Lillian Russell (film)
Encyclopedia
Lillian Russell is a 1940 biographical film
of the life of the singer and actress
. The screenplay was by William Anthony McGuire
. The film was directed by Irving Cummings
and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
. It starred Alice Faye
in the title role, Don Ameche
, Henry Fonda
and Edward Arnold
as Diamond Jim Brady.
Richard Day
and Joseph C. Wright
were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
, Black-and-White.
While singing one evening, Helen is overheard by Tony Pastor (Carrillo) who hires her to sing at his theater. She is given a new name, Lillian Russell, and quickly rises to fame as the toast of New York. As the years pass, Lillian becomes one of the most revered star in America. She has many suitors, including Diamond Jim Brady (Arnold), Jesse Lewisohn (William), and Edward Solomon (Ameche). She eventually marries Edward and they move to London, where Gilbert and Sullivan are writing an operetta especially for her.
Alexander Moore returns and makes a contract with Lillian to write stories about her rise to fame. But tragedy soon strikes when Edward dies one evening while composing a song for her. Lillian cancels the interviews and makes an appearance in the show, singing the song her husband composed for her, "Blue Lovebird".
Lillian returns to America and is, by this time, the greatest stage attraction of the century. Alexander returns once more to see Lillian after a new show and the two are happily reunited.
". Several new songs were also written for the film, including "Adored One" and most notably, "Blue Lovebird", composed by Gus Kahn
and Bronislau Kaper.
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
of the life of the singer and actress
Lillian Russell
Lillian Russell was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th century and early 20th century, known for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.Russell was born in Iowa but raised in Chicago...
. The screenplay was by William Anthony McGuire
William Anthony McGuire
William Anthony McGuire was a playwright, theatre director, and producer and an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter. He won an Oscar for the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld....
. The film was directed by Irving Cummings
Irving Cummings
Irving Cummings , born Irving Camisky in New York City, New York was an American movie actor, director, producer and writer....
and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
. It starred Alice Faye
Alice Faye
Alice Faye was an American actress and singer, called by The New York Times "one of the few movie stars to walk away from stardom at the peak of her career." She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader and comedian...
in the title role, Don Ameche
Don Ameche
Don Ameche was an Academy Award winning American actor with a career spanning almost sixty years.-Personal life:...
, Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
and Edward Arnold
Edward Arnold (actor)
Edward Arnold was an American actor. He was born on the Lower East Side of New York City as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider, the son of German immigrants Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse.-Acting career:...
as Diamond Jim Brady.
Richard Day
Richard Day (art director)
Richard Day was a Canadian art director. He won seven Academy Awards and was nominated for a further 13 in the category Best Art Direction He worked on 265 films between 1923 and 1970....
and Joseph C. Wright
Joseph C. Wright
Joseph C. Wright was an American art director. He won two Academy Awards and was nominated for ten more in the category Best Art Direction...
were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
, Black-and-White.
Plot
Helen Leonard (Faye) has a beautiful voice. As she grows up, she trains to become an opera singer. Her instructor, however, informs her that her voice is pleasing, but not suitable for grand opera. Returning home one day, she and her grandmother (Westley) are saved by a handsome young man, Alexander Moore (Fonda). Meanwhile, Helen's mother, Cynthia (Peterson), has political aspirations, but only receives a handful of votes for mayor.While singing one evening, Helen is overheard by Tony Pastor (Carrillo) who hires her to sing at his theater. She is given a new name, Lillian Russell, and quickly rises to fame as the toast of New York. As the years pass, Lillian becomes one of the most revered star in America. She has many suitors, including Diamond Jim Brady (Arnold), Jesse Lewisohn (William), and Edward Solomon (Ameche). She eventually marries Edward and they move to London, where Gilbert and Sullivan are writing an operetta especially for her.
Alexander Moore returns and makes a contract with Lillian to write stories about her rise to fame. But tragedy soon strikes when Edward dies one evening while composing a song for her. Lillian cancels the interviews and makes an appearance in the show, singing the song her husband composed for her, "Blue Lovebird".
Lillian returns to America and is, by this time, the greatest stage attraction of the century. Alexander returns once more to see Lillian after a new show and the two are happily reunited.
Cast
- Alice FayeAlice FayeAlice Faye was an American actress and singer, called by The New York Times "one of the few movie stars to walk away from stardom at the peak of her career." She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader and comedian...
as Helen Leonard / Lillian RussellLillian RussellLillian Russell was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th century and early 20th century, known for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.Russell was born in Iowa but raised in Chicago... - Don AmecheDon AmecheDon Ameche was an Academy Award winning American actor with a career spanning almost sixty years.-Personal life:...
as Edward SolomonEdward SolomonEdward Solomon was a prolific English composer, as well as a conductor, orchestrator and pianist. Though he died before his fortieth birthday, he wrote dozens of works produced for the stage, including several for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, such as The Nautch Girl, among others.-Early... - Henry FondaHenry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
as Alexander MooreAlexander Pollock MooreAlexander Pollock Moore was an American diplomat, editor and publisher. Born in Pittsburgh on November 10, 1867, he was the publisher/owner of the Pittsburgh Leader when he married the stage actress Lillian Russell, becoming her fourth husband.... - Edward ArnoldEdward Arnold (actor)Edward Arnold was an American actor. He was born on the Lower East Side of New York City as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider, the son of German immigrants Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse.-Acting career:...
as Diamond Jim Brady - Warren WilliamWarren WilliamWarren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
as The Famous J.L. - Jesse LewisohnJesse LewisohnJesse Lewisohn , was a businessman involved in copper trading with Lewisohn Brothers, and an owner of racehorses.-Biography:... - Leo Carillo as Tony PastorTony PastorTony Pastor was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid-to-late nineteenth century...
- Helen WestleyHelen WestleyHelen Westley was an American character actress.-Career:Born as Henrietta Remsen Meserole Manney, Helen Westley was a member of the original board of the Theatre Guild, and appeared in many of their productions, among them Peer Gynt, and some of their productions of plays by George Bernard...
as Grandma Leonard - Dorothy PetersonDorothy PetersonDorothy Peterson was an American actress.Peterson was born in Hector, Minnesota of Swedish immigrant ancestry. She made her screen debut in 1930's Mothers Cry, a domestic drama that required the 29-year-old actress to age nearly three decades in the course of the film...
as Cynthia LeonardCynthia LeonardCynthia Leonard was a suffragist, aid worker and writer, notable for her pioneering efforts toward social reform in the 19th Century. Born Cynthia Hicks Van Name, in Buffalo, New York, she married Charles E. Leonard in 1852... - Ernest TruexErnest TruexErnest Truex was an American actor of stage and film.-Career:...
as Charles Leonard - Nigel BruceNigel BruceWilliam Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
as William S. GilbertW. S. GilbertSir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S... - Claud Allister as Arthur SullivanArthur SullivanSir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
(as Claude Allister) - WeberJoe Weber (vaudevillian)Joe Weber born Joseph Morris Weber was a vaudevillian who, along with Lew Fields, formed the comedy team of Weber and Fields....
and FieldsLew FieldsLew Fields , born as Moses Schoenfeld, was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager and producer....
as Themselves (their comedy duo)
Songs
Many pre-1900s songs were used for the film, including "Ma Blushin' Rosie", "Come Down Ma Evenin' Star", and "After the BallAfter the Ball (song)
After the Ball is a popular song written in 1891 by Charles K. Harris. The song is a classic waltz in 3/4 time. In the song, an older man tells his niece why he has never married. He saw his sweetheart kissing another man at a ball, and he refused to listen to her explanation...
". Several new songs were also written for the film, including "Adored One" and most notably, "Blue Lovebird", composed by Gus Kahn
Gus Kahn
Gustav Gerson Kahn was a musician, songwriter and lyricist.-Biography:Kahn was born in Koblenz, Germany in 1886. The family emigrated from there to the United States and moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1890...
and Bronislau Kaper.