Delightfully Dangerous

Jane Powell (Actor) .. Sherry Williams

Born: April 01, 1929
Birthplace: Portland, Oregon, United States

Trivia: Born Suzanne Burce, she began singing on radio while still a child, then entered films in musical roles at age 15; she soon became popular for her appealing screen persona and coloratura soprana voice. Powell played leads in a number of films, usually portraying sweet maidens in the midst of a first love. She peaked around 1954, then as she grew older she was unable to find suitable roles. She retired from the screen in 1958 but appeared in stock, nightclubs, and on TV. In 1973 she starred in the Broadway revival of the musical Irene. Married several times, her husbands have included writer-producer David Parlour and former child star Dickie Moore. She authored an autobiography, The Girl Next Door ... And How She Grew (1988).

Constance Moore (Actor) .. Josephine 'Jo' Williams / Bubbles Barton

Born: January 18, 1919
Died: September 16, 2005

Trivia: Blonde leading lady Constance Moore started in films as a contract player at Universal. She appeared as Wilma Deering in the 1938 serial Buck Rogers, and was Edgar Bergen's love interest in the W.C. Fields vehicle You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939). A band singer before and after her Universal sojourn, Moore briefly forsook films to star in the 1942 Broadway musical comedy By Jupiter, then returned to Hollywood as the star of a string of above-average Republic musicals. She virtually retired from filmmaking in 1947, making unexpected return appearances in 1951's The Thirteenth Letter and 1967's Spree. Sporadically active on TV in the 1960s, Constance Moore was a regular on the 1961 Robert Young "dramedy" Window on Main Street and the 1965 soap opera The Young Marrieds.

Ralph Bellamy (Actor) .. Arthur Hale

Born: June 17, 1904
Died: November 29, 1991
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Trivia: From his late teens to his late 20s, Ralph Bellamy worked with 15 different traveling stock companies, not just as an actor but also as a director, producer, set designer, and prop handler. In 1927 he started his own company, the Ralph Bellamy Players. He debuted on Broadway in 1929, then broke into films in 1931. He went on to play leads in dozens of B-movies; he also played the title role in the "Ellery Queen" series. For his work in The Awful Truth (1937) he received an Oscar nomination, playing the "other man" who loses the girl to the hero; he was soon typecast in this sort of role in sophisticated comedies. After 1945 his film work was highly sporadic as he changed his focus to the stage, going on to play leads in many Broadway productions; for his portrayal of FDR in Sunrise at Campobello (1958) he won a Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Award. From 1940-60 he served on the State of California Arts Commission. From 1952-64 he was the president of Actors' Equity. In 1986 he was awarded an honorary Oscar "for his unique artistry and his distinguished service to the profession of acting." He authored an autobiography, When the Smoke Hits the Fan (1979).

Arthur Treacher (Actor) .. Jeffers, Hale's Butler

Born: July 23, 1894
Died: December 14, 1975

Trivia: Of the many candidates for the throne of "Hollywood's favorite butler," Brighton-born Arthur Treacher was the undisputed victor. The son of a British lawyer, the tall, hook-nosed Treacher did not settle upon an acting career until he was 25, after serving in WWI. Starting out as a chorus "boy," Treacher rose to popularity as a musical comedy performer. He came to America in 1928 while he was appearing in a revue titled Great Temptations. Entering films in 1933, Treacher quickly established himself in butler or servant roles, notably in several Shirley Temple films. He was awarded top-billing in Thank You, Jeeves (1936) and Step Lively, Jeeves (1937), both based on the gentleman's-gentleman character created by P.G. Wodehouse. Remaining active on Broadway, Treacher was prominently billed in such stage productions as Cole Porter's Panama Hattie and the 1944 revival of The Ziegfeld Follies. After several years away from Hollywood, Treacher returned in 1964 to portray a constable in Disney's Mary Poppins, which turned out to be his final film. Arthur Treacher enjoyed a latter-day popularity in the 1960s as the acerbic sidekick of TV talk show host Merv Griffin, and through the franchising of his name and image for such business concerns as Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips and the Call Arthur Treacher Service System (a household help agency).

Morton Gould and His Orchestra (Actor) .. Themselves

Louise Beavers (Actor) .. Hannah

Born: March 08, 1902
Died: October 26, 1962
Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Trivia: African American actress Louise Beavers was born in Cincinnati and raised in California, where she attended Pasadena High School. Louise's entree into Hollywood was as maid to silent film star Leatrice Joy. With Ms. Joy's encouragement, Louise began accepting small film parts in 1923, and three years later became a full-time performer when she joined the Ladies Minstrel Troupe. After co-starring in the 1927 Universal remake of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ms. Beavers worked steadily in films, usually playing maids, housekeepers and "mammies." Her most famous role was as troubled pancake entrepreneur Aunt Delilah in the 1934 filmization of Fannie Hurst's Imitation of Life. Another breakaway from stereotype was as the title character's strong-willed mother in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), On television, Louise Beavers starred on the weekly sitcom Beulah from 1952 through 1953, and played Louise the maid on the 1953 pilot episode of Make Room for Daddy.

Ruth Tobey (Actor) .. Molly

Born: August 30, 1929

Ruth Robinson (Actor) .. Mrs. Jones

Born: January 01, 1887
Died: March 17, 1966

Trivia: American actress Ruth Robinson made a solitary screen appearance in 1911 before returning to the stage. She resumed her film activities in 1936, playing a minor part in the Boris Karloff melodrama The Walking Dead. For the next two decades, she showed up in such stern-faced roles as missionaries, housekeepers, prison matrons, and society spouses. In 1956, Ruth Robinson appeared fleetingly as the title character in the speculative The Search for Bridey Murphy.

Andre Charlot (Actor) .. Professor Bremond

Born: January 01, 1882
Died: January 01, 1956

Shirley Hunter Williams (Actor) .. Nadine

Chris Drake (Actor) .. Jimmy Burns - Sailor

Born: December 23, 1923

Morton Gould (Actor)

Born: December 10, 1913
Died: February 21, 1996

Trivia: Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Morton Gould has penned scores for Broadway plays, ballets, symphonies, orchestras, television, radio, and feature films. He has especially been noted for his ability to integrate American folk themes into his music. Born in 1913, Gould started out as a child prodigy and published his first work at age six. His filmwork includes Delightfully Dangerous (1945). Gould's first television soundtrack was for the mid-'60s documentary series World War I. In 1994, Gould received one of five Kennedy Center Honors in Washington. He received his Pulitzer Prize the following year.

08:00 am - 10:00 am, Monday, December 8 on WNJJ Main Street Television (16.1)