- published: 09 Sep 2013
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Ed Wynn (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966) was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor.
Wynn began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was a star of the Ziegfeld Follies starting in 1914. During The Follies of 1915, W. C. Fields allegedly caught Wynn mugging for the audience under the table during his "Pool Room" routine and knocked him unconscious with his cue. Wynn wrote, directed, and produced many Broadway shows in the subsequent decades, and was known for his silly costumes and props as well as for the giggly, wavering voice he developed for the 1921 musical review, The Perfect Fool.
Ed Wynn was a Jewish-American comedian who was born Isaiah Edwin Leopold in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, who manufactured and sold women's hats, was born in Bohemia-Czechoslovakia. His mother, of Romanian and Turkish ancestry, came from Istanbul, Turkey. Wynn attended Central High School in Philadelphia until age 15. He ran away from home in his teens, worked as a hat salesman and as a utility boy, and eventually adapted his middle name "Edwin" into his new stage name, "Ed Wynn", to save his family the embarrassment of having a lowly comedian as a relative.
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".
Buster Keaton (his lifelong stage name) was recognized as the seventh-greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Keaton the 21st-greatest male star of all time. Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, [when] he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies."
Orson Welles stated that Keaton's The General is "the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made."
A 2002 worldwide poll by Sight & Sound ranked Keaton's The General as the 15th best film of all time. Three other Keaton films received votes in the magazine's survey: Our Hospitality, Sherlock, Jr., and The Navigator.
Actors: Stanley Clarke (composer), Christopher Lloyd (actor), Jane Lynch (actress), John Wells (producer), Elaine Hendrix (actress), Molly Ringwald (actress), Pat Healy (actor), Dylan Baker (actor), John Byner (actor), John de Lancie (actor), Thomas Daniel (actor), Dakin Matthews (actor), Christina Hendricks (actress), David O'Donnell (actor), Michael B. Silver (actor),
Plot: In 1948 Manhattan, a diverse group of people are committed to making the fledgling Empire Network a success. Among them: a naive young woman who's hired as a script girl; an idealistic programmer; and an aspiring director who hopes to make Empire "the network that takes risks and makes new stars." Then there's Empire's president, an eccentric scientist whose bride raises eyebrows at the network.
Keywords: based-on-play, early-televisionActors: Jack Albertson (actor), Jerome Cowan (actor), Murray Alper (actor), Phil Arnold (actor), Richard Bakalyan (actor), Norman Alden (actor), Billy Bletcher (actor), Don Brodie (actor), John Carradine (actor), Robert Carson (actor), Chick Chandler (actor), Harry Cheshire (actor), Billy Beck (actor), Hans Conried (actor), Scatman Crothers (actor),
Plot: When a star comedian dies, his comedy team, decides to train a nobody to fill the shoes of the Star in a big TV show (a Patsy). But the man they choose, bellboy Stanley Belt, cant do anything right. The big TV show is getting closer, and Stanley gets worse all the time.
Keywords: actor-director, agency, agent, ballet, barber-shop, bellboy, breaking-the-fourth-wall, cameo, crazy-humor, directed-by-starActors: Louis Jean Heydt (actor), Hugh Herbert (actor), Jean Hersholt (actor), Count Basie (actor), Pat Flaherty (actor), Henry Armetta (actor), Eddie Hall (actor), Ralph Bellamy (actor), Xavier Cugat (actor), Edgar Bergen (actor), Ray Bolger (actor), Benny Baker (actor), William Demarest (actor), Lloyd Corrigan (actor), John James (actor),
Plot: "Dakota," a young soldier on a pass in New York City, visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theatre and films appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. Dakota meets a pretty young hostess, Eileen, and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance.
Keywords: actor, actress, bandleader, burlesque, chinese, comedian, dancer, dummy, engagement, entertainmentWell, I don't think that I know you
I've never seen you here
Before, although I could be wrong
And though this music doesn't move me
Thrill or even soothe me
I think I might dance to just this one song
Is that your brother dancin' with you?
He's giving me some funny looks
I thought you says, "You were on your own"
Look, I know I'm no oil painting
But my face doesn't need rearranging
And I'm quite attached to all my bones
This isn't the way things were meant to be
Now he's waiting outside with his mates for me