Plot
Harry Raymond and his friend Jim Tierney work as song promoters for a music publisher. Harry pesters his boss to put out a song he's written with showgirl Dolores Fenton and the boss, irritated, fires him. Loyal friend Jim quits his job in solidarity. Harry and Jim then team up with Dolores and her friend Goldie to work up an act. Harry and Dolores become a Broadway sensation with their number "With You." They fall in love and get engaged, but as his fame grows, success goes to Harry's head. He spurns his old friends in favor of socializing with the upper crust. He becomes drunk and snubs Goldie and Jim at a Christmas party. Dolores leaves him. Harry consumes bad liquor and is struck blind. Jim stands by his old friend, but Harry makes him promise not to tell Dolores about his blindness.
Time passes, and Jim persuades Harry to accompany him to the opening of a new musical show starring Dolores. At the curtain call, the audience insists she sing the hit "With You." Midway through the song she falters, and Harry joins in from the audience. He tries to leave quickly after, but Dolores follows, and they are reunited. [1] [2]
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1926.
Taco Ockerse, known mononymously as Taco, is an Indonesian-born Dutch musician and entertainer who started his career in Germany.
Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film, and television actress, one of three acting sisters from a show-business family. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 films from the era of silent films, well into the sound era. She is best remembered for her film noir femme fatale roles in director Fritz Lang's films—including Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945)—and for her television role as matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in the gothic 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows, for which she received an Emmy nomination in 1968.
Paper Dolls is an American primetime television soap opera that aired for 14 episodes on ABC from September 23 to December 25, 1984. Set in New York's fashion industry, the show centered on top modeling agency owner Racine, her conflicts with the family of cosmetics tycoon Grant Harper, and the careers of two teenaged models. The series was based on a 1982 television film of the same name. The show suffered in the ratings, despite positive reviews, and was cancelled midway through the first season.
"Puttin' On the Ritz" is a song written by Irving Berlin. He wrote it in May 1927 and first published it on December 2, 1929. It was registered as an unpublished song on August 24, 1927 and again on July 27, 1928. It was introduced by Harry Richman and chorus in the musical film Puttin' On the Ritz (1930). According to The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, this was the first song in film to be sung by an interracial ensemble. The title derives from the slang expression "to put on the Ritz", meaning to dress very fashionably. This expression was inspired by the opulent Ritz Hotel in London.
Harry Richman was an American singer, actor, dancer, comedian, pianist, songwriter, bandleader, and nightclub performer, at his most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. In his peak years, he was one of the highest‐paid performers in show business.
Blue Skies is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Joan Caulfield. Based on a story by Irving Berlin, the film is about a dancer who loves a showgirl who loves a compulsive nightclub-opener who can't stay committed to anything in life for very long. Produced by Sol C. Siegel, Blue Skies was filmed in Technicolor and released by Paramount Pictures. The music, lyrics, and story were written by Irving Berlin, with most of the songs recycled from earlier works.
No, No, Nanette is a 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy film with Technicolor sequences that was directed by Clarence G. Badger and released by First National Pictures. It was adapted from the play of the same title by Otto A. Harbach and Frank Mandel. No, No, Nanette was a popular show on Broadway, running for 321 performances, and was produced and directed by Harry Frazee.
"I Used to Be Color Blind" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1938 film Carefree, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire. The Astaire recording was very popular in 1938.
Gold Diggers of 1937 is a Warner Bros. movie musical directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley. The film stars Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, who were married at the time, with Glenda Farrell and Victor Moore.
Peter James Levinson was an American music publicist and biographer, particularly of jazz musicians.
The Falcon Takes Over, is a 1942 black-and-white mystery film directed by Irving Reis. Although the film features the Falcon and other characters created by Michael Arlen, its plot is taken from the Raymond Chandler novel Farewell, My Lovely, with the Falcon substituting for Chandler's archetypal private eye Philip Marlowe and the setting of New York City replacing Marlowe's Los Angeles beat. The B film was the third, following The Gay Falcon and A Date with the Falcon (1941), to star George Sanders as the character Gay Lawrence, a gentleman detective known by the sobriquet the Falcon.
Alice in Wonderland (1931) is an independently made black-and-white Pre-Code American film based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, directed by Bud Pollard, produced by Hugo Maienthau, and filmed at Metropolitan Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Give My Regards to Broad Street is a 1984 British musical-drama film directed by Peter Webb. It stars Paul McCartney, Bryan Brown and Ringo Starr. The film covers a fictional day in the life of McCartney, who wrote the film for the screen, and McCartney, Starr and Linda McCartney all appear as themselves. Despite Give My Regards to Broad Street being unsuccessful, both financially and critically, its soundtrack album sold well. The title is a take on George M. Cohan's song "Give My Regards to Broadway" and refers to London's Broad Street railway station. It was the first appearance for McCartney in a non-documentary feature film since Help! (1965) and is currently his last starring role in a feature film.
Maybe It's Love is an all-talking 1930 pre-Code American musical comedy film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by William A. Wellman. The movie stars Joan Bennett, Joe E. Brown and James Hall. The film is based on George Ade's 1904 play The College Widow and is a remake of Warner's own 1927 silent version of the story, which starred Dolores Costello. The play had also been filmed in 1915, starring Ethel Clayton.
"Limehouse Blues" is a popular British song written by the London-based duo of Douglas Furber (lyrics) and Philip Braham (music).
Blue Skies is a studio album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire released in 1946 featuring songs that were presented in the American musical film Blue Skies. Like Song Hits from Holiday Inn, the entire 78 rpm album would be composed of Irving Berlin songs written specifically for the film. This was the first release of one of Astaire's greatest songs, "Puttin' On the Ritz", on shellac disc record.
"With You" is a 1929 song by Irving Berlin. The lyrics commence: " With you, a sunny day; / Without you, clouds in the sky". The song was sung by Harry Richman and Joan Bennett in the 1930 film Puttin' On the Ritz.
Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday Celebration was a concert special held in his honor at Carnegie Hall on May 11, 1988. It was aired on CBS television two weeks later, on May 27. At the 40th annual Emmy Awards later that summer, on August 28, it won two Emmys for outstanding variety, music or comedy program. Berlin himself did not attend, as he had retired from public life.
"My Twelve Tone Melody" is a 1988 composition by Leonard Bernstein written in tribute to Irving Berlin in celebration of Berlin's 100th birthday. It was performed by Bernstein at the concert to celebrate Berlin's birthday at Carnegie Hall in May 1988.
