Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as the pirate Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.
Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding with James Anthony Bailey the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was also an author, publisher, and philanthropist, although he said of himself: "I am a showman by profession ... and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me." According to Barnum's critics, his personal aim was "to put money in his own coffers". The adage "there's a sucker born every minute" has frequently been attributed to him, although no evidence exists that he had coined the phrase.
Johanna Maria Lind (Madame Goldschmidt) (6 October 1820 – 2 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and undertook an extraordinarily popular concert tour of the United States beginning in 1850. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840.
Barnum is an American musical with a book by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart, and music by Cy Coleman. It is based on the life of showman P. T. Barnum, covering the period from 1835 through 1880 in America and major cities of the world where Barnum took his performing companies. The production combines elements of traditional musical theater with the spectacle of the circus. The characters include jugglers, trapeze artists and clowns, as well as such real-life personalities as Jenny Lind and General Tom Thumb.
Charles Sherwood Stratton, better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was an American with dwarfism who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum.
Noah Lindsey Beery was an American actor often specializing in warm, friendly character roles similar to many portrayed by his Oscar-winning uncle, Wallace Beery. Unlike his more famous uncle, however, Beery Jr. seldom broke away from playing supporting roles. Active as an actor in films or television for well over half a century, he was best known for playing James Garner's character's father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, in the NBC television series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). His father, Noah Beery, enjoyed a similarly lengthy film career as an extremely prominent supporting actor in major films, although the elder Beery was also frequently a leading man during the silent film era.
The Bowery is a 1933 American pre-Code historical comedy-drama film set in the Lower East Side of Manhattan around the start of the 20th century directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Wallace Beery and George Raft. The supporting cast features Jackie Cooper, Fay Wray, and Pert Kelton.
Rochelle Hudson was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s. Hudson was a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1931.
Claude Duval Payton was an American actor in many silent films and other films.
Roxie Hart is a 1942 American comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, and starring Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou and George Montgomery. A film adaptation of a 1926 play Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a journalist who found inspiration in two real-life Chicago trials she had covered for the press. The play had been adapted once prior, in a 1927 silent film. In 1975, a hit stage musical premiered, and was once more adapted as the Oscar-winning 2002 musical film.
A Lady's Morals is a 1930 American pre-Code film directed by Sidney Franklin. Its plot is a highly fictionalized account of opera singer Jenny Lind. The film features Grace Moore as Lind, Reginald Denny as a lover and Wallace Beery as P. T. Barnum. It contains operatic arias by Moore.
Mickey's Gala Premier is a Walt Disney cartoon produced in 1933, directed by Burt Gillett, and featuring parodies of several famous Hollywood film actors from the 1930s. It was the 58th Mickey Mouse short film, and the eighth of that year.
The Spanish Dancer is a 1923 American silent costume epic starring Pola Negri as a gypsy fortune teller, Antonio Moreno as a romantic count, and Wallace Beery as the king of Spain. The film was directed by Herbert Brenon and also features a five-year-old Anne Shirley, appearing under the name "Dawn O'Day." The film survives today.
The King on Main Street, also known as The King, is a 1925 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Monta Bell and starring Adolphe Menjou and Bessie Love. The film was adapted for the screen by Bell, and was based on the play The King, Leo Ditrichstein's adaptation of the 1908 French play Le Roi by Gaston Arman de Caillavet, Robert de Flers, and Emmanuel Arène. It was produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
The Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale", was one of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century. At the height of her fame she was persuaded by the showman P. T. Barnum to undertake a long tour of the United States. The tour began in September 1850 and continued to May 1852. Barnum's advance publicity made Lind a celebrity even before she arrived in the U.S., and tickets for her first concerts were in such demand that Barnum sold them by auction. The tour provoked a popular furore dubbed "Lind Mania" by the local press, and raised large sums of money for both Lind and Barnum. Lind donated her profits to her favoured charities, principally the endowment of free schools in her native Sweden.
Slightly Scarlet is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy drama film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and Edwin H. Knopf and starring Evelyn Brent and Clive Brook. The film was shot in several different language versions, with different casts. The French version was titled L'énigmatique Mr. Parkes, and stars Claudette Colbert as Lucy and Adolphe Menjou as Parkes.
Evening Clothes is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by Luther Reed that was produced by Famous Players–Lasky and released by Paramount.
Father Takes a Wife is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Jack Hively and starring Gloria Swanson, Adolphe Menjou and John Howard. Silent screen queen Gloria Swanson returned to films after a seven-year absence. Eight years later, Swanson staged another comeback in the classic Sunset Boulevard (1950).
The Greatest Showman is a 2017 American biographical musical drama film directed by Michael Gracey from a screenplay by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, based on an original story by Bicks. The film stars Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya. Featuring nine original songs written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and an original musical orchestral score composed by John Debney and Joseph Trapanese, the film is a heavily fictionalized depiction of the life of P. T. Barnum, a showman and entertainer who created the Barnum & Bailey Circus, and its star attractions.
Jenny Lind is a 1932 American pre-Code musical film directed by Arthur Robison and starring Grace Moore, André Luguet and André Berley. It is a French-language remake of the 1930 film A Lady's Morals, which also starred Moore but had a largely different cast and crew. Alternative language versions were common during the early years of sound until dubbing became more widespread.
