 1936 Medbury focused on screen writing, for MGM and Columbia studios at various times. [1] He wrote for the Amos 'n' Andy show. [5] Medbury featured in several of Walter Futter's Travelaughs (Laughing with Medbury) films – short film travelogues where he provided comedic commentary: Laughing with Medbury in Abyssinia, Laughing with Medbury in Africa (1931), Laughing with Medbury in Borneo (1931), Laughing with Medbury in Death Valley (1931), Laughing with Medbury in Mandalay, Laughing with Medbury in Reno (1931), Laughing with Medbury in Turkey (1931), and Laughing with Medbury on Voo Doo Island. [6] [7] : 143 : 144
Medbury's first wife, actress Phyllis Eltis Medbury, died in 1936. [1] He died June 29, 1947 at the age of 54 in Laguna Beach, California, of a heart attack. [1] [8] [ failed verification ] He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr. was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films.
Amos 'n' Andy was an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago then later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show was created, written and voiced by two white actors, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who played Amos Jones (Gosden) and Andrew Hogg Brown (Correll), as well as incidental characters. On television from 1951–1953, black actors took over the majority of the roles; white characters were infrequent.
Dennis O'Keefe was an American actor and screenwriter.
Jessie Royce Landis was an American actress. Her name is also seen as Jesse Royce-Landis. She remains perhaps best-known for her mother roles in the Hitchcock films To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959).
Penny Singleton was an American actress and labor leader. During her six decade career on stage, screen, radio and television, Singleton appeared as the comic-strip heroine Blondie Bumstead in a series of 28 motion pictures from 1938 until 1950 and the popular Blondie radio program from 1939 until 1950. Singleton also provided the voice of Jane Jetson in the animated series The Jetsons from 1962 to 1963.
Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and movie actor. From his beginnings at The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays and articles for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and his acclaimed short films, Benchley's style of humor brought him respect and success during his life, from his peers at the Algonquin Round Table in New York City to contemporaries in the burgeoning film industry.
The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.
Stuart Erwin was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
Spencer Williams was an American actor and filmmaker. He portrayed Andy on TV's The Amos 'n' Andy Show and directed films including the 1941 race film The Blood of Jesus. Williams was a pioneering African-American film producer and director.
Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle Hammons (1882–1962). Educational primarily distributed short subjects; it is best known for its series of comedies starring Buster Keaton and the earliest screen appearances of Shirley Temple (1932–34). The company ceased production in 1938, and finally closed in 1940 when its film library was sold at auction.
William Taylor "Tay" Garnett was an American film director, writer, and producer. He made nearly 50 films in various genres during his 55-year career, The Postman Always Rings Twice and China Seas being two of the most commercially successful. In his later years, he focused mainly on television.
Hugh Herbert was an American motion picture comedian. He began his career in vaudeville and wrote more than 150 plays and sketches.
John Daly "Jackie" Kelk was an American stage, radio, film, and television actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known for portraying the role of Homer Brown on the radio series The Aldrich Family and as the original voice of Jimmy Olsen on The Adventures of Superman.
Gordon Wong Wellesley was an Australian-born screenwriter and writer of Chinese descent. Born in Sydney in 1894 He wrote over thirty screenplays in the United States and Britain, often collaborating with the director Carol Reed. He began his career in Hollywood in the early 1930s and worked in Britain beginning about 1935. He was married to the scriptwriter Katherine Strueby. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story at the 1942 Oscars for Night Train to Munich, which was based on his novel, Report on a Fugitive.
Blue Monday Jamboree is an old-time radio variety program in the United States. It was broadcast initially on KFRC in San Francisco, California, then was distributed on the West Coast by the Don Lee Network and was later carried nationwide on CBS. Bill Oates wrote, in his biography of Meredith Willson, that the program was "one of the most popular West Coast originated radio shows in the early 1930s."
Oliver H. P. Garrett was an American film director, writer, newspaperman, and rifleman.
Johnny Fletcher is a fictional character created by Frank Gruber. Fletcher is a con-man and reluctant amateur detective. The character was the protagonist of several mystery novels published between 1940 and 1964. Additionally, he was featured in a feature film adaptation scripted by Gruber, and a short lived radio series.
George William Broderick O'Farrell was an American film and stage actor who appeared in both silent and sound films. He began his career at age 14, appearing onstage with the Baker Stock Company in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. He subsequently appeared in several locally-produced films, such as The Golden Trail (1920), before pursuing a film career in Los Angeles. He appeared in numerous silent films throughout the 1920s, and later had minor roles in several Laurel and Hardy films, including Beau Hunks (1931).
{{cite magazine}}
: Cite magazine requires |magazine=
(help){{cite magazine}}
: Cite magazine requires |magazine=
(help)