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You Asked For It
''You Asked for It'' is a human interest television show created and hosted by Art Baker. Initially titled ''The Art Baker Show'', the program originally aired on American television between 1950 and 1959. Later versions of the series were seen in 1972, 1981, and 2000. On the show, viewers were asked to send in postcards describing something that they wanted to see on television, such as the reenactment of William Tell shooting an apple off his son's head. (1950 US national archery champion Stan Overby performed the feat, shooting an apple off his assistant's head.) The show was originally broadcast live, so some of the riskier propositions took on added elements of danger and suspense. A segment where animal trainer and stuntman, Reed Parham wrestled a huge, deadly anaconda, for example, nearly became disastrous until assistants interceded with guns drawn, visibly unnerving host Art Baker. Guest stars Baker was fond of granting requests to see show-business personalities. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Baker (actor)
Art Baker (born Arthur Appleton Shank; January 7, 1898DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 19. – August 26, 1966) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early years Baker was born January 7, 1898, in New York City. He initially planned to be a singer, and during World War I he was a song leader while serving in the United States Army. During his time in the Army, his hair turned prematurely white and would later serve as his trademark look. His post-war occupations included touring with traveling evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare Church, and operating an appliance store in Glendale, California. Radio Baker's radio career began as an announcer on Los Angeles radio station KFSG. He later worked at Forest Lawn Memorial Park as a tour guide. Baker was chosen to be the narrator of the radio program ''Tapestries of Life' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Downs
John Morey Downs (October 10, 1913 – June 6, 1994) was an American child actor, singer, and dancer. He began his career as a child actor, most notably playing Johnny in the ''Our Gang'' short series from 1923 to 1926. He remained active in films, television, and theatre up through the early 1960s. Early life Downs was born in New York City on October 10, 1913. His father was Lt. Morey Downs, a naval aviator with the U.S. Navy. When he was 8 years old the family moved to San Diego due to his father's transfer. Johnny's mother took him to Hollywood for an audition with the Hal Roach Studios. He appeared in a silent film, then was cast as Johnny in the ''Our Gang'' series. He was a regular in the series from 1923 until 1927, appearing in 24 episodes. Adult career Outgrowing the ''Our Gang'' series at the age of 14, he and fellow ''Our Gang'' alumnus Mary Kornman performed on college campuses and the vaudeville circuit, where he polished his singing and dancing skills. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)
The 1940 Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, was a suspension bridge in the U.S. state of Washington that spanned the Tacoma Narrows strait of Puget Sound between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula. It opened to traffic on July 1, 1940, and dramatically collapsed into Puget Sound on November 7 of the same year. The bridge's collapse has been described as "spectacular" and in subsequent decades "has attracted the attention of engineers, physicists, and mathematicians". Throughout its short existence, it was the world's third-longest suspension bridge by main span, behind the Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge. Construction began in September 1938. From the time the deck was built, it began to move vertically in windy conditions, so construction workers nicknamed the bridge Galloping Gertie. The motion continued after the bridge opened to the public, despite several damping measures. The bridge's main span finally collapsed in winds on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, California, that was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of firearms magnate William Wirt Winchester. The house became a tourist attraction nine months after Winchester's death in 1922. The Victorian and Gothic style mansion is renowned for its size and its architectural curiosities. It is sometimes claimed to be one of the “most haunted places in the world”, but there is no evidence to support this belief. Much of the lore regarding the Winchester House and its owner is fanciful, unverified, and often provably false. Sarah Winchester Sarah Winchester, always called Sallie, after her paternal grandmother, was born in 1839 in New Haven, Connecticut. She married William Wirt Winchester in 1862. In 1866, Winchester gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Annie Pardee Winchester. The baby did not thrive, and was diagnosed with marasmus and died a month after birth. Between the fall of 188 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whip Wilson
Whip Wilson (born Roland Charles Meyers, June 16, 1911 – October 22, 1964) was an American cowboy film star of the late 1940s and into the 1950s, known for his roles in B-westerns. He was one of eight children. Wilson had been a moderately successful singer before coming to Hollywood. Following Buck Jones's death in the famous Cocoanut Grove fire of 1942, which claimed the lives of 492 people, Monogram Pictures had been searching for someone to replace him. Producer Scott R. Dunlap saw Meyers, and thought he looked similar to Jones. This, apparently, was enough to build him into a cowboy star. Because of the fame being generated by Lash LaRue, who used a bullwhip in his films, Monogram decided to make Meyers a similar whip-wielding character, renaming him ''Whip Wilson''. Movie career Wilson was a good-looking man. When he first moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career, producers built him up with a lot of press, but it would not be enough to take him to the height of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bela Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''Son of Frankenstein'' (1939) and his roles in many other horror films from 1931 through 1956. Lugosi began acting on the Hungarian stage in 1902. After playing in 172 different productions in his native Hungary, Lugosi moved on to appearing in Hungarian silent films in 1917. He had to suddenly emigrate to Germany after the failed Hungarian Communist Revolution of 1919 because of his former socialist activities (organizing a stage actors' union), leaving his first wife in the process. He acted in several films in Weimar Germany, before arriving in New Orleans as a seaman on a merchant ship, then making his way north to New York City and Ellis Island. In 1927, he starred as Count Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Brendel
Elmer Goodfellow "El" Brendel (March 25, 1890 – April 9, 1964) was an American vaudeville comedian turned movie star, best remembered for his dialect routine as a Swedish immigrant. His biggest role was as "Single-0" in the sci-fi musical ''Just Imagine'' (1930), produced by Fox Film Corporation. His screen name was pronounced "El Bren-DEL". Early life He was born on March 25, 1890 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to an Irish mother and German immigrant father. Brendel, unlike his stage and film character, was not Swedish. He spoke standard American English without a trace of any other accent. He attended the University of Pennsylvania. He entered vaudeville in 1913 as a German dialect comedian and married his vaudeville partner. Due to anti-German sentiment brought about by the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, Brendel developed a new character, one he would portray on stage and in films for the rest of his career: a good-natured, simple Swede, often called "Oley," "Ole," or "Ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Gribbon
Eddie Gribbon (January 3, 1890 – September 29, 1965) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films from the 1910s to the 1950s. Gribbon began working in Mack Sennett films in 1916 and continued through the 1920s. He usually had significant roles in two-reel films, but his roles in feature films were lesser ones. Gribbon was the brother of actor Harry Gribbon. Selected filmography * ''Salome vs. Shenandoah'' (1919) - Audience Spectator/ Soldier * '' Down on the Farm'' (1920) (with Louise Fazenda and Harry Gribbon) - Banker's Henchman * ''Love, Honor and Behave'' (1920) - The Lawyer's Left-Hand Man * '' A Small Town Idol'' (1921) - Bandit Chief * ''Home Talent'' (1921) - Stranded Actor * '' Molly O''' (1921) (with Mabel Normand) - Danny Smith * '' Playing with Fire'' (1921) - Danny Smith * '' The Crossroads of New York'' (1922) - Star Boarder * ''Alias Julius Caesar'' (1922) - 'Nervy' Norton * '' A Tailor-Made Man'' (1922) - Russell * ''The Village Blacksmi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". In 1996, ''Entertainment Weekly'' recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, and in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema. Working with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck and filmmaker Edward F. Cline, Keaton made a series of successful two-reel comedies in the early 1920s, including '' One Week'' (1920), '' The Playhouse'' (1921), '' Cops'' (1922), and '' The Electric House'' (1922). He then moved to feature-l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Lucas
Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese (August 22, 1897 – July 28, 1982), known professionally as Nick Lucas, was an American jazz guitarist and singer. Known as the Crooning Troubadour, he was the first jazz guitarist to record as a soloist. His popularity during his lifetime came from his signature song " Tiptoe Through the Tulips". Career Lucas was born into an Italian family in Newark, New Jersey, United States. In 1922, at the age of 25, he gained renown with his hit renditions of "Pickin' the Guitar" and "Teasin' the Frets" for Pathé. In 1923, Gibson Guitars proposed to build him a concert guitar with a deeper body. Known as the "Nick Lucas Special," it became a popular model with guitarists such as Bob Dylan. It was this guitar's outline that was later used as the basis for the Gibson Les Paul solid body electric guitar. Also in 1923, he began recording for Brunswick and remained one of their exclusive artists until 1932. In 1929, Lucas co-starred in the Warner Bros. two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloria Jean
Gloria Jean (born Gloria Jean Schoonover; April 14, 1926 – August 31, 2018) was an American actress and singer who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959, and made numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances. She is probably best remembered today for her appearance with W. C. Fields in the film '' Never Give a Sucker an Even Break'' (1941). Early years Gloria Jean was born Gloria Jean Schoonover in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of Ferman and Eleanor Schoonover; her ancestry was Pennsylvania Dutch. She had three sisters, Sally, Lois, and Bonnie. The family was involved in her career, with Lois serving as stand-in for the actress and their father managing her career. Gloria Jean was three years old when she first sang on radio, under the name "Baby Skylark." Singing The family moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Gloria Jean sang with Paul Whiteman's orchestra on radio broadcasts. When she was 12, "she was engaged by a smallish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jackie Condon
John Michael Condon (March 25, 1918 – October 13, 1977) credited as Jackie Condon was an American child actor who was a regular in the ''Our Gang'' short series as an original cast member from 1922 until 1929, during the Hal Roach produced Pathé silent era. Biography Condon was born in March 1918 in Los Angeles, California. In 1919, he began his acting career by appearing in the film ''Jinx''. By 1922, he had appeared in many silent films and later starred in the ''Our Gang'' comedies as "Jackie". When he joined the original Our Gang ensemble in 1921, Condon was a little, tag-along toddler who, although often put off by the older children, was anxious to participate in the gang's adventures. As he grew older, Condon's character developed into a more All American type. Condon left the series in 1928, after appearing in all 66 Pathé silent comedies and 12 of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer silent comedies. After he left Our Gang, Condon attended public school and in 1936 grad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
