Dayton Allen (born Dayton Allen Bolke; September 24, 1919 – November 11, 2004) was an American comedian and

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

. He was one of the "men in the street" on ''

The Steve Allen Show ''The Steve Allen Show'' was an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC,

''. His

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

was "Why not, Bubbe?" (pronounced "whooooyyy not!")

Early life

Allen was born in New York City, the son of Helen and Sol Bolke, a dress manufacturer. His younger brother,

Bradley Bolke Bradley Bolke (October 1, 1925 – January 15, 2019) was an American voice actor. Early life Bolke was born on October 1, 1925, in New York City. He later lived in Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York ...

, had some limited success as a voice actor, often appearing in supporting roles alongside Allen. He grew up in Mount Vernon, New York, where he graduated from A.B. Davis High School in June 1936. One of his school friends was

Art Carney Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the si ...

Career

Allen, like Carney, began his career in radio. In 1937–1938

WINS (AM) WINS (1010 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to New York, New York, owned by Audacy, Inc. It features an all-news format known as 1010 WINS, with the call sign phonetically pronounced as "wins". WINS's studios are located ...

hired him as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

. He was the voice of various New York-based

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

show characters, appearing on ''

Winky Dink and You ''Winky Dink and You'' was a CBS children's television show that aired from 1953 to 1957, on Saturday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Eastern / 9:30 Central. It was hosted by Jack Barry and featured the exploits of a cartoon character named Winky Di ...

'' as Mr. Bungle for five years, and playing "Phineas T. Bluster", "Flub-a-Dub", and various other puppet characters on ''

Howdy Doody ''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F Campbell

'' (as well as several "live" characters, including Ugly Sam and Pierre the Chef) for 4 years. Dayton was also the voice of

Deputy Dawg Deputy Dawg is a Terrytoons cartoon character, featured on the animated television series of the same name that aired from 1960 to 1964. Background The character of Deputy Dawg originated in 1959 as part of a projected series entitled ''Possible ...

Heckle and Jeckle Heckle and Jeckle are postwar animated cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, originally produced at his own Terrytoons animation studio and released through 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic yellow-bi ...

, Luno, and many early 1960s

Terrytoons Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in name only). Terrytoons was founded by ...

cartoon characters. Allen also provided the voice of

Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp ''Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp'' is an American action/adventure comedy series that originally aired Saturday mornings on ABC from September 12, 1970 to January 2, 1971 and rebroadcast the following season. The live-action film series featured a ...

. He continued to be a voiceover performer through the 1990s. He was best known as the "Why Not?" man when he joined the cast of the NBC Sunday night variety show that Allen began hosting to compete against

Ed Sullivan Edward Vincent Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was an American television personality, impresario, sports and entertainment reporter, and syndicated columnist for the ''New York Daily News'' and the Chicago Tribune New Yor ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. The catchphrase began as a stalling ad-lib to an interview question; then it caught on. Allen used it for television commercials and saw novelty toys, a book, and a record spin-off from the "Why not?" phenomenon. In its day, fans were shouting "Why not?" as often as ''

Mad Magazine Mad, mad, or MAD may refer to: Geography * Mad (village), a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia * Mád, a village in Hungary * Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, by IATA airport code * Mad River (disambiguation), several ...

s famous "What? Me Worry?" His brother,

, was also a voice actor best known as the voice of Chumley (Tennessee Tuxedo's walrus sidekick) on ''

Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales ''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' is an animated television series that originally aired Saturday mornings on CBS from 1963 to 1966 as one of the earliest Saturday morning cartoons. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that pr ...

'', and the syndicated version of ''

The Underdog Show ''The Underdog Show'' was a six-week television series presented by Julian Clary and his dog, Valerie. The series was produced by the independent production company Splash Medi Format The show on BBC2 featured celebrities Julia Sawalha, Anton du ...

''. Allen's talents as a mimic were showcased in October 1963 when he appeared alongside Groucho Marx on the CBS-TV game show ''

I've Got A Secret ''I've Got a Secret'' is an American panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show, ''What's My Line ...

''. The show’s panelists had been blindfolded, and all their questions to Groucho were answered instead by Allen doing an accurate Groucho impersonation. Finally, with panelists

Bess Myerson Bess Myerson (July 16, 1924 – December 14, 2014) was an American politician, model and television actress who in 1945 became the first Miss America who was also Jewish. Her achievement, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, was seen as an af ...

Betsy Palmer Betsy Palmer (born Patricia Betsy Hrunek; November 1, 1926 – May 29, 2015) was an American actress, who was known as a regular supporting film and Broadway actress and television guest star, as a panelist on the game show ''I've Got a Secret' ...

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming we ...

, and Bill Cullen all stumped, the secret was revealed. A classic example of Allen's humor comes from an August 1968 appearance on ''The Steve Allen Show'', syndicated nationally in the US by Filmways: "Did you know your mind alone can make you smart?" After his show business career ended, Allen was a real estate agent, operating out of an office in

Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2019, its population rose to an estimated 11,027. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a p ...

. He died of complications from a stroke.

References

External links

*
Dayton Allen profile
archive.org
Dayton Allen remembered
m newsfromme.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Dayton 1919 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male comedians American male voice actors American male radio actors Male actors from New York City Comedians from New York City People from Dobbs Ferry, New York Businesspeople from New York City 20th-century American comedians Terrytoons people 20th-century American businesspeople