Preston Sturges and four by Elliott J. Clawson.) Though he had a thirty-year Hollywood career, Sturges' greatest comedies were filmed in a furious five-year burst of activity from 1939 to 1944, during which he turned out "The Great McGinty", "Christmas in July", "The Lady Eve", "Sullivan's Travels", "The Palm Beach Story", "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" and "Hail the Conquering Hero". Half a century later, four of these – "The Lady Eve", "Sullivan's Travels", "The Palm Beach Story" and "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" – were chosen by the American Film Institute as being among the 100 funniest American films. The film
1940 Preston by-election 1940 Preston by-election The Preston by-election, 1940 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Preston in Lancashire on 29 September 1940. The seat had become vacant on the death of the Conservative Member of Parliament Adrian Moreing, who had held the seat since the 1931 general election. During World War II, the parties in the war-time coalition government had agreed not contest by-elections where a seat held by any of their parties fell vacant, so the Conservative candidate, Randolph Churchill (son of Prime Minister Winston Churchill), was returned unopposed. He represented the constituency until