Marie Dressler
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. Successful on stage in vaudeville and comic operas, she was also successful in film. Leaving home at the age of 14, Dressler built a career on stage in traveling theatre troupes, where she learned to appreciate her talent in making people laugh. In 1892 she started a career on Broadway that lasted into the 1920s, performing comedic roles that allowed her to improvise to get laughs. From one of her successful Broadway roles, she played the titular role in the first full-length screen comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), opposite Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. She made several shorts, but mostly worked in New York City on stage. Her career declined in the 1920s. In 1927, Dressler returned to films at the age of 59 and experienced a remarkable string of successes. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930–31 for Min and Bill and was named the top film star for 1932 and 1933. Marie Dressler died of cancer in 1934.
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: November 09, 1868
Deathday: July 28, 1934
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Known For
Tillie's Punctured Romance
1914-12-21
Tillie's Punctured Romance
Overview: A womanizing city man meets Tillie in the country. When he sees that her father has a very large bankroll for his workers, he persuades her to elope with him.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1914-12-21
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The Hollywood Revue of 1929
1929-11-23
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Overview: An all-star revue featuring MGM contract players.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-11-23
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Anna Christie
1930-02-21
Anna Christie
Overview: Old sailor Chris Christofferson eagerly awaits the arrival of his grown daughter Anna, whom he sent at five years old to live with relatives in Minnesota. He has not seen her since, but believes her to be a decent and respectably employed young woman. When Anna arrives, however, it is clear that she has lived a hard life in the dregs of society, and that much of spirit has been extinguished. She falls in love with a young sailor rescued at sea by her father, but dreads to reveal to him the truth of her past. Both father and young man are deluded about her background, yet Anna cannot quite bring herself to allow them to remain deluded.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-02-21
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Dinner at Eight
1933-12-22
Dinner at Eight
Overview: An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1933-12-22
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The Patsy
1928-04-22
The Patsy
Overview: An awkward teenager hopelessly in love with her older sister's boyfriend tries to make him notice her.
Genres: Comedy Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-04-22
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Min and Bill
1930-11-29
Min and Bill
Overview: Min, the owner of a dockside hotel, is forced to make difficult decisions about the future of Nancy, the young woman she took in as an infant.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-11-29
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Tugboat Annie
1933-08-04
Tugboat Annie
Overview: Tugboat, the Narcissus, is owned and captained by Annie Brennan, and among her crew are her alcoholic but good-natured husband, Terry, and her conscientious son, Alec. Annie continually loses business because of Terry's drunken mistakes. Alec wants to quit school to work on the tug full time, but Annie will not sacrifice her son's education. A grown Alec has followed in his mother's footsteps and becomes a mariner, but a more upscale one as the captain of a luxury liner. Alec returns home with his fiancée, Pat - the boss' daughter - with a grand plan to save Annie from the life that drunkard Terry has provided her. But ultimately, it's Annie and Terry that need to be Alec's savior, and by their move show him the meaning of true commitment.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1933-08-04
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The Divine Lady
1928-12-26
The Divine Lady
Overview: Lady Hamilton's love affair with Admiral Horatio Nelson rocks the British Empire.
Genres: Drama History Romance War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-12-26
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Emma
1932-01-02
Emma
Overview: After decades of raising the motherless Smith children, housekeeper Emma Thatcher is faced with resentment when she marries their father.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1932-01-02
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Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell
1993-02-06
Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell
Overview: Actress Sharon Stone hosts this documentary about the life and career of 1930s sex symbol Jean Harlow. Included are clips from many of her films, photos and stories about her life before she became a movie star, and accounts of her troubled personal life, including a domineering mother, the failure of her three marriages and the suicide of her second husband.
Genres: Documentary TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1993-02-06
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Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972-01-10
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Overview: A documentary about the glorious history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and its decline leading to the sale of its back lot and props. By extension this provides a general history of Hollywood's Golden Age and the legendary studio system.
Genres: Documentary History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1972-01-10
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The March of Time
1930-09-01
The March of Time
Overview: Unfinished pre-Code era film consisting of three sections with past performers from the stage and the vaudeville circuit, then-present-day performers and up-and-coming performers. Musical excerpts were later used in Broadway to Hollywood (1933), Nertsery Rhymes (1933), and Roast-Beef and Movies (1934). "The Lock Step" was later used in That's Entertainment! III (1994)
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-09-01
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Let Us Be Gay
1930-07-11
Let Us Be Gay
Overview: A housewife divorces her self-centered husband. Years later, she attends a party where her ex is pursuing another woman. Unbeknownst to him, she is the same ex-wife he'd neglected, now transformed into a fashionable socialite.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-07-11
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The Vagabond Lover
1929-12-01
The Vagabond Lover
Overview: A zany musical about an amateur musician in search of work who impersonates a big band leader.
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-12-01
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Chasing Rainbows
1930-01-10
Chasing Rainbows
Overview: The road-show troupe of a top Broadway show go cross-country while taking the audience along on the on-stage scenes as well as what happens and is happening back stage of the production. The spectacular dancing ensembles and colorful costumes and pulchritude on-stage offers a contrasting background to the drabness of the backstage, where joy, sorrow, tragedies, deception, and romance are intertwined.
Genres: Romance Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-01-10
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Politics
1931-02-26
Politics
Overview: A widow's decision to run for mayor kicks off a battle of the sexes in a small town.
Genres: Comedy Romance Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1931-02-26
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One Romantic Night
1930-04-30
One Romantic Night
Overview: A princess is forced to choose between a charming tutor and a rakish prince.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-04-30
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The Girl Said No
1930-03-15
The Girl Said No
Overview: A comedy romance in which breezy Haines, as a young lady killer, tries to capture the heart of Hyams who has turned him down for Bushman. Haines plots dozens of extreme measures to win her over, and finally goes so far as to drag her from the altar, bound and gagged.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-03-15
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Tillie Wakes Up
1917-01-29
Tillie Wakes Up
Overview: Tillie and her neighbor Mr. Pipkins are both distraught over their respective marriages. One day, they sneak off to have a lively time at Coney Island. They flee the park together just as their spouses come to find them. After a chase, each is rescued from the ocean and reconcile with their respective spouses.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1917-01-29
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Copyright Comedies and More. From the Library of Congress
2022-06-06
Copyright Comedies and More. From the Library of Congress
Overview: A montage of 13 remarkable short films recently digitized by the Library of Congress, whose themes echo the program of the Domitor 2022 conference, entitled "Copy/rights and early cinema"
Genres: Comedy Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2022-06-06
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Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942-01-01
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Overview: The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of edition #1, then a tribute to movie people who have died in those 25 years. Finally there are tributes to the Screen Snapshots series by Cecil De Mille, Walt Disney, Louella Parsons and Rosalind Russell.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-01-01
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Screen Snapshots (Series 25, No. 1): 25th Anniversary
1945-09-06
Screen Snapshots (Series 25, No. 1): 25th Anniversary
Overview: A look back at 25 years of Columbia's series of newsreels chronicling the film industry and the lives of Hollywood stars. Clips from earlier films in the series are featured, along with a montage of film greats who have passed away in the intervening years.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-09-06
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Reducing
1931-01-03
Reducing
Overview: Culture shock bombards a woman and her family when they leave their hick town to help her sister out in her big-city beauty parlor.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1931-01-03
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Hollywood: The Selznick Years
1961-12-31
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Overview: Henry Fonda hosts this retrospective on the career and films of iconic filmmaker David O. Selznick, who epitomized the era of the auteur producer in the 30s and 40s.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1961-12-31
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Prosperity
1932-11-18
Prosperity
Overview: Longtime friends become feuding mothers-in-law when their children marry.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1932-11-18
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The Christmas Party
1931-12-17
The Christmas Party
Overview: In this holiday short, Jackie Cooper wants to throw a Christmas party for his friends on his football team but doesn't know how to go about it. His fellow stars at MGM help him out.
Genres: Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1931-12-17
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The Joy Girl
1927-09-03
The Joy Girl
Overview: Though she loves one man, an ambitious Palm Beach girl marries another, whom she thinks is rich. He turns out to be a fraud who thought she was an heiress. She returns to a successful hat shop she maintains catering to socialites. Her true love turns out to be in fact, a rich man who let her think he was not to test her.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-09-03
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Caught Short
1930-05-10
Caught Short
Overview: Landladies Polly Smith and Marie Jones, who operate boardinghouses on the same side of the street, are afflicted with numerous petty envies and jealousies but nevertheless are the best of friends. Polly invests in the stock market and begins to reap rewards, but she is unable to persuade Marie to use her life's savings to buy shares of American Cheese or Brazilian Bananas. Meanwhile, Marie's daughter, Genevieve, and Polly's son, William, just back from college, fall in love; but an argument between the ladies breaks up the romance; and smarting under Polly's patronizing manner, Marie plunges into the market herself and with the winnings is able to stage a society splurge at a fashionable resort.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1930-05-10
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Tillie's Tomato Surprise
1915-09-26
Tillie's Tomato Surprise
Overview: Tillie Todd gives her rich Aunt Sally a dime-store tomato pincushion for her birthday, claiming that it is the product of her own hard labor. However, Cousin Percy, also competing for Sally's favor, snidely exposes the deception. While testing his latest invention, Tillie's paramour, The Bat, makes a crash landing at Aunt Sally's birthday celebration. Inspired, eccentric Sally takes to the air herself, but after several days' absence she is declared dead. Aunt Sally bequeaths Tillie the tomato pincushion, giving most of the estate to her pet monkey, Jim, and after Jim's death, to Percy. Wanting to speed up his inheritance, Percy kidnaps Jim and connives to frame Tillie for his apparent death. The police relentlessly pursue Tillie until Aunt Sally finally returns. Disgusted at her inability to rid herself of the ugly pincushion, which Percy nastily keeps returning to her, Tillie rips it apart with her teeth, only to discover that it is filled with 10,000 dollar bills.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1915-09-26
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Going Hollywood
1933-12-22
Going Hollywood
Overview: The film tells the story of Sylvia, a French teacher at an all-girl school, who wants to find love. When she hears Bill Williams on the radio, she decides to go visit and thank him. However, difficult problems lay ahead when Lili gets in the way.
Genres: Music Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1933-12-22
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Broadway to Hollywood
1933-09-15
Broadway to Hollywood
Overview: In this through-the-years saga about a show business family, the fame of husband and wife vaudeville headliners of the 1880s is eclipsed by their son.
Genres: Music Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1933-09-15
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Bringing Up Father
1928-03-18
Bringing Up Father
Overview: The wealthy Jiggs is tired of being left out of the swanky parties thrown by his social-climbing wife Maggie and their daughter. He decides to teach them a "lesson" by faking his own suicide, but things don't quite turn out the way he planned.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1928-03-18
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Christopher Bean
1933-11-17
Christopher Bean
Overview: When the painter Christopher Bean dies, some unscrupulous art dealers try to get several of his paintings cheaply from a family who have no idea of their value.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1933-11-17
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That's Entertainment! III
1994-07-01
That's Entertainment! III
Overview: Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-07-01
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Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940-07-31
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Overview: This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1940-07-31
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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975-08-06
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Overview: Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Genres: Documentary History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-08-06
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That's Entertainment, Part II
1976-05-16
That's Entertainment, Part II
Overview: Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
Genres: Documentary Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1976-05-16
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Dangerous Females
1929-11-16
Dangerous Females
Overview: Roommates panic and plan when they hear a radio report of a murderer loose in their neighborhood.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1929-11-16
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Breakfast at Sunrise
1927-10-23
Breakfast at Sunrise
Overview: While plotting together to win back their lovers, the rich Madeleine and the penniless Pierre fall for each other.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-10-23
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Actors' Fund Field Day
1910-10-11
Actors' Fund Field Day
Overview: It's more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Regular village "cut-ups" are those actor chaps and actresses.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1910-10-11
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The Callahans and the Murphys
1927-06-18
The Callahans and the Murphys
Overview: The story of two feuding Irish immigrant families living in a tenement.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1927-06-18
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The Big Parade of Comedy
1964-09-02
The Big Parade of Comedy
Overview: Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
Genres: Comedy Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1964-09-02
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