Peggy Ryan
Nacimiento : 1924-08-28, Long Beach, California
Muerte : 2004-10-30
Historia
A vastly talented musical performer, Peggy Ryan found stardom dancing alongside partner Donald O'Connor as Universal's answer to Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Paired up in many a low-budget WWII-era musical, she was best known for her dancing feet, but she was no slouch in the singing department and her buoyant personality added plenty of zest to the escapist fare she appeared in.
Christened Margaret O'Rene Ryan, Peggy was, as they say, born in a trunk in 1924 to a pair of vaudeville dancers ("The Merry Dancing Ryans") and, by age two, the pint-sized scene-stealer was already selling her heart out on stage alongside her parents. No glamor girl, Peggy had a very plaintive face, prominent nose and gangly figure, similar to a Virginia Weidler, so she was wise enough to play it up for laughs. Discovered by George Murphy, the young girl earned a part in Universal's enjoyable tune fest Top of the Town(1937), where the little Irish charmer managed to steal a dance alongside Murphy. Other movies beckoned, sometimes in teary dramas such as The Women Men Marry (1937) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940). With the movie What's Cookin'? (1942), she teamed with O'Connor for the first time. The two were a sensation and sparked many musical programmers with their clowning, mugging, intricate dance steps, and indefatigable style. The jitterbugging twosome romped through Private Buckaroo (1942), Give Out, Sisters(1942), Get Hep to Love (1942), Top Man (1943), The Merry Monahans (1944), Chip Off the Old Block (1944) and Bowery to Broadway (1944) during their peak. During this period she married James Cross and had a son, James Michael Cross, who later died in a 1987 car accident.
Peggy began to freelance in post-war years and found employment with other studios. She was paired up with dancer Ray McDonald for the films Shamrock Hill (1949) and All Ashore (1953) and began seeing him off screen as well. They eventually married, had a child named Kerry, and toured together across the U.S. in a nightclub act for a few years until their marriage folded. She decided to retire from films following her third marriage to Hawaiian announcer/emcee/columnist Eddie Sherman. She choreographed book shows here and there ("The Music Man", "Funny Girl"), but basically settled down in Hawaii. In later years, she came out of semi-retirement to appear in a small recurring part as the Governor of Hawaii's secretary, Millie, on TV's popular Hawaii Five-O (1968) in 1968. She remained a sporadic presence throughout the run of the show. After teaching tap dancing for decades on the sly, Peggy moved to Las Vegas with her family. A trouper to the end, she formed a group of middle-aged dancers called "The TNT's" and performed in and about town. In 2003, she suffered her first mini-stroke, dying a year later in what was reported to be complications from multiple strokes on October 30, 2004.
Elderly Woman
Story of a professional gambler, connoisseur, gourmet and sportsman who sets out to help a Las Vegas hotel-casino owner from losing his controlling interest to a business syndicate but finds his reputation is on the line when he runs into a mystery lady who seems to operate on both sides of the law.
Gay Night
Con varios días de permiso que disfrutar, pero sin un céntimo en el bolsillo, el marinero Moby Dikerson y sus compañeros Joe Carter y Skip Edwards se enrolan como tripulantes de un barco que va a la isla Catalina. Una vez allí, deciden organizar un espectáculo benéfico.
Sally Mullin
A Gay-Nineties musical set in NYC's Bowery and East-Side explores the life of its inhabitants---an Irish policeman and his tap-dancing daughter and music-hall wife; a German professor of music and his singing daughter; and an Italian café-owner, a kindly priest, a struggling young doctor and a saloon-keeper. And a political ward-heeler, Terrence Dowd, who has a deceptive and dishonest plan to sell them all out in order to build a fight arena. But he meets his match in property-owner Claire Adamson.
Eileen Rogan
A young girl holds a special place in her heart for a place called Shamrock HIll, and she tries to stop it from having a television station built on it.
Doris Mann
Singer/Dancer Peggy Ryan neither sings nor dances in this comedy in which she plays a secretary, whose life has no romance because she devotes all of her time to her attractive older sister. But she does keep a diary that contains some fact and many fictional entries. One such is read by the wife of her boss who promptly sues for a divorce. Virginia Grey stars in a musical produced by Hall and sings (possibly dubbed) "Makin' a Million" and "Keep Your Chin Up." No spoiler to add that Ryan gets a boyfriend and Hall and Allbritton are reunited before this one runs it course.
Molly Sullivan
Radio's miracle show is on the screen.
Sheila Gogarty
A vaudeville performer returns from the dead to help his wife and daughter, who are being dominated by a greedy banker.
Judy Watkin
Un joven con talento se presenta a una audición y consigue el papel, pero después se entera de que estaba destinado a su padre, y alberga sus dudas.
Patty Gayle
Tres amigos, Oliver Quackenbush (Lou Costello), Molly McCarthy (Martha O'Driscoll), y su hermano Slats McCarthy (Bud Abbott) tienen un trabajo en el Salón Miramar como bailarines. Slats publica un artículo falso en el periódico local, con la ambición de Molly para recaudar fondos para asistir a Bixby Colegio. El decano de Bixby (Donald Cook) lee el artículo y le ofrece una beca. Ella está de acuerdo, pero solo si sus dos amigos pueden acompañarla, por lo que son contratados como vigilantes.
Specialty dancer
Dos actores de vodevil encuentran el éxito produciendo espectáculos en Broadway, pero cuando uno de ellos se pone a trabajar para una hermosa mujer, se enemistan ferozmente.
Trudy Costello
The president of a settlement-house group puts on a benefit variety show.
Patsy Monahan
Historia de una compañía de vodevil compuesta por la famila Monahan durante las dos primeras décadas del siglo XX.
Sally McGuire
Angela, una chica de pueblo, recibe una herencia y aprovecha para ir a Nueva York, en teoría para tomar clases de canto, pero en realidad porque está enamorada de un médico de la Marina que vive allí. Jimmy, su amigo de infancia, la seguirá hasta la gran ciudad...
Peggy Ryan
Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, todos los estudios ponen "all-star" que incluía prácticamente todas las estrellas en los números musicales y sketches cómicos, y se entiende como la moral y refuerzos tanto las tropas en el extranjero y los civiles en el país. Este esfuerzo fue de Pictures Universal. Cuenta con todo el mundo,a Donald O'Connor a las Hermanas Andrews a Orson Welles a WC Fields a George Raft o Marlene Dietrich, y decenas de otros actores Universal.
Peggy Flaherty
El hijo de un estricto oficial de la Marina se enamora de la hija de una estrella del musical.
Jane Warren
El hijo de un oficial de la Marina se pone al frente de la familia, dirige el esfuerzo bélico y monta un espectáculo musical para elevar la moral de los trabajadores.
Peggy
Students at the Davis School of the Theatre are assigned "Antigone" as their class play, but they conspire to do a swing musical instead.
Dusty
Un héroe de guerra regresa a casa. Para huir de la adulación, se refugia bajo nombre falso en una pensión de gente de la farándula, con la cual entabla amistad. Cuando unos compañeros del ejército le localizan en la pensión, sus amigos creen que es un desertor y tratan de convencerle de que cumpla su deber.
Betty Blake
Una niña prodigio dotada de una voz maravillosa huye de su represora tía y convence a una pareja rural de que la adopte.
Peggy
The film tells the story of army recruits following basic training, with the Andrew Sisters attending USO dances. The film is a mixture of comedy and songs.
Myrtle
A poor girl falls for a wealthy young man. He invites her to his gala birthday party, but she doesn't have the right kind of dress to wear, so her family and friends band together to raise money to get her the proper dress.
Penny
A West Coast version of "Stage Door", set at a Hollywood boarding house for young women hoping for movie careers.
Peggy
J. P. Courtney wants to update the music on the radio program he sponsors, but his wife, Agatha Courtney, is the final authority and addicted to the classics and won't allow him to replace Professor Bistell and his symphonic orchestra. Conspiring with his daughter Sue and her friends, Marvo the Great, the Andrews Sisters, Anne Payne and bandleader Woody Herman, they devise a sabotage plot that gets rid of Professor Bistell, and a new sound is soon heard on the program.
Ellen
Sailor is going to marry his girlfriend when he returns, but she becomes foster mother to baby whose parents are accidentally killed. The baby is accidentally left on board a visiting battleship.
Hungry Girl (uncredited)
Tom Joad regresa a su hogar tras cumplir condena en prisión, pero la ilusión de volver a ver a los suyos se transforma en frustración al ver cómo los expulsan de sus tierras. Para escapar al hambre y a la pobreza, la familia no tiene más remedio que emprender un larguísimo viaje lleno de penalidades con la esperanza de encontrar una oportunidad en California, la tierra prometida.
Trudy
This comedy is set in New York and centers upon a singing Irish cop who causes quite a sensation among two producers when he sings at the annual Policeman's Ball. For a long time, they have been looking for a voice for their new cartoon feature, "Paddy the Pig," and the cop is just perfect. The policeman is tickled pink at the prospect of being a star and begins telling all his friends about his good fortune (he has no idea what they plan to do with his voice). Eventually he ends up marrying one of the producers, who still hasn't told him the truth. Suddenly the night of the big premiere finally arrives and all of the policeman's old friends and colleagues are there. As it begins, the policeman is appalled and humiliated to see that he has been mocked and has become a laughing stock. He immediately spurns his new wife and goes back to the police force. Time passes, and fortunately, the two reunite and settle their differences.
Edith Corrigan
This is the story of the historic 1938 flight of Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan. Mr. Corrigan starred in this film, which chronicled his infamous flight. On July 17, 1938, Mr. Corrigan loaded 320 gallons of gasoline (40 hours worth) into the tiny, single engine plane. While expressing his intent to fly west to Long Beach, CA, Mr. Corrigan flew out of Floyd Bennett Field heading east over the Atlantic. Instrumentation in the plane included two compasses (both malfunctioned) and a turn-and-bank indicator. The cabin door was held shut with baling wire. Nearly 29 hours later, he landed in Baldonnel near Dublin. He forever claimed to be surprised at arriving in Ireland rather than California. He returned to the US as a hero, with a ticker tape parade in New York and received numerous medals and awards.
Peggy Dixon
The scene is set at Billy Rose's Casa Manana Revue, filmed at the Fort Worth Frontier Fiesta (1937), an enormous production created as part of the Texas Centennial civic celebrations. The opening song, "The Night Is Young And You're So Beautiful" emanated from the first edition of the Revue and became a hit song on two continents in 1936.
Mary Jane
A newsman (George Murphy) with a no-good wife (Claire Dodd) exposes a religious racket with a newswoman (Josephine Hutchinson) who loves him.
Peggy
In this musical set in swingin' Manhattan, an heiress plans a ballet in the famous Moonbeam ballroom located atop a 100-story skyscraper. Unfortunately, the attending audience is quite bored until someone starts the place swinging. Musical numbers include: "Blame It on the Rhumba," "Where Are You?" "Jamboree," "Top of the Town," "I Feel That Foolish Feeling Coming On," "There's No Two Ways About It," "Fireman Save My Child"
