Joseph H Trent (1892-1954) was a lyricist who worked with notable jazz composers, including James P Johnson.
With Louis Alter, Trent contributed ‘Gotta Feelin’ for You’ to The Hollywood Revue of 1929.
Tag: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Louis Alter
Louis Alter (1902-1980) was a pianist and composer perhaps most celebrated for his piece ‘Manhattan Serenade’. He regularly contributed to films, although only once to an MGM musical, writing ‘Gotta Feelin’ for You’ with Jo Trent for The Hollywood Revue of 1929. He was twice nominated for the Oscar for Best Song.
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Andy Rice
Andy Rice (1881-1963) apparently started out as a monologist in vaudeville before developing into a song and sketch writer. He wrote two editions of George White’s Scandals whilst continuing to perform himself.
Rice contributed songs to The Hollywood Revue of 1929, Children of Pleasure, The Florodora Girl and the unfinished The March of Time.
Thanks to Travalanche for the biographical information.
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Richard Day
Canadian Richard Day (1896-1972) was one of the great Hollywood art directors, and one of the few to work steadily as a freelancer for much of his career. He won seven Oscars and was nominated a further thirteen times. Day worked with Erich Von Stroheim on a number of his best silent films, and developed a commitment to realism in design that set him apart from many of his peers.
For a period after 1929 Day worked in partnership with Cedric Gibbons at Metro, including designing most of the settings for The Hollywood Revue of 1929.
By the end of his career Day had worked on well over 300 films and with most of the leading directors, including Ford, Hawks, Vidor, Lang, Wellman and Preminger, and with Jean Renoir on Swamp Water (1941).
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Joe Rapf
Joseph Jefferson Rapf (1883-1939) was a younger brother of Harry Rapf. He apparently worked on costume design for The Hollywood Revue of 1929.
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Erté
Romain de Tirtoff (1892-1990) was a Russian-born French exponent of Art Deco in many forms, including clothing, interior decoration and jewellery. He also worked in the theatre, designing costumes and sets for, for example, the Folies Bergère in Paris and George White’s Scandals on Broadway.
Erté first worked for MGM in 1924-25, designing gowns and costumes for The Mystic and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (both 1925). He continued in films, mostly in costume design, throughout the 1920s, culminating in costumes and sets for The Hollywood Revue of 1929. See, for example, the art deco arch in the opening number.
Erté was still working at the age of 95, two years before his death.
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John M Nickolaus
John M Nickolaus (1881-1963) was one of the cinematographers on The Hollywood Revue of 1929 but, like his colleagues Irving G Ries and Max Fabian, spent most of his time at MGM working on special optical effects. It was here that he made his contribution to The Wizard of Oz.
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Irving G Ries
Irving Guy Ries (1890-1963) was a successful silent cinematographer from a young age, who worked onThe Hollywood Revue of 1929 and then helped to establish MGM’s optical effects department.
It was here that he made his major contribution to some of MGM’s best musicals. Ries provided special effects on Anchors Aweigh (Gene Kelly dancing with Jerry), The Barkeleys of Broadway (dancing shoes), An American in Paris, The Belle of New York (Fred Astaire walking in the sky), Singin’ in the Rain, Dangerous When Wet, Give a Girl a Break, It’s Always Fair Weather and Invitation to the Dance.
None of which is as interesting as the fact that, when he travelled to Germany in 1915, his passport was copied by the authorities and later used by German spy Paul Hensel. When Hensel was executed by firing squad in the UK later that year, it was under the name Irving G Ries.
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Max Fabian
Maksymilian Fabian (1891-1969) worked as one of the cinematographers on The Hollywood Revue of 1929, but spent most of his MGM career in the visual effects department, where he specialized in miniatures. It was here that he contributed to the special effects work in The Wizard of Oz.
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Harry Rapf
Harry Rapf (1880-1949) joined MGM on its formation in 1924 and worked as one of the studio’s three production supervisors, under the direction of Irving Thalberg. His son Maurice claimed that Thalberg and his father disliked each other, but then Rapf seemed to struggle to be liked by anyone, especially writers. He is also credited with more Goldwynisms than Sam Goldwyn himself: “I woke up last night with a terrific idea for a movie–but I didn’t like it”. Nonetheless, he was one of the powerful inner circle at Metro.
Rapf did some uncredited work on The Broadway Melody and The Hollywood Revue of 1929, but his first credit on a feature musical was Broadway to Hollywood; it might have been The March of Time if it had not been abandoned. He was uncredited again on Hollywood Party and Student Tour, and next produced Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry and Everybody Sing.
Let Freedom Ring followed, and then Rapf inflicted The Ice Follies of 1939 on Joan Crawford, whom he had brought to Hollywood years earlier and had a relationship with.
Rapf’s final musical effort was on Swing Fever, uncredited.
