Actors - Ball of Fire

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	Actors - Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire (also known as The Professor and the Burlesque Queen) is a 1941 screwball comedy film which tells the story of a group of encyclopedists interested in documenting slang who house a nightclub singer that the District Attorney is searching for to testify against her mobster boyfriend. It stars Gary Cooper ("Bertram Potts"), Barbara Stanwyck ("Sugarpuss"), Oskar Homolka, Henry Travers, Richard Haydn, Dana Andrews, Dan Duryea and Elisha Cook Jr..

The movie was written by Charles Brackett, Thomas Monroe and Billy Wilder from a short story written while Wilder was still in Europe. It was directed by Howard Hawks. Although ably directed, Wilder hereafter directed his own films.

Drummer and bandleader Gene Krupa made a memorable cameo appearance in the film performing the song "Drum Boogie" with his band. In an unusual twist, he also plays it on a matchbox with matches for drumsticks.

In 1948 the plot was resurrected in a musical form for the movie "A Song is Born" starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo.

Awards

Ball of Fire was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Barbara Stanwyck), Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture, Best Sound, Recording and Best Writing, Original Story.

Slang in the film

Examples of 1940s American slang used in the film:

"shove in your clutch" - get lost
"going like gangbusters" - still in contemporary use
"crabapple annie" - a stuffy, prudish person
"hold the phone" - shut up

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ball of Fire ]

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