25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Louise Dresser

October 25, 2019

Louise Dresser was an American actress. Born Louise Josephine Kerlin in Evansville, Indiana, her first film was The Glory of Clementina, and her first starring role was in The City that Never Sleeps. She took her professional last name as a tribute to her good friend, songwriter Paul Dresser. Dresser, the elder brother of novelist Theodore Dreiser, was a popular songwriter of the turn of the 20th century. During the first presentations of the Academy Awards in 1929 she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for A Ship Comes In.

She portrayed Empress Elizabeth in Paramount Pictures's The Scarlet Empress. Dresser's last film was Maid of Salem. On television, she appeared in an episode spotlighting Buster Keaton on Ralph Edwards's program, This is Your Life. She had known Keaton since he was a small boy with his parents in vaudeville.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Louise Fazenda

October 25, 2019

Louise Fazenda was an American film actress, appearing chiefly in silent comedy films.

She was born in Lafayette, Indiana. Her father, Joseph Fazenda, was a merchandise broker. After moving west Louise attended Los Angeles High School and St. Mary’s Convent. Before trying motion pictures, she worked for a dentist, a candy store owner, and a tax collector.

Fazenda got her start in comedy shorts as early as 1913 with Joker Studios, frequently appearing with Max Asher and Bobby Vernon. She was soon recruited for Mack Sennett’s troupe at Keystone Studios.

As with many Keystone actors, Fazenda’s star soon grew larger than Sennett was willing to pay for, and she left Sennett in the early 1920s for better roles and more money. She took a break from making motion pictures in 1921-1922 in order to try vaudeville. Fazenda appeared in a variety of shorts and feature-length films throughout the decade. By the advent of sound pictures, Fazenda was a highly paid actress, making movies for nearly all of the big studios. Fazenda continued through the 1930s, appearing mostly in musicals and comedies. Her skill was in performing character roles. She played such diverse parts as a fussy old maid and a lady blacksmith. She was once accurately described as a plain-looking woman but a highly gifted character comedienne.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Louise Glaum

October 25, 2019

Louise Glaum was an American actress. Best-known for her role as a femme fatale in silent era motion picture dramas, she was credited with giving one of the best characterizations of a in her early career.

Glaum began her acting career on the stage in Los Angeles, her hometown, in 1907. After a few years, she went on the road with a touring company and performed as an ingenue in the play Why Girls Leave Home. She stayed on in Chicago, where she appeared in a number of productions. After returning to Los Angeles in 1911 because of the death of her younger sister, Glaum found acting work at a movie studio. She appeared in over 110 movies from 1912 to 1925, her debut being in When the Heart Calls.

After starring in Greater Than Love, she retired from the screen and moved to New York. In 1925, she sued for money owed her for movie work amounting to $103,000. The suit was ultimately dismissed by the court due to technicalities. Glaum made a final movie appearance in 1925. Under contract with Associated Exhibitors, she starred as the conniving other woman opposite Lionel Barrymore in a drama directed by Henri Diamant-Berger titled Fifty-Fifty.

For over three years, Glaum headlined on the vaudeville circuit in dramatic playlets. She presented a play in which she starred, Trial Marriage, in Los Angeles in 1928. Continuing to act on the stage, she opened and appeared in her own theatre in Los Angeles in the mid 1930s and became a drama instructor. Glaum was active in music clubs over the following decades. She served as president of the Matinee Musical Club for many years and was also state president of the California Federation of Music Clubs.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio Permalink

Lowell Thomas

October 25, 2019

Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveller best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous. So varied were Thomas’s activities that when it came time for the Library of Congress to catalog his memoirs they were forced to put them in “CT” in their classification.

Thomas was born in Woodington, Ohio, in Darke County, the son of Harry and Harriet Thomas. His father was a doctor and his mother a school teacher. In 1900, the family moved to the mining town of Victor, Colorado. There he worked as a gold miner, a cook, and a reporter on the newspaper.

In 1910, Thomas graduated from Victor High School, where one of his teachers was Mabel Barbee Lee. The following year, he graduated from Valparaiso University with bachelor’s degrees in education and science. The next year he received both a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Denver and began work for the Chicago Journal, writing for it until 1914. While in Chicago, he was a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, teaching oratory. He then went to New Jersey, where he studied for a master’s at Princeton University and again taught oratory at the university.

A relentless self-promoter, Thomas persuaded railroads to give him free passage in exchange for articles extolling rail travel. When he visited Alaska, he hit upon the novel idea of the travelogue, movies about faraway places. When the United States entered World War I, he was part of an official party sent by President Wilson, former president of Princeton, to “compile a history of the conflict.” In reality the mission was not academic. The war was not popular in the United States, and Thomas was sent to find material that would encourage the American people to support it. Thomas did not want to merely write about the war, he wanted to film it. He estimated that $75,000 would be needed for filming, which the U.S. government thought too expensive, and so he turned to a group of 18 Chicago meat packers.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Lucho Gatica

October 25, 2019

“King of Bolero,” Lucho Gatica was honored with the 2,354th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Leron Gubler, presided over the ceremony. Guests included Maria Conchita Alonso, Johnny Mathis, and George Hamilton.

7021 Hollywood Boulevard on January 25, 2008.

BIOGRAPHY

Lucho Gatica was born in Rancagua, Chile in 1928. He attended school at Instituto O’Higgins. He and his brother Arturo were struggling singers before they released their first album, in 1949, when Gatica was twenty one years old.

Chileans generally experienced a change in music taste during the 1950s, when bolero music overtook tango as Chileans’ preferred music genre for some time. Singers like Cuba’s Olga Guillot, and Mexicans Leo Marini and Elvira Rios, among others, were very popular during that time there. So were Xavier Cugat and his orchestra, which included Puerto Rican Bobby Capo. These singers would influence Gatica.

Gatica’s first disc, 1951’s Me Importas Tu (You Matter to Me) became a mega hit across Latin America, opening many doors for Gatica. He followed that with 1952s Contigo en la Distancia (With You in the Distance).

Gatica recorded his version of Consuelo Velázquez’s Bésame Mucho (Kiss Me a Lot) in 1953, year in which he produced two more albums, Las Muchachas de la Plaza España (The Girls from the Spain Square) and Sinceridad (Sincerity).

By 1957, Gatica moved to Mexico, a country that would become of great importance in his life. In Mexico, he released No me Platiques Mas (Don’t Talk to me Anymore), Tu me Acostumbraste (You Accustomed Me) and Voy a Apagar la Luz (I’m Turning the Lights Off), which was released in 1959.

In 1956, Gatica’s songs were recorded in North America on LP albums for the first time by Capital Records (‘Capitol’ of the World series). Three albums were released within 14 months by Capitol. The third one in that group with Capitol was “El Gran Gatica,” which featured such songs as “Somos,” “Sabra Dios,” and “Si Me Comprendieras,” to name three. One of the three Lucho Gatica albums released in 1958 year were greatest hits compilations; the third was named Envenenados (Poisoned). He also recorded a song entitled “Encadenados” (Chained (we are)).

Gatica had important changes in his personal life after arriving in Mexico for the first time. He decided to become a permanent resident of that North American country, and married Puerto Rican actress Mapita Cortes, who had been a celebrity in Mexico (and Puerto Rico) for some years, and who also resided in Mexico. The couple had offspring, including two sons actually named Luis and Alfredo Gatica. Luis went on to become a telenovela and rock star during the 1980s and Alfredo (Alfie) became a music entrepreneur. Gatica remarried an American woman and had one daughter with her, as well. One of Gatica’s last known releases was 1963’s Recuerdos de Amor (Memories of Love).

It is estimated that Gatica has released more than 90 recordings. He has toured a vast portion of the world, having made concerts in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. His influence on world music is overwhelming; vocalists of many nationalities and languages felt Lucho’s impact and have, at one time or another, sung and recorded “boleros”, from Perry Como to Peggy Lee to Dionne Warwick to The Beatles; even Doris Day recorded a bolero album and Nat King Cole went further by recording in Spanish three albums which included many of Lucho’s greatest hits. Julio Iglesias has publicly confessed that Lucho remains his one single musical influence and calls him “The Master” while younger singers such as Mexico’s mega-star Luis Miguel have both enhanced their popular appeal and careers by recording cover versions of the songs Lucho made famous.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording, Television Permalink

Lucille Ball

October 25, 2019

Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedienne, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy. One of the most popular and influential stars in America during her lifetime, with one of Hollywood's longest careers, especially on television, Ball began acting in the 1930s, becoming both a radio actress and B-movie star in the 1940s, and then a television star during the 1950s. She was still making films in the 1960s and 1970s.

Ball received thirteen Emmy Award nominations and four wins. She was the recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1979, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986 and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1989.

In 1929, Ball landed work as a model and later began her performing career on Broadway using the stage name Dianne Belmont. She appeared in many small movie roles in the 1930s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures. Ball was labeled as the "Queen of the Bs". In 1951, Ball was pivotal in the creation of the television series I Love Lucy. The show co-starred her then husband, Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo and Vivian Vance and William Frawley as Ethel and Fred Mertz, the Ricardos' landlords and friends. The show ended in 1957. They then changed the format a little – lengthening the time of the show from 30 minutes to 75 minutes, adding some characters, altering the storyline somewhat, and renaming the show from "I Love Lucy", to "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour". Ball went on to star in two more successful television series: The Lucy Show, which ran on CBS from 1962 to 1968, and Here's Lucy from 1968 to 1974. Her last attempt at a television series was a 1986 show called Life with Lucy – which failed miserably after 8 episodes.

Ball met and eloped with Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz in 1940. On July 17, 1951, almost 40 years old, Ball gave birth to their first child, Lucie Désirée Arnaz. A year and a half later, Ball gave birth to their second child, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, known as Desi Arnaz, Jr. Ball and Arnaz divorced on May 4, 1960.

25 Oct 2019
Radio, Recording Permalink

Lotte Lehmann

October 25, 2019

Charlotte Lehmann was a German soprano who was especially associated with German repertory. She gave memorable performances in the operas of Richard Strauss. The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier was considered her greatest role. During her long career, Lehmann also made more than five hundred recordings.

Lehmann was born in Perleberg, Germany. After studying in Berlin with Mathilde Mallinger, she made her debut at the Hamburg Opera in 1910 as a page in Wagner’s Lohengrin. In 1914, she sang for the first time at the Vienna State Opera, which she joined in 1916. There she sang the premieres of a number of operas by Richard Strauss, including Ariadne auf Naxos in 1916, Die Frau ohne Schatten in 1919, Intermezzo in 1924, and Arabella in 1933, as well as Vienna premieres of several operas by Puccini. Lehmann made her debut in London in 1914, and from 1924 to 1935 she performed regularly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

She also appeared regularly at the Salzburg Festival from 1926 to 1937, performing with Arturo Toscanini, among other conductors. She also gave recitals there accompanied at the piano by the conductor Bruno Walter. In 1936, while in Salzburg, she discovered the Trapp Family Singers, later made famous in the musical The Sound of Music, and persuaded them to present their first public performance.

In 1930, Lehmann made her American debut in Chicago as Sieglinde in Wagner’s Die Walküre. Lehmann’s other Wagnerian roles included Eva in Die Meistersinger, Elsa in Lohengrin, and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser. She was also famous for her interpretation of Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio. Just before Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Lehmann emigrated to the United States, where she sang at the San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera until 1945.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Lou Adler

October 25, 2019

Lou Adler is an American record producer, manager, and director.

Adler was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in East Los Angeles. In 1964, Adler founded and co-owned Dunhill Records. He was President of the label as well as the chief record producer from 1964 to 1967. That summer he sold Dunhill for three million dollars to ABC Records. Later in 1967, he founded Ode Records. In June 1967, Adler helped to produce the Monterey International Pop Festival, as well as the film version, Monterey Pop.

He formerly managed Jan & Dean and produced Sam Cooke, The Mamas & the Papas, Johnny Rivers, Barry McGuire, Scott McKenzie, The Grass Roots, Spirit, Carole King, The Weaver Temptations and Cheech and Chong.

In 1978, Adler directed the movie Up In Smoke, starring Cheech & Chong. The movie remains a cult hit, and in 2000 Adler recorded a commentary track along with Cheech Marin for the DVD release. His 1981 followup film, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, was barely released, but enjoyed a long life on cable TV broadcasts.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Louis Armstrong

October 25, 2019

Louis Daniel Armstrong nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers. With his distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, or vocalizing using syllables instead of actual lyrics.

Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and deep, instantly recognizable voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general.

Armstrong often stated in public interviews that he was born on July 4, 1900, a date that has been noted in many biographies. Although he died in 1971, it was not until the mid-1980s that his true birth date of August 4, 1901 was discovered through the examination of baptismal records.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Louis B. Mayer

October 25, 2019

Louis Burt Mayer was a Belarus-born American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the “star system” within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B. Mayer and often simply as “L.B.”, he believed in wholesome entertainment and went to great lengths so that MGM had “more stars than there are in the heavens”.

Born Lazar Meir to a Jewish family in Minsk, today the capital of Belarus, then part of the Russian Empire, capital of the Minsk Province. His actual birthdate is unknown; a patriotic Mayer chose July 4 when he became an American citizen, to honor his adopted country. Mayer emigrated with his family to Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada when he was still very young, and Mayer attended school there. His father started a scrap metal business, J. Mayer & Son. His parents, Sarah and Jacob Mayer, had five children: Yetta, Ida, Louis, Jerry and Rudolph. In 1904, the 19-year-old Mayer left Saint John for Boston, where he continued for a time in the scrap metal business, married, and took a variety of odd jobs to support his family when his junk business lagged.

Mayer renovated the Gem Theater, a rundown, 600 seat burlesque house

in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which he reopened on November 28, 1907 as the Orpheum, his first movie theater. To overcome the unfavorable reputation that the building once had in the community, Mayer decided to debut with the showing of a religious film. Years later, Mayer would say that the premiere at the Orpheum was From the Manger to the Cross, although most sources place the release date of that film as 1912. Within a few years, he owned all five of Haverhill’s theaters, and, with Nathan H. Gordon, created the Gordon-Mayer partnership that controlled the largest theater chain in New England.