Richard Whorf
1906 - 1966Richard was born in Winthrop, Massachusetts to Harry and Sarah (Lee) Whorf. Richards's older brother was the well-known American linguist, Benjamin Lee Whorf. Whorf began his acting career on the Boston stage as a teenager then moving to Broadway when he was 21. Early on, he was in a production of Taming of the Shrew at the Globe Theatre in New York City. He moved to Hollywood and became a contract player in movies of the 1930s and 1940s before becoming a director in 1944.
He appeared in Christmas Holiday (1944), Blues in the Night (1941), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), and Keeper of the Flame (1942). He directed a number of television programs in the 1950s and 1960s, the best known being the CBS hit comedy The Beverly Hillbillies. He also directed the short-lived 1959 syndicated adventure series, Border Patrol, and the 1964-65 television series, Mickey. Whorf directed the unsuccessful 1961 stage comedy, Julia, Jake and Uncle Joe. Whorf's hobby was painting - he sold his first painting at age 15 for US$100. Many of his small town landscape paintings reflected his American worldview and seemed to be inspired by painters like Grant Wood and Norman Rockwell. In the 17 March 1963 TV Channels syndicated rotogravure newspaper magazine, his painting career was profiled and his studio photographed. For the article, he told a reporter, "Who says that a man has to do one thing? Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Whorf, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Champagne for Caesar
Richard Whorf
Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm
When jobless genius Beauregard Bottomley interviews with Burnbridge Waters for a position at Waters' soap company, the owner rudely turns Bottomley down. As revenge, Bottomley enters a TV quiz show that Waters' company sponsors, with the goal of winning until he bankrupts the businessman. When Bottomley keeps acing the questions, becoming a media sensation, Waters desperately calls on vixen Flame O'Neal to uncover Bottomley's area of weakness.
Champagne for Caesar
It Happened in Brooklyn
Richard Whorf
Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson
Danny has been in the army for 4 years, yet all he thinks about is Brooklyn and how great it is. When he returns after the war, he soon finds that Brooklyn is not so nice after all. He is able to share a place with Nick, the janitor of his old High School, and get a job as a singer in a music store. He also meets Leo, a talented pianist and his teacher Anne, whose dream is to singing Opera. When Jamie arrives from England, Danny tries to show him the Brooklyn experience and help him compose modern swing music. Together, these four also try to help Leo get the Brooklyn Music scholarship.
It Happened in Brooklyn
Christmas Holiday
Robert Siodmak
Deanna Durbin, Gene Kelly
Don't be fooled by the title. Christmas Holiday is a far, far cry from It's a Wonderful Life. Told in flashback, the story begins as Abigail Martin marries Southern aristocrat Robert Monette. Unfortunately, Robert has inherited his family's streak of violence and instability, and soon drags Abigail into a life of misery.
Christmas Holiday
Luxury Liner
Richard Whorf
George Brent, Jane Powell
Capt. Jeremy Bradford has a particularly exciting luxury liner cruise in store when he's charged with transporting a troupe of opera singers to Rio de Janeiro. Anxious to become a singer herself, Bradford's young daughter, Polly, decides to skip out on school and sneak onto the ship before it departs. Angry that his daughter disobeyed him, Bradford puts her to work on the ship for punishment, but Polly has her own ideas about how to spend the trip.
Luxury Liner
The Impostor
Julien Duvivier
Jean Gabin, Ellen Drew
The story concerns a condemned murderer named Clement (Jean Gabin), who is "liberated" when the Nazis bomb the French jail that holds him. During his escape, Clement comes across the body of a French soldier; he steals the dead man's uniform and identification papers, then hides from the law by joining the Resistance movement. Clement's new identity and purpose in life reforms him, and in due time he has sacrificed himself in service of his country.
The Impostor
Till the Clouds Roll By
Richard Whorf, Vincente Minnelli
June Allyson, Lucille Bremer
Light bio-pic of American Broadway pioneer Jerome Kern, featuring renditions of the famous songs from his musical plays by contemporary stage artists, including a condensed production of his most famous: 'Showboat'.
Till the Clouds Roll By
Juke Girl
Curtis Bernhardt
Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan
During the depths of the Great Depression a hitch-hiker Steve Talbot and jukebox-joint hostess Lola Mears stumble into Cat-Tail Florida where farmers and pickers struggle under the buyer who rules by monopoly, dirty contracts and violence. Steve helps organize against the buyer, leading to further escalation ending in a lynch mob.
Juke Girl
Chain Lightning
Stuart Heisler
Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker
Former World War II flying ace Matt Brennan takes a position as a test pilot for a commercial aircraft corporation and bumps into his old girlfriend, Jo Holloway, who now works as a receptionist for the company.
Chain Lightning
The Sailor Takes a Wife
Richard Whorf
Robert Walker, June Allyson
While waiting in New York City to ship out to Europe, a sailor stops by a serviceman's canteen and meets a USO hostess. They immediately fall for each other and get married that night. However, when the sailor is notified that he has been reclassified as 4-F (unfit for service) by the Navy and then discharged, he and his new wife realize that, having to set up house before they expected to, they actually know very little about each other. Complications ensue.
The Sailor Takes a Wife