Josephine "Joan" Davis was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy I Married Joan, Davis had a successful earlier career as a screen actress, and a leading star of 1940s radio comedy.
John Elmer Carson, known as Jack Carson, was a Canadian-born American film actor. Carson often played the role of comedic friend in films of the 1940s and 1950s, including The Strawberry Blonde (1941) with James Cagney and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) with Cary Grant. He appeared in such dramas as Mildred Pierce (1945), A Star is Born (1954), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). He worked for RKO and MGM, but most of his notable work was for Warner Bros.
Gold Diggers of 1933 is an American pre-Code musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film's numbers were staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It starred Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell. It featured appearances by Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks and Ginger Rogers.
The Golden Boot Awards were an American acknowledgement of achievement honoring actors, actresses, and crew members who made significant contributions to the genre of Westerns in television and film. The award was sponsored and presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Money raised at the award banquet was used to help finance various services offered by the Fund to those in the entertainment industry.
The Black and White Ball was a masquerade ball held on November 28, 1966, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Hosted by author Truman Capote, the ball was in honor of The Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. He copied the idea of the black and white ball and My Fair Lady "Ascot theme" from an extravagant no-expense-spared black and white ball held two years earlier by Dominick Dunne and his wife Lenny to celebrate their 10th anniversary at their Santa Monica home. Attendees included such big names as the Ronald and Nancy Reagan, the Bloomingdales, Peter Lawford and Patricia Kennedy, David Niven, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood and Hope Lange to name but a few. Capote was invited and attended. He did not reciprocate and did not invite Doninick Dunne to his ball in 1966.
The Bride Came C.O.D. is a 1941 American screwball romantic comedy starring James Cagney as an airplane pilot and Bette Davis as a runaway heiress, and directed by William Keighley. Although the film was publicized as the first screen pairing of Warner Bros.' two biggest stars, they had actually made Jimmy the Gent together in 1934, and had wanted to find another opportunity to work together.
Stanley Charles Ridges was an English-born American actor who made more than 100 appearances in theatre and movies from 1917 to 1951.
On the Avenue is a 1937 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Dick Powell, Madeleine Carroll, Alice Faye, George Barbier, and The Ritz Brothers. Many of the songs were composed by Irving Berlin. Many of the plot details were used in Let's Make Love. Initially, the movie was called Out Front.
Wake Up and Live is a 1937 Fox musical film directed by Sidney Lanfield and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, starring Jack Haley and Alice Faye plus Walter Winchell and Ben Bernie as themselves.
Are You Listening? is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by Harry Beaumont and starring William Haines, Madge Evans and Anita Page. It was based on the novel of the same name by J. P. McEvoy, published the same year.
The Hard Way is a 1943 Warner Bros. musical drama film starring Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, and Joan Leslie. Directed by Vincent Sherman, it is based on a story by Irwin Shaw which was reportedly based on Ginger Rogers' relationship with her first husband Jack Pepper and her mother Lela.
Twist of Fate is a 1954 British and American mystery film noir directed by David Miller and starring Ginger Rogers and Herbert Lom. In the UK it was released as Beautiful Stranger.
Lucky Partners is a 1940 American romantic comedy film starring Ronald Colman and Ginger Rogers. Directed by Lewis Milestone for RKO Radio Pictures, it is based on the 1935 Sacha Guitry film Good Luck. The picture was the only film pairing of Colman and Rogers, and Rogers' eleventh and final film written by Allan Scott.
The wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones took place on 19 June 1999 in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth II's youngest child, Prince Edward, was created Earl of Wessex hours before the ceremony.
"The Yama Yama Man" was a comical song for the Broadway show The Three Twins, published in 1908 by M. Witmark & Sons with music by Karl Hoschna and lyrics by Collin Davis. It became popular after Bessie McCoy's animated performance in a satin Pierrot clown costume with floppy gloves and a cone hat. At age 20, she became an overnight sensation on Broadway and was known thereafter as the "Yama Yama Girl"; it became her lifelong theme song. The show ran for 288 performances. The lyrics contain topical references of the era such as street cars and ladies' fashion while the refrain is about a comical bogeyman—the Yama Yama Man—who is "ready to spring out at you unaware". Bessie McCoy's song and dance routine was a standard into the 1930s with a prestigious lineage of imitators including Ada Jones, Marilyn Miller, Irene Castle and Ginger Rogers.
Mr. Moto in Danger Island is a 1939 American mystery film directed by Herbert I. Leeds and starring Peter Lorre, Jean Hersholt and Amanda Duff. It is part of the Mr. Moto series of films.
Strange Alibi is a 1941 American film noir directed by D. Ross Lederman, written by Kenneth Gamet, Leslie T. White and Fred Niblo Jr., and starring Arthur Kennedy, Joan Perry, Jonathan Hale, John Ridgely, Florence Bates and Charles Trowbridge. It was released by Warner Bros. on April 19, 1941.
