Shirley Ross
Biography: Blonde, vivacious and obviously talented, Shirley Ross had the promisings of a big musical film star, but her career remained strictly second-string throughout her fairly short career. She is best remembered through her pairing with an entertainment legend: Shirley was afforded the opportunity of duetting with Bob Hope on the song "Thanks for the Memory" in the splashy musical The Big Broadcast of 1938. The song, of course, became Bob's beloved signature tune. Shirley was born Bernice Gaunt in Omaha, Nebraska in 1913. Her family moved west and she attended Hollywood High School, later studying at UCLA. Blessed with a gorgeous musical instrument, and an adept piano player as well, Shirley went on to sing with Gus Arnheim's band on the west coast, appearing at all the swanky clubs of the day, including the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, while making a decent name for herself on radio. She also appeared in a west coast production of "Anything Goes". MGM initially scooped her up, making her unbilled debut in the Jean Harlow starrer Blonde Bombshell (1933). She continued on just as obscurely in the films Hollywood Party (1934), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), The Girl from Missouri (1934), The Merry Widow (1934), and Age of Indiscretion (1935), but was finally promoted to a minor featured role in the classic earthquake epic San Francisco (1936) with Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald, in which Shirley sang "Happy New Year". In 1936, she found more visible work over at Paramount and spent the next few years there paired up vocally and romantically with either Bing Crosby or Bob Hope in their popular vehicles - The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936), Waikiki Wedding (1937), Thanks for the Memory (1938), Paris Honeymoon (1939), and Some Like It Hot (1939). Though most were trifling, insignificant time fillers, she was a diverting beauty and quite serviceable in them. She was even given the chance to topline a few of her own movies such as Prison Farm (1938), Sailors on Leave (1941), and A Song for Miss Julie (1945), which was her swan song. After leaving pictures, Shirley Ross was little heard or seen. Married first to agent John Kenneth 'Ken' Dolan, then to Everett S. 'Eddie' Blum, she had three children - two sons and a daughter. She died in Menlo Park, California of cancer in 1975.
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: January 07, 1913
Deathday: March 09, 1975
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Known For
Bombshell
1933-10-13
Bombshell
Overview: A glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1933-10-13
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The Big Broadcast of 1938
1938-02-11
The Big Broadcast of 1938
Overview: The Bellows family causes comic confusion on an ocean liner, with time out for radio-style musical acts.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-02-11
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What Price Jazz
1934-05-28
What Price Jazz
Overview: In rhyme, a soapbox preacher, Mr. Blue Laws, enlists Mr. Public Opinion in the efforts of the Society for the Prevention of Jazz. Armed with an ax and a buckshot-shooting pistol, the two of them interrupt Ted Fiorito and his jazz orchestra (and showgirls). The lads head for the woods, where Ted convinces them to stand their ground. They're joined by their songstress who says it may be their last day on earth, so sing the blues for all they're worth. Then the dancers arrive to report they barely got away, and it's time for a final strut. Public Opinion brings a death sentence. Is there no appeal?
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1934-05-28
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Waikiki Wedding
1937-03-23
Waikiki Wedding
Overview: Tony Marvin is a laid back but incredibly successful promoter and fair-haired boy for J. P. Todhunter's pineapple company located in beautiful Hawaii. He gets the company to sponsor a contest in which the winner gets a Hawaiian vacation and is obligated to write articles on the islands which, when published, will constitute a publicity coup for the company. Unfortunately, Georgia Smith, the winner, feels lonely and isolated in the Islands and wants to return to the States. With help from buddy Shad Buggle Tony tries to romantically divert Georgia without letting her know his true motivation.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1937-03-23
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Buried Loot
1935-01-19
Buried Loot
Overview: An embezzler who expects to serve his time in prison and then pick up his buried loot is in for a surprise.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-01-19
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Some Like It Hot
1939-05-19
Some Like It Hot
Overview: Nicky Nelson is a fast-talking sideshow barker with a wax-and-alive concession on Atlantic City's boardwalk. Even with the band of his friend, struggling musician Gene Krupa, playing on the sidewalk to attract the customers, "The Living Corpse" and other low-rent acts aren't enough to lure the seen-it-all boardwalk strollers, and the landlord closes the show in lieu of never-paid rent. Nicky, always promoting, goes to Stephen Hanratty, head of the pier's Dance Pavilion, to plug Krupa's band as an attraction, but Hanratty won't even listen to them. But, while there, he meets singer Lily Racquel, who knows he is a phoney but might have the ability to to talk a radio-station manager into giving her an audition. She gives him a ring to help finance the project; he promptly loses it in a crap-game.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-05-19
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Kisses for Breakfast
1941-07-05
Kisses for Breakfast
Overview: A newlywed develops amnesia and can't remember his wife.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-07-05
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Thanks for the Memory
1938-11-11
Thanks for the Memory
Overview: Steve Merrick is an out of work writer who stays home and plays house husband while his wife goes to work for her former fiancé and Merrick's publisher who is still carrying a torch for her.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-11-11
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Blossoms On Broadway
1937-11-19
Blossoms On Broadway
Overview: A young singer hopes to become a success on Broadway.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1937-11-19
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The Big Broadcast of 1937
1936-10-05
The Big Broadcast of 1937
Overview: The employees of a failing radio station must put on a huge ratings winner to have any chance of continued operation.
Genres: Comedy Romance Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1936-10-05
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Age of Indiscretion
1935-05-10
Age of Indiscretion
Overview: A book publisher finds his business floundering, which prompts his socially ambitious wife to desert him for a society millionaire, leaving him with their young son. The publisher's fortunes improve dramatically, however, when a best-selling romance novelist decides to publish her new book with his firm. In the meantime, his ex-wife has married the millionaire, and she and her new mother-in-law come up with a plan to sue her ex-husband for custody of the boy.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-05-10
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Paris Honeymoon
1939-01-27
Paris Honeymoon
Overview: A Texas millionaire travels to Europe to meet his girlfriend, a European countess. He stops in a rustic mountain village and meets a beautiful peasant girl. He falls in love with her, then must decide if he wants her or the rich countess.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-01-27
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A Song for Miss Julie
1945-02-19
A Song for Miss Julie
Overview: Two playwrights and a former burlesque queen travel to Louisiana to research a musical they're planning on a local Southern hero.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-02-19
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Manhattan Melodrama
1934-05-04
Manhattan Melodrama
Overview: The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.
Genres: Crime Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1934-05-04
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Calm Yourself
1935-06-28
Calm Yourself
Overview: A recently-fired advertising executive starts his own company, Confidential Services, to help clients solve their unusual and problematic situations.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-06-28
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Two Hearts in Wax Time
1935-03-23
Two Hearts in Wax Time
Overview: In this MGM Colortone Musical short, a department store custodian who overindulges in drink sees the mannequins in the store's display windows come to life.
Genres: Music Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-03-23
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Prison Farm
1938-06-17
Prison Farm
Overview: Shirley Ross plays an innocent young girl convicted for complicity in a crime committed by her boy friend (Lloyd Nolan). The male crook is sentence to six months on a prison farm populated by both men and women (segregated, of course). Ross is also incarcerated, suffering the cruelties of the sadistic male and female guards (including J. Carroll Naish and future "Ma Kettle" Marjorie Main!)
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1938-06-17
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Cafe Society
1939-03-03
Cafe Society
Overview: A pampered heiress (Madeleine Carroll) elopes with a shipboard reporter (Fred MacMurray) just to get her name in a society column.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-03-03
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Devil's Squadron
1936-04-30
Devil's Squadron
Overview: In this action film, a courageous test pilot works with experimental aircraft for the US Armed Forces. When an important airplane manufacturer dies, his daughter is left to run the company. The company seems to be producing dangerous prototypes, so the woman decides to close the company.
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1936-04-30
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Sailors on Leave
1941-09-30
Sailors on Leave
Overview: If a shy sailor marries before his next birthday, he will inherit a fortune.
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-09-30
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Unexpected Father
1939-06-14
Unexpected Father
Overview: Jimmy Hanley learns that his former dancing partner has been killed, leaving a baby boy Sandy, so he takes the baby to live with him and his roommate Boris Bebenko. Theatre manager Allen Rand threatens to fire Jimmy for neglecting his work, but Jimmy's girlfriend Diana squares things by going to dinner with Rand over Jimmy's objections. Sandy catches measles and the quarantine causes Jimmy and Boris to miss a big audition.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-06-14
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It's in the Air
1935-10-10
It's in the Air
Overview: Con men Calvin Churchill and Clip McGurk know how to fix a horse-race or boxing match. Calvin wants to go straight and win back his estranged wife, but first the men must dodge a dogged IRS agent and bilk a bunch of aviation investors out of the backing boodle for a balloon excursion into the stratosphere.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-10-10
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La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
1935-12-07
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Overview: La Fiesta de Santa Barbara is a 1935 American comedy short film directed by Louis Lewyn. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 9th Academy Awards in 1936 for Best Short Subject (Color). It features a young, pre-stardom 13-year-old Judy Garland singing "La Cucaracha" with her two sisters (billed as "The Garland Sisters"). In the film, Hollywood stars participate in a Mexican-themed revue and festival in Santa Barbara. Andy Devine, the "World's Greatest Matador," engages in a bullfight with a dubious bovine supplied by Buster Keaton, and musical numbers are provided by Joe Morrison and The Garland Sisters. Comedy bits and dance numbers are also featured.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-12-07
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I Live My Life
1935-10-04
I Live My Life
Overview: A society girl tries to make a go of her marriage to an archaeologist.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-10-04
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Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 2
1941-12-05
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 2
Overview: Hedda Hopper plays hostess at a party for her (grown) son William (DeWolfe Jr.). Hopper, attends the dedication of the Motion Picture Relief Fund's country home and goes to the Mocambo. There is also a sequence dedicated to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin world premiere of the first short in this series attended by more that a few film stars.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-12-05
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Hideaway Girl
1936-11-20
Hideaway Girl
Overview: An unfortunate marriage and a bogus Count are the ingredients for this musical.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1936-11-20
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San Francisco
1936-06-26
San Francisco
Overview: A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.
Genres: Drama Romance Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1936-06-26
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Jail Birds of Paradise
1934-03-10
Jail Birds of Paradise
Overview: While the warden is away, his daughter attempts to turn prison into 'Paradise" Considered a Lost Film.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1934-03-10
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