David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story Madame Butterfly for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of many actors, including James O'Neill, Mary Pickford, Lenore Ulric, and Barbara Stanwyck. Belasco pioneered many innovative new forms of stage lighting and special effects in order to create realism and naturalism.
Flora Finch was an English-born vaudevillian, stage and film actress who starred in over 300 silent films, including over 200 for the Vitagraph Studios film company. The vast majority of her films from the silent era are currently classified as lost.
Show People is a 1928 American synchronized sound comedy film directed by King Vidor. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film was a starring vehicle for actress Marion Davies and actor William Haines and included notable cameo appearances by many of the film personalities of the day, including stars Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart and John Gilbert, and writer Elinor Glyn. Vidor also appears in a cameo as himself, as does Davies.
Lucille La Verne Mitchum was an American actress known for her appearances in early sound films, as well as for her triumphs on the American stage. She is most widely remembered as the voice of the first Disney villain, Queen Grimhilde in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Walt Disney's first full-length animated feature film.
Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 American musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), primarily directed by Vincente Minnelli, with segments directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, and George Sidney, the film's original director before Minnelli took over. Other directors that are claimed to have made uncredited contributions to the film are Merrill Pye, Norman Taurog, and Charles Walters. It stars many MGM leading talents, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, James Melton, Victor Moore, William Powell, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams.
Sweet Kitty Bellairs is a 1930 American historical musical comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green. The film is based on the 1903 play Sweet Kitty Bellairs by David Belasco. Belasco's play was in turn adapted from the novel The Bath Comedy (1900) by Agnes Castle and Egerton Castle. This novel also served as source material for the 1930 musical film. Shot entirely in Technicolor, the film stars Claudia Dell, Ernest Torrence and, Walter Pidgeon and is set in Bath, England in 1793.
Egerton Smith Castle F.S.A. was an author, antiquarian, and swordsman, and an early practitioner of reconstructed historical fencing, frequently in collaboration with his colleague Captain Alfred Hutton. Castle was the captain of the British épée and sabre teams at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Rida Johnson Young was an American playwright, songwriter and librettist. Young wrote over 30 plays and musicals and approximately 500 songs. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Some of her better-known lyrics include "Mother Machree" from the 1910 show Barry of Ballymore, "Italian Street Song", "I'm Falling in Love with Someone" and "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" from Naughty Marietta, and "Will You Remember?" from Maytime.
Peacock Alley is a 1930 American pre-Code musical romantic drama film directed by Marcel de Sano, and starring Mae Murray and George Barraud. The film is a remake of the 1922 silent film of the same name in which Murray also stars. Aside from Murray being cast in the lead, the remake was largely different from the 1922 silent film. While Murray's character in the 1922 film was named Cleo, she was renamed Claire Tree in this film. George Barraud replaced Monte Blue as the male lead, who is now named Clayton Stoddard.
To Have and to Hold is a 1916 American silent adventure/drama film directed by George Melford. Based on the 1899 novel of the same name, the film starred Wallace Reid and Mae Murray in her film debut.
Shelley Vaughan Hull was an American stage actor who also appeared in two silent motion pictures. His Broadway popularity as a suave handsome leading man was continually on the rise until his early death at age 34 in the Influenza pandemic of 1918.
Perry Askam (1898–1961) was a 20th-century American actor and baritone singer, most active in musical theatre and opera around the San Francisco area.
Roi Cooper Megrue was an American playwright, producer, and director active on Broadway from 1914 to 1921.
The Auctioneer is a 1927 American silent comedy drama film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring George Sidney, Marian Nixon and Gareth Hughes. It was originally planned for Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell to appear in supporting roles in the film, before both had become stars by that point and other actors were cast. The film was adapted from a (1901) David Belasco stage play of the same name which starred David Warfield.
Agnes Mary Frances Castle was a Victorian era Irish author who worked with both her sisters and husband. The stories that she co-wrote were the basis of several plays and films.
Francis Henry Westerton was a British stage and silent film actor of the 19th and early 20th centuries who carved a successful career on Broadway from 1905 to 1922.
Edwin Stevens was an American stage and film actor. He also directed several films during the silent era. His Broadway performance credits included The Marquis Imari in The Geisha, Robert Hutton in Brother Officers, Professor Belliarti in Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines (1901), Baron Stein in Diplomacy (1901), Hang Chow in A Chinese Honeymoon (1902), Muley Mustapha in Nancy Brown (1903), Colonel Villiers in Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1903), McGinty in The Pearl and the Pumpkin (1905), the title role in Ferenc Molnár's The Devil (1908), the Sheriff of Nottingham in Reginald De Koven's Robin Hood, and the Honorable Henry Villiers in Kitty Darlin' (1917).
Mark Smith was an American actor of stage, radio, and film. A fourth generation American actor, he was a member of the Smith family of performers. He should not be confused with his grandfather and his father who also performed under the name Mark Smith.
Sweet Kitty Bellairs may refer to:
Sweet Kitty Bellairs is a play in a prologue and four acts by David Belasco. It is based on the novel The Bath Comedy (1900) by married writing team Agnes and Egerton Castle. The work premiered at the Lafayette Square Opera House in Washington D.C. on November 23, 1903. The production transferred to Broadway; opening at the Belasco Theatre on December 9, 1903. A success, it ran there for a total of 204 performances; closing on June 4, 1904. The production starred Henrietta Crosman in the title role. Others in the cast included Katherine Florence (1874–1952) as Lady Standish, John E. Kellerd (1862–1929) as Lord Standish, Edwin Stevens as Colonel Villiers, Charles Hammond as Lord Verney, and Mark Smith as the Master of Ceremonies among others.
