Pearl Bailey
Bing Crosby was, without a doubt, the most popular and influential multi-media star of the first half of the twentieth century, pulling audiences in with his intimate, laid-back voice and innate charm. Narrated by Stanley Tucci and directed by Robert Trachtenberg, this film explores the life and legend of this iconic performer, revealing a personality far more complex than the image the public had only thought they'd known.
With the clock ticking and the body count rising, Homicide Detective Timothy Reynolds reluctantly volunteers to assist his former partner, Detective Alan Fryer, with the investigation to a slew of grisly murders left behind by a mission orientated killer during the Christmas holidays.
Combining rare original archive footage, home movies and authored by 40 intimate interviews with friends and celebrity fans this feature length film charts Nat "King" Cole's battle with racist 50’s America to become a superstar. An intimate portrait, it’s filled with music and accompanied the release of the album of the same name.
Discover how television has reflected the African American experience in this retrospective of the medium's first half-century. Actors, writers and historians discuss the image of black America on television from Amos and Andy to the present day. The interviews accompany clips from groundbreaking shows and performances by entertainment pioneers that create a timeline of the portrayal of African Americans throughout TV history.
Relive the dazzling show stopping songs, dances and production numbers from some of your favorite Broadway musicals. Great Broadway Musical Moments from The Ed Sullivan Show brings you legendary musical entertainment performed by a galaxy of great Broadway stars like Ethel Merman in "Annie Get Your Gun," John Raitt in "Oklahoma!," Julie Andrews in "Camelot," and more! This exciting event includes exclusive interviews with legends Shirley Jones, Joel Grey, and Rex Reed.
A look at the making of the classic 1981 Disney film that saw the transition from Disney's Nine Old Men to the new guard who would usher in the Disney Renaissance.
Peter Gunn, a connoisseur of beautiful women and cool jazz, is an ex-cop turned private eye who's caught in the middle of a dangerous gang war.
A 1982 made-for-television remake of the 1952 Fred Zinnemann film. Shown as a feature on "NBC Live Theater."
The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The event, for which ticket-buyers payed up to $1,000 a seat (tax-deductible as a contribution to the Actors' Fund) was billed as "The Night of 100 Stars" but, actually, around 230 stars took part. And most of the audience of 5,800 had no idea in advance that they were paying to see a TV taping, complete with long waits for set and costume changes, tape rewinding, and the like. Executive producer Alexander Cohen estimated that the 5,800 Radio City Music Hall seats sold out at prices ranging from $25 to $1,000. The show itself cost about $4 million to produce and was expected to yield around $2 million for the new addition to the Actors Fund retirement home in Englewood, N. J. ABC is reputed to have paid more than $5 million for the television rights.
When a feisty little fox named Tod is adopted into a farm family, he quickly becomes friends with a fun and adorable hound puppy named Copper. Life is full of hilarious adventures until Copper is expected to take on his role as a hunting dog -- and the object of his search is his best friend!
Ben and Beatrice Chambers discover that their son Norman is gay and so Ben is intent on setting him right.
When Tubby the Tuba sets out to find a melody all of his own, his journey results in this enchanting and exciting musical tale. Tubby joins the circus and striving to be part of an orchestra, he travels to the Singing City where along the way he encounters many wonderful characters.
At the age of twenty-nine, Elgar Enders "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially his intention is to evict the black tenants and convert it into a posh flat. But Elgar is not one to be bound by yesterday's urges, and soon he has other thoughts on his mind.
"On Broadway", featured Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey both red hot after their respective runs in the smash hit Hello Dolly! on Broadway. The special was filmed on the stage of the Wintergarden Theater in New York and originally aired on ABC in 1969. Together the theatrical legends playfully perform some of their most popular hits, including A Little Girl from Little Rock, Little Green Apples, If They Could See Me Now, and Won't You Come Home. Next they perform an assortment of familiar show tunes including hits from Guys and Dolls, The Music Man, Hello, Dolly!, and Fiddler on the Roof. On Broadway is an entertaining step back in time.
Director Michael Anderson's glossy 1960 drama, about the professional and romantic problems of an aspiring jazz musician, stars Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood, Susan Kohner, George Hamilton, Pearl Bailey, Anne Seymour, Jack Mullaney, Onslow Stevens, Virginia Gregg, Mabel Albertson, Louise Beavers and Addison Richards.
Set in the early 1900s in the fictional Catfish Row section of Charleston, South Carolina, which serves as home to a black fishing community, the story focuses on the titular characters, crippled beggar Porgy, who travels about in a goat-drawn cart, and the drug-addicted Bess, who lives with stevedore Crown, the local bully.
Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but he can't stay away from the music of the streets and workers. After he writes a theme song for a local politician, Gogo, a speakeasy singer, convinces Will to be her accompanist. Will is estranged from his father for many years while he writes and publishes many blues songs. At last the family is reunited when Gogo brings them to New York to see Will's music played by a symphony orchestra.
When Larry Larkin's comic strip needs some freshening up, he calls in ghost-writer Francis X. Dignan to help him with the strip. Things get complicated when Francis rekindles his love for his ex-wife, who happens to be Larkin's secretary and soon-to-be wife.
The tale of the cigarette-maker Carmen and the Spanish cavalry soldier Don Jose is translated into a modern-day story of a parachute factory worker and a stalwart GI named Joe who is about to go to flying school. Conflict arises when a prize-ring champ captures the heart of Carmen after she has seduced Joe and caused him to go AWOL.
Dozens of star and character-actor cameos and a message about the Variety Club (a show-business charity) are woven into a framework about two hopeful young ladies who come to Hollywood, exchange identities, and cause comic confusion (with slapstick interludes) throughout the Paramount studio.
