Laura La Plante

A documentary about the era of classic monster movies that were made at Universal Studios during the 1930s and 1940s.

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 paid 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.

This special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited from a seven-hour live entertainment marathon that was taped February 17, 1985, at New York's Radio City Music Hall, this sequel to the 1982 "Night of 100 Stars" special features 288 celebrities.

A spinster finally finds the right man when she returns to her alma mater after 15 years for a class reunion.

After his mother's death, a young boy tries to help his father stop drinking.

A large-scale revue musical built around Paul Whiteman and his orchestra, presenting a series of musical performances, sketches, and staged tableaux in early two-color Technicolor, emblematic of Hollywood’s early sound-era “all-star” musical productions.

As part of a publicity campaign for the film 42nd Street (1933), Warner Bros. Pictures, with the assistance of the General Electric Corporation, assembled a 7-car gold- and silver-plated train they called "The 42nd. Street Special". With numerous Warner Bros. contract stars as passengers, the train made a tour across the USA. It was scheduled to make stops in more than 100 cities, ending in Washington, D.C. for the March 1933 inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. This short film records the send-off for this trip from Los Angeles' Santa Fe Station. Using a microphone set up on the rear platform of the last car, several people addressed the crowd attending the event. Those making remarks include performers, studio executives, and the mayor of Los Angeles.

A notorious womanizer sets his sights on a pretty American tourist, only to be told by his doctor that he must give up all romance for his health.

A West Point graduate jilts his girlfriend but runs into her later at an Army outpost.

Stout Hearts and Willing Hands is a 1931 short comedy film directed by Bryan Foy. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1932 for Best Short Subject (Comedy), but was disqualified.

A slapstick burlesque of 19th Century Victorian melodrama featuring a parody of Holmes and Watson who rescue a heroine held by a mustache-twirling villain in a den of caricatured Chinese gangsters.

A highly respectable lawyer becomes a sexual animal after working hours; His live-in mother-in-law tries to keep him in line. When an actor-impersonator comes to see him, the two switch lives.

Love blossoms after a young man rescues a pretty girl who attempted to drown herself.

A crooked lawyer trying to cheat a young girl out of her inheritance tries to convince a sea captain to help him. Re-released in 1939 as "Phantom Submarine U-67."

Pola Negri, Bebe Daniels, Mitzi Green, Polly Moran, Mack Sennett and Marjorie Beebe are seen relaxing at Palm Springs, a California winter resort; Barbara Stanwyck and Ricardo Cortez play golf; other celebrities are shown in Malibu Beach.

In this operetta, the captain of the king's guard secretly works for the rebellion during the French Revolution and is in love with the movement's symbolic leader.

When a meek secretary goes to work for her new boss, she becomes a sophisticated lady.

No synopsis available yet.

An American woman is fooled into thinking that she is the heiress to an estate in England.

Gertrude Lennox, a dominating woman who controls every aspect of her household, is preparing a reception for famous novelist Philip Lord, who is to arrive shortly from England. Gertrude is also laying plans to marry Doris Bellamy, her ward and the sister of her first husband, to Victor Staunton.

A New York socialite Celia invents an aristocratic English fiancé named Lord Michael Ware to deflect the tedious attention of would-be suitors. Celia travels to London to claim an inheritance...and meets an aristocratic Englishman called Lord Michael Ware. The imaginary romance becomes real.

A group of potential heirs gather in a forbidding old house to learn which of them will inherit a fortune. Later, they learn that a flesh-rending maniac is loose.

A story about a haunted old theater where an old Broadway play is being brought back despite threats from the ghost of a dead actor.

This film sticks very closely to the Edna Ferber novel, rather than the musical based on the novel. There are only two major changes from Ferber's book : *Julie in this version is a white woman, not a racially mixed one; therefore she and her husband are not unlawfully married. * Ravenal returns at the end, instead of dying as in the novel

A traditional silent western film.

A successful businesswoman falls in love with one of her much younger factory workers. She doesn't know that he is in love with her younger sister.

A chorus girl loses her job and thus the room she owes back rent on, and ends up being rescued from the street by a dashing rich man. But his family isn't over-accepting of chorus girls joining their family.

David Darby and his younger brother Ross are both members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Ross is accused of murdering Slip Martin, but David doesn't believe his brother committed the murder and, not wanting to see him executed, takes the blame himself.

An artistic salesgirl falls in love with a chauffeur not realising he is actually the heir to a huge fortune.

Honey Skinner is proud of her successful husband. When he tells her he's going to ask for a raise, she knows he'll get it. He asks his boss just as their big client announces he's not renewing his contract. He doesn't get the raise, but he's too embarrassed to tell his wife the truth. She starts making plans to spend that extra $10 a week; the first thing is a new dress suit for him and a new outfit for her so they can fit in at a swanky party. They're the hit of the party, and Honey is embraced by the 'smart set.' Meanwhile, business is bad and Skinner loses his job. The tailor is after him for payment on the suit, and Honey is still spending the salary he doesn't have.

Sam and Molly Thornhill, a married couple very much in love, are nevertheless continually quarreling. On the eve of their wedding anniversary, Sam fails to notice a pair of silk stockings slipped into his pocket by a lady.

Bud Watkins loses his ranch and savings to gambling house proprietor "Gentlemen Jim" Slade. The Cocopah Kid, a notorious bandit, lures away Betsy Burke, Bud's sweetheart and the daughter of the local sheriff.

Jenny, a dance instructor, accidentally meets Joe Hall, a song promoter who escorts her home. She gives him a song idea by saying "Thanks for the Buggy Ride".

Film serial.

Johnny Carroll joins a gang of thieves and is arrested by Detective McQuade for picking Judge Kerrigan's pocket. However, the judge remembers Johnny from his hometown of Meadville, and persuades him to reform. The young man returns home, takes a job in a grocery store, and renews his romance with Betty Bedford. Later, Johnny's former gang arrive in town and again try to recruit him. They induce him to crack the safe in Mr. Bedford's store, threatening to reveal his criminal past if he refuses. Upon opening the safe, Johnny refuses to be a party to the crime and fights the gang. Betty hears the commotion and returns with help. After the thieves are captured, Johnny and Betty are married.

The normal life of a young farm boy as he goes to school and as he relaxes in the country is depicted.

Ann, a 19-year-old girl who looks much younger, meets a dashing army major on a boat sailing from Liverpool to Bombay, India, and falls in love with him. Her love appears to be unrequited, though, because the major thinks she is far too young--and also, unknown to her, because he had once been in love with her mother. When a fellow passenger on the ship takes advantage of the naive girl the major comes to her rescue, but in the process the girl finds out about the past relationship between he and her mother.

Joyce Brandon is in love with Jack Sturdevant, but he doesn't even know she's alive.

Silent military comedy whose only print exists in the Library of Congress.

Jimmy Wood, a chauffeur, is mistaken for famous racing driver Splinters Wood. Because he is deeply in debt, he enters a race on the advice of Betty Rockford, daughter of a wealthy automobile manufacturer.

Colonel Faraday asks his daughter, Diana, to recover some letters he wrote to Yvette, an adventuress, when she tries to blackmail him.

Tina, who is from an aristocratic English family, believes in the new freedom for women and is an ardent follower of a group of pseudo-bohemians. While riding through the neighboring estate of John Humphries, a wealthy commoner resented by the Carteret family, she is retrieved from a fall by John and blames him for the accident. The following day, she invites him to dinner, pretending repentance, but taking pleasure in ridiculing his old-fashioned dignity.

A motion picture producer has press agent Jimmy Austin take Mary Callahan, a pretty shopgirl, to Europe. After an extensive publicity campaign, Mary returns to the United States as Maritza Callahansky, a Russian actress owning the crown jewels. To add support to her newly established identity, Maritza gives a party in a Long Island mansion in the rightful owner's absence. The owners return to find their home taken over by strangers and are about to call the police when it is discovered that they are the parents of one of the extras in the company.

No synopsis available yet.

In this partially lost silent film, a man working as a motion picture extra in Hollywood westerns impresses a visiting sheikh with his boxing skills and is engaged to go to Arabia, where he becomes involved in warring and falls in love with a beautiful princess.

Tom Mix played Larry McBride, a cowboy who, "goes to city, dresses up to date and gets into thrilling and humorous adventures."

A silent serial with the following chapter titles: 1. Fangs of Jealous; 2. Doomed; 3. Tricked by Fate; 4. Master and Man; 5. Terrors of the North; 6. Menace of Death; 7. Trapped by Fire; 8. Hurled into Space; 9. The Gold Rush; 10. Valley of Death; 11. A Race for Life; 12. The Path of Doom; 13. Martial Law; 14. Trail of Vengeance; 15. The Final Reckoning.

Hold Your Man is a 1929 American comedy film directed by Emmett J. Flynn and written by Harold Shumate. The film stars Laura La Plante, Scott Kolk, Eugene Borden and Mildred Van Dorn. The film was released on September 15, 1929, by Universal Pictures.

Roxbury asks his friend Terry to assume his identity and go on vacation with his wife, Edith, and their daughter. When Terry falls in love with Edith's sister, a scandal erupts at the resort.

1929 picture starring Laura La Plante, Huntley Gordon, and John Boles.

Ann Barton, the daughter of a once-wealthy family, is forced to clerk at the cigar counter of a village hotel, where she meets James McDonald, a breezy, handsome salesman. Ann is adopted by an aristocratic aunt, who disapproves of James's manners and breaks up Ann's relationship with him. Ann soon revenges herself on her aunt by placing both her aunt and herself in compromising positions.

Reformed criminal Boston Blackie is outraged when a judge refuses to grant a pardon for a dying friend. He hires Norine, his now-dead friend's daughter, to get to the judge through his son Rudy. However, things don't work out quite as Blackie had planned.

Robert Castleback is in possession of secret papers which could bring a certain prince to power under conditions which would make Castleback a ruling force in Europe. Master crook Arsene Lupin becomes aware of Castleback's bid for power and, in the interests of France, begins a search for the plans.

The Ramblin' Kid, a cowboy, falls in love with Carolyn June, a beautiful easterner, and wins her after he triumphs in a rodeo in spite of having been doped by his enemy, Sabota the Greek, a crafty racetrack tout.

Tom Barrett, a motion picture press agent, noting Frances Norcross' resemblance to film star Daphne Dix, offers her passes to the star's personal appearance. While waiting for her fiancé, Johnny Young, Frances is offered $1,000 to impersonate Daphne and successfully appears in her place, assuaging the fears of Myers, a producer, who knows Daphne is with millionaire Harmon on a yacht. Reporter J. Q. Adams has his suspicions aroused and sends a cub reporter to impersonate Daphne's husband.

Hollywood actresses including Jeanette Loff and Raquel Torres modeling Spring fashions in color.

Idalene Nobbin attends a village dance but, due to the constant nagging of her mother, she believes herself to be a constitutional wallflower. By great luck she gets a dance with college football star Roy Duncan, although Roy has eyes for the village belle Prue Nickerson.

In order to secure a lucrative contract, a businessman hires a woman to pose as his wife at a business dinner when his own wife can't make it. Unfortunately, the woman he hires is the wife of an insanely jealous prizefighter.

Universal star Laura LaPlante stars in this lighthearted comedy based on Sophie Kerr's magazine story, Relative Values. Octavia Lowden (LaPlante) has virtually become a drudge in order to support her sponging relatives -- flapper sister Eloise (Lucille Ricksen), hypochondriac Aunt Minnie (Lydia Yeamans Titus), and storytelling Uncle Eph (James O. Barrows). Only Octavia's frail grandmother (Jennie Lee) really needs help. When Octavia's sweetheart, photographer Pritchett Spence (T. Roy Barnes), discovers the toll these bloodsuckers are exacting, he plots with the family doctor to rescue her.

The Great Gamble is a 1919 movie serial.