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1-9 of 9
- Gage Clarke was born on 3 March 1900 in Vassar, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for The Bad Seed (1956), I Want to Live! (1958) and The Twilight Zone (1959). He died on 23 October 1964 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Oscar-nominated Hollywood screenwriter Jo Swerling, who also was a Tony Award-winning Broadway writer and lyricist, was born in Berdichev, Ukraine in what was then the Russian Empire. His family emigrated from Czarist Russia and he grew up on the Lower East Side in New York City.
From a youthful job peddling newspapers, he worked his way up to becoming a journalist, working on newspapers and magazines in the 1920s, including the prestigious "Vanity Fair". He became a playwright, like other famous journalists of the era (most notably Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of The Front Page (1931) fame). Swerling wrote the stage show "Street Cinderella" for the The Marx Brothers and the screenplay for their first film, the 1921 comedy short Humor Risk (1921), starring Chico, Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo. Groucho supposedly hated it so much, he burned the negative. The movie was never released.
Swerling's first legitimate production on the Great White Way was the musical-revue "The New Yorkers", which ran for a then-respectable 52 performances in March and April 1927. Swerling wrote the book and the lyrics for the songs. His next foray on Broadway was the more successful "Kibitzer", an original comedy he co-wrote with Edward G. Robinson (who also co-starred in the show). It ran for 120 performances in February through June 1929.
Wall Street famously laid an egg in October 1929, and Swerling would not be back on Broadway for 21 years. Hollywood beckoned.
In 1929, Universal adapted his play "The Understander" into the movie Melody Lane (1929) while Paramount released The Kibitzer (1930) the following year (without the participation of Edward G. Robinson). Columbia Pictures, the premier studio on Hollywood's "Poverty Row", hired Swerling, and his first screen credit was for the screenplay for Frank Capra's Ladies of Leisure (1930). He would received screen credit on Capra's next five films in the period 1930-32, before Capra turned to Robert Riskin as his main collaborator. (Jo would work on the screenplay for Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946), providing additional scenes.)
Swerling worked on scores of films before he received his last screen credit for King of the Roaring 20's: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961) in 1961. He received his sole Oscar nomination for The Pride of the Yankees (1942). He was one of the many screenwriters, including Ben Hecht, who worked uncredited on the Oscar-winning Gone with the Wind (1939) screenplay (won by Sidney Howard).
Swerling's greatest professional success came when he returned to Broadway, co-writing the book for the classic musical Guys and Dolls (1955) with Abe Burrows, for which he shared the Tony and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Musical. The show was a smash, running from November 1950 to November 1953 for a total of 1,200 performances. The screenplay for the 1955 movie adaptation was written by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, whose brother Herman J. Mankiewicz shared an Oscar nod for Best Screenplay in 1943 with Swerling.
Jo Swerling died in Los Angeles, California on October 23, 1964. He was 71 years old.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
He was obviously handed one of those unique stage names, like Lash La Rue, in order for audiences (especially the kiddies) to immediately associate him with western heroics and the trademark he would be remembered for in films. Not one of the better remembered sagebrush heroes in today's world, Whip Wilson came along at the tail end of the huge western craze of the late 40s and early 50s and managed a three-year career at Monogram Pictures that encompassed about two dozen oaters.
Born with the more proper name of Roland Charles Meyers on June 16, 1911, in Granite, Illinois, he was one of eight children. A talented singer before going to Hollywood, he supposedly sang in a few pictures but was not considered or ever promoted as a "singing cowboy" per se. It was Scott R. Dunlap, a Monogram Pictures studio executive, who handed Whip his career on a silver platter. A close friend and business partner of the late western star Buck Jones, Dunlap had been searching for a replacement ever since Buck perished in the Boston Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in 1942. He was caught off guard when he met Whip, who happened to bear a strong resemblance to Jones. Dunlop excitedly signed him up despite having no prior experience. Cowboy star Lash La Rue had already displayed cowboy heroics cracking a bull whip so Dunlap decided to capitalize on the popular gimmick and handed Wilson a whip as well, grooming him into a combination of LaRue and Buck Jones.
To whip up (sorry) a bit of experience in front of the camera, Dunlap gave the movie tenderfoot a part in the Jimmy Wakely oater Silver Trails (1948). By the next year Whip was starring in his own tailor-made vehicles, the first being Crashing Thru (1949) as a white-hatted, white steed-mounting hero, accompanied by his very own sidekick in the form of veteran comic actor Andy Clyde. After about a dozen pictures, Clyde left the series and was replaced by Fuzzy Knight and/or Jim Bannon. Both blonde bombshell Reno Browne and dark-haired beauty Phyllis Coates served as frequent "prairie flower" co-stars in Whip's films. Browne was once married to cowboy actor LaRue and Coates was better known for playing Lois Lane on film and TV's Adventures of Superman (1952).
After only three years as a movie cowboy Whip rode off into the sunset after starring in the western programmer Wyoming Roundup (1952). He worked only one more time in the industry when he was hired to provide whip-wielding instructions to Burt Lancaster in a couple of scenes and also appeared unbilled in the western The Kentuckian (1955). He managed a Los Angeles apartment complex in later years. Whip died of a heart attack on October 22, 1964 at the relatively young age of 53, and was survived by third wife Monica. He had no children and was buried in his native state of Illinois.- Dorothy Smith was born on 12 July 1891 in Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The House That Jack Built (1900), Santa Claus (1898) and Dorothy's Dream (1903). She was married to Frank Adhemar. She died on 23 October 1964 in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Ellis W. Carter was born on 2 November 1906 in Ashland, Oregon, USA. Ellis W. was a cinematographer, known for Around the World in 80 Days (1956), The Invisible Monster (1950) and Radar Patrol vs. Spy King (1949). Ellis W. died on 23 October 1964 in Long Beach, California, USA.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Axel Ivers was born on 6 June 1902 in Danzig, West Prussia, Germany. He was a writer and actor, known for Parkstrasse 13 (1939), Spiel an Bord (1936) and Ein Volksfeind (1955). He died on 23 October 1964 in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany.- Joe May was an actor, known for Play! Girls (1937) and A Perfect Understanding (1930). He died on 23 October 1964.
- Camera and Electrical Department
E. William Carter was born on 2 November 1906 in Oregon, USA. E. William died on 23 October 1964 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Edward Eager was born on 20 June 1911 in Toledo, Ohio, USA. Edward was a writer, known for The Adventures of Marco Polo (1956), Max Liebman Spectaculars (1954) and NBC Television Opera Theatre (1949). Edward was married to Jane Eberly. Edward died on 23 October 1964 in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA.