25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio, Recording Permalink

Danny Kaye

October 25, 2019

Danny Kaye was an American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian.

Born David Daniel Kaminsky to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn named Jacob Kaminsky and Clara Kaminsky, Kaye became one of the world’s best-known comedians. He spent his early youth attending Public School 149 in East New York, Brooklyn, before moving to Thomas Jefferson High School, but he never graduated. He learned his trade in his teenage years in the Catskills as a tummler in the Borscht Belt.

Danny Kaye made his film debut in a 1935 comedy short titled Moon Over Manhattan. In 1937 he signed with New York?based Educational Pictures for a series of two-reel comedies. Kaye usually played a manic, dark-haired, fast-talking Russian in these low-budget shorts, opposite young hopefuls June Allyson or Imogene Coca. The Kaye series ended abruptly when the studio shut down permanently in 1938.

Kaye scored a personal triumph in 1941, in the hit Broadway comedy Lady in the Dark. His show-stopping number was “Tchaikovsky”, by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, in which he sang the names of a whole string of Russian composers at breakneck speed, seemingly without taking a breath.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Constance Moore

October 25, 2019

Constance Moore was a singer and actress. Her most noted work was in wartime musicals such as Show Business and Atlantic City and the classic 1939 movie serial Buck Rogers, in which she played Wilma Deering, the only female character in the serial.

Moore was born in Sioux City, Iowa, but her family moved away when she was aged six months and she spent most of her formative years in Dallas, Texas. All she wanted was to sing, and in the 30’s she got a job with CBS radio. While working on one of their musical series she impressed a scout from Universal Studios and signed a contract with them. Among her costars was W. C. Fields in You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man. She appeared on Broadway in the musical By Jupiter. She retired from films in 1947 but made sporadic appearances over the next few decades. She appeared on a USO tour with Bob Hope and the Nicholas Brothers in 1951. She painted still lifes and in 1976 was the chairperson for the Braille Institute Auxiliary in Beverly Hills, California.

Moore married her agent, John Maschio, when she was eighteen. They were together for sixty-three years until his death in 1998.

In the 1961-1962 season, Moore co-starred on CBS as Robert Young’s romantic interest in his short-lived nostalgia series, Window on Main Street. The series also featured Ford Rainey as a newspaper editor. Rainey and Moore both died in the summer of 2005.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Constance Talmadge

October 25, 2019

Constance Talmadge was a silent movie star born in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and was the sister of fellow actresses Norma Talmadge and Natalie Talmadge.

Talmadge was born into a poor family. Her father, Fred, was an alcoholic, and left them when she was still very young. Her mother, Peg, made a living by doing laundry. When a friend recommended that Peg use Norma as a model for title slides in flickers, which were shown in early nickelodeons, Peg decided to try it. This led all three sisters into an acting career.

She began making films in 1914, in a Vitagraph comedy short, In Bridal Attire. Her first major role was as The Mountain Girl and Marguerite de Valois in D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance. Griffith re-edited Intolerance repeatedly after its initial release, and even shot new scenes long after it was in distribution. Grace Kingsley found Talmadge in her dressing room at the Fine Arts Studio, in Los Angeles, in the midst of making up for some new shots.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Corinne Griffith

October 25, 2019

Corinne Griffith was an American actress. Dubbed “The Orchid Lady of the Screen”, she was one of the most popular film actresses of the 1920s and widely considered the most beautiful actress of the silent screen. Shortly after the advent of sound film, Griffith retired from acting and became a successful author.

Corinne Griffith was born as Corinne Mae Griffin in Texarkana, Texas to John Lewis Griffin and Ambolina Ghio on November 21, 1894. Her parents were married on July 6, 1887 in Texarkana according to their wedding announcement listed in the Dallas Morning News. Her grandparents, Anthony and Augusta Ghio, were born in Italy, and she had an older sister named Augusta. Although Griffith’s actual date of birth is widely disputed with conflicting information throughout her career, 1894 is her actual birth year according to the 1900 and 1910 Censuses. She attended Sacred Heart Convent school in New Orleans and worked as a dancer before she began her acting career. A November 20, 1915 newspaper article from the Dallas Morning News states that Corinne Griffin is going to use “Corinne Griffith” as her stage name, and that her grandfather, Anthony L. Ghio, was a wealthy former three-time mayor of Texarkana. Griffith began her screen career at the Vitagraph Studios in 1916. She later moved to First National, where she became one of their most popular stars. In 1929, Griffith received an Academy Award nomination for her role in The Divine Lady.

Griffith’s first sound film, Lilies of the Field was released in 1930. Griffith’s voice did not record well, and the film was a box office flop. After appearing in one more motion picture, the British film Lily Christine in 1932, she retired from acting. She returned to the screen in 1962 in the a low-budget melodrama Paradise Alley, which received scant release.

Corinne Griffith was one of the few film stars to move successfully into new careers once her stardom had ended. She was an accomplished writer who published eleven books including two best sellers, My Life with The Redskins and the memoir Papa’s Delicate Condition, which was made into a 1963 film starring Jackie Gleason about the Ghio and Griffin family. Her actual family names were used in the film. Her ventures into real estate were particularly successful and she was one of the major forces in Republican politics in California for decades.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Cornel Wilde

October 25, 2019

Cornelius Louis Wilde was an American actor and film director.

Wilde was born in 1912 in Prievidza, Hungary. His Hungarian Jewish parents, according to some sources, were Béla Weisz and Renée Vojtech. Other sources give his parents’ names as Louis Bela Wilde and Renée Mary Vid, and indicate Wilde was named for his grandfather, Cornel Louis Wilde. A talented linguist and an astute mimic, he had an ear for languages which became apparent later in his acting career. Wilde attended the City College of New York as a pre-med student, completing the four-year course in three years and winning a scholarship to the Physicians and Surgeons College at Columbia University. He qualified for the United States fencing team prior to the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, but quit the team just prior to the games in order to take a role in the theater.

Wilde was hired as a fencing teacher by Laurence Olivier for his 1940 Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet and was given the role of Tybalt in the production. His performance in this role netted him a Hollywood film contract.

He had several small film roles until he played the role of Frédéric Chopin in 1945’s A Song to Remember, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor. In 1945 he also starred in A Thousand and One Nights with Evelyn Keyes. He spent the rest of the decade appearing in romantic and swashbuckling films, but he also appeared in some significant films noir, opposite Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven, Road House and Shockproof, the latter film also starring his then wife Patricia Knight.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

Count Basie

October 25, 2019

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. Basie's theme songs were "One O'Clock Jump" and "April In Paris".

William James Basie was born to Harvey Lee Basie, and Lillian Ann Childs, who lived on Mechanic Street in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father worked as a coachman and caretaker for a wealthy judge. After automobiles replaced horses, his father became a groundskeeper and handyman for several families in the area. His mother, a piano player who gave Basie his first piano lessons, took in laundry and baked cakes for sale and paid 25 cents a lesson for piano instruction for him.

Basie was not much of a scholar and instead dreamed of a traveling life, inspired by the carnivals which came to town. He only got as far as junior high school. He would hang out at the Palace Theater in Red Bank and did occasional chores for the management, which got him free admission to the shows. He also learned to operate the spotlights for the vaudeville shows. One day, when the pianist failed to arrive by show time, Basie took his place. Playing by ear, he quickly learned to improvise music appropriate to silent movies.

Though a natural at the piano, Basie preferred drums. However, the obvious talents of another young Red Bank area drummer, Sonny Greer, discouraged Basie and he switched to piano exclusively by age 15. They played together in venues until Greer set out on his professional career. By then Basie was playing with pick-up groups for dances, resorts, and amateur shows, including Harry Richardson's "Kings of Syncopation". When not playing a gig, he hung out at the local pool hall with other musicians where he picked up on upcoming play dates and gossip. He got some jobs in Asbury Park, New Jersey, playing at the Hongkong Inn, until a better player took his place.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Creighton Hale

October 25, 2019

Creighton Hale was an Irish-born American movie actor who worked in the silent film era.

While starring in Charles Frohman’s Broadway production of Indian Summer, Hale was spotted by a representative of the Pathe Film Company. His first movie was The Exploits of Elaine in 1914.

Since he rise to stardom, Hale starred in hit films such as Way Down East, Orphans of the Storm, and The Cat and the Canary.

In 1923, he starred in an early pornographic “stag” film On the Beach. In the film, three nude women agree to have sex with him, but only through a hole in the fence.

25 Oct 2019
Television Permalink

Cristina Saralegui

October 25, 2019

Cristina Saralegui or simply Cristina is a Cuban American journalist, actress and talk show host, well-known for hosting the Spanish-language eponymous show, Cristina.

Following the Cuban Revolution, Saralegui fled with her family to Miami in 1960 at the age of 12. Saralegui and her family lived on Key Biscayne, where she also attended school.

After graduating from Academy of the Assumption in 1966, Saralegui was a student at the University of Miami. In 1973 she began an internship at the magazine Vanidades, where she taught herself to write Spanish, as she had nearly all of her formal schooling in the United States and only functioned in Spanish at the oral level. Saralegui eventually worked her way up to editor of the Spanish version of Cosmopolitan magazine in 1979. She led Spanish Cosmopolitan through most of the 1980s.

In 1989, Saralegui decided to transfer her journalism success to television, launching a Miami-based Spanish-language talk show, El Show de Cristina to Univisión.

25 Oct 2019
Radio, Recording Permalink

Crosby, Stills & Nash

October 25, 2019

Crosby, Stills & Nash is a folk rock supergroup made up of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, also known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young when joined by occasional fourth member Neil Young. They are noted for their intricate vocal harmonies, often tumultuous interpersonal relationships, political activism, and lasting influence on music and culture. All four members of CSNY have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, though Young's multiple inductions were for work not involving the group.

Initially formed by the trio of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, the genesis of the group lies in two 1960s rock bands, The Byrds and The Hollies, and the demise of a third, Buffalo Springfield. Friction existed between David Crosby and his bandmates in the Byrds, and he was dismissed from the Byrds in the autumn of 1967.

By early 1968, Buffalo Springfield had also disintegrated over personal issues, and after aiding in putting together the band?s final album, Stephen Stills found himself unemployed by the summer. He and Crosby began meeting informally and jamming, the results of one encounter in Florida on Crosby?s schooner being the song ?Wooden Ships,? composed in collaboration with another guest, Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane.

Graham Nash had been introduced to Crosby when the Byrds had toured the UK in 1966, and when the Hollies ventured to California in 1968, Nash resumed his acquaintance with Crosby. At a party in July 1968 at Cass Elliot's house, Nash asked Stills and Crosby to repeat their performance of a new song by Stills, ?You Don't Have To Cry,? with Nash improvising a second harmony part. The vocals gelled, and the three realized that they had a unique vocal chemistry.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Crystal Gayle

October 25, 2019

Songbird Crystal Gayle was honored with the 2,390th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Leron Gubler, President and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce presided over the ceremony. Guests included Tanya Tucker, Wink Martindale, Kate Linder, Jennifer Elise Cox, George Chakiris, and Crystal's sister, recording artist Peggy Sue Wright.

1515 Vine Street on October 2, 2009.

BIOGRAPHY

Crystal Gayle was born Brenda Gail Webb in Paintsville, Kentucky on January 9, 1951. When she was four years old her family moved to Wabash, Indiana. Inspired by sister Loretta Lynn's career, she decided to learn to play the guitar and she sang in her brothers' country bands. Crystal encapsulates everything the dazzling qualities of her name imply — although that name came to her in quite an unusual fashion. "Crystal" was suggested by Brenda Gail Webb's older sister, Loretta Lynn. Knowing there was already a 'Brenda Lee' currently successful in the music industry, Loretta selected the name 'Crystal' for her younger sibling when she began recording.

Country, folk, pop, rock 'n roll, Broadway show tunes, gospel…all found an equal place in her heart when growing up as the youngest of eight children. As her beloved sister Loretta so aptly put it, Crystal, too, was a "coal miner's daughter" before she was a platinum- selling singer and a world-class entertainer.

While still in school, she signed her first recording contract. Her debut single, "I've Cried the Blue Right Out of My Eyes," was written by Loretta and reached the Top 25 on the national country music charts. Three more singles were released over the next three years, all making an impact with radio and listeners.

Her first album project began a roll-out of smash singles to come. "Wrong Road Again," (her first of many hit singles with producer Allen Reynolds) became her debut Top 10 record. "I'll Get Over You" became her first #1 single. By her fourth album, "We Must Believe in Magic," Crystal Gayle became the first female artist in country music history to achieve platinum album sales. Driving the engine of the album was the song that was to become her enduring career signature song: "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue."

"Brown Eyes" opened the world's eyes to Crystal Gayle. She became a familiar name in households, grand and small, from Louisville to Leningrad. The glamour and the mystique of the Crystal Gayle phenomena made her an instantly "in-demand" artist. From symphony halls to Carnegie Hall, from the best-kept stages in Las Vegas to the prestige of the London Palladium, one word — "Crystal" — crossed musical genres and oceans.

In the late '70s, Crystal was the star of her own one hour prime-time specials on CBS television — specials that earned the praise of audiences and critics alike. Crystal's CBS specials were followed by an equally groundbreaking HBO concert special viewed by millions. The ensuing years saw Crystal host a Christmas special from Sweden, and a variety special taped in Finland. Chic, hip and cool, with a romantic mane of hair, Crystal's television specials and myriad guest-appearances on specials and talk shows solidified her stardom. She appeared in Bob Hope's historic NBC-TV Special "On the Road to China." She was seen hosting the "American Music Awards" and the "Academy Of Country Music Awards." She swept through tours — and repeat tours — of the U.S. Japan, England, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Australia and the Far East.

Her hit list of platinum and gold was to be matched only by her awards and accolades. CMA's "Female Vocalist of the Year," for two consecutive years, she became a Grammy Award Winner for "Best Female Vocal Performance," thanks to her beloved "Brown Eyes" – a song that she has never grown tired of singing. Crystal swept the Academy Of Country Music Awards for three of their "Top Female Vocalist" statuettes. As her music and her career path widened to mainstream audiences, so did her accolades. She is the recipient of three "American Music Awards," voted by the nation as America's "Favorite Female Artist."

Crystal's most recent projects, "Crystal Gayle Sings The Heart & Soul of Hoagy Carmichael" and "All My Tomorrows," allow Crystal to explore collections of American standards. Songs such as "Stardust," "Skylark," "Cry Me a River," "Sentimental Journey," "It Had to Be You" and "Smile" reach the heights their songwriters' must have dreamed of when piped through the beautiful chords of Crystal Gayle.

Generous with her time and talents, Crystal has become involved with many charities. She garnered the initial "Celebration of Light Award" in recognition of her humanitarian efforts. Crystal recorded the official theme song for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and served thrice as co-host for the Arthritis telethon. Fittingly, the "Celebration of Light Award" was Waterford Crystal.