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BunaB
BunaB was the name of a line of purposely useless novelty products, promoted as if they were useful via carefully written marketing hype. They were created by American radio host Al Crowder (1904-1981). Beginning in the 1950s BunaBs were purportedly produced by the firm of Orville K. Snav and Associates and distributed from its headquarters in Snav Towers, Mason City, Iowa. The company's chief product was the Improved No. 7 BunaB, an assembly of two insulated wires, red and blue, held together with neatly applied yellow electrical tape at the ends. BunaBs have been described as examples of primitive conceptual art. History In 1951 Al Crowder was a music store employee and radio host at KSMN in Mason City. A cryptic gift of an object resembling a water jug from Crowder's father-in-law to Crowder's son inspired Crowder to write to the manufacturer, the International Latex Corporation, to ask what the object was. The response, received from E.C. Jakoswiak, Assistant to the Preside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Crowder
Al Crowder (1904–1981) was an American radio host, music teacher and humorist, best known as the creator of the BunaB line of products. Crowder's BunaBs and related merchandise, ostensibly produced by "Orville K. Snav and Associates," are considered an early form of conceptual art. Crowder received nationwide exposure through appearances on ''The Garry Moore Show'' and in a 1957 profile in ''Playboy''. Crowder was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1904. In the 1920s he toured as a banjo and accordion player and as an announcer at shows and on the radio. By the early 1930s he was teaching music in Fort Wayne, Indiana, moving to Mason City, Iowa in 1939. He worked at the Vance Music Store and Carleton Stewart Music in Mason City. teaching and playing the banjo, accordion, clarinet, saxophone and bass clarinet. In 1951 Crowder was on local radio as "Grandma's Disc Jockey," playing music from his personal collection of early recordings. BunaB In 1951 Crowder conceived the BunaB #7, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novelty Item
A novelty item is an object which is specifically designed to serve no practical purpose, and is sold for its uniqueness, humor, or simply as something new (hence "novelty", or newness). The term also applies to practical items with fanciful or nonfunctional additions, such as novelty aprons, slippers, or toilet paper. The term is normally applied to small objects, and is generally not used to describe larger items such as roadside attractions. Items may have an advertising or promotional purpose, or be a souvenir. Usage This term covers a range of small manufactured goods, such as collectables, gadgets and executive toys. Novelty items are generally devices that do not primarily have a practical function. Toys for adults are often classed as novelties. Some products have a brief period as a novelty item when they are actually new, only to become an established, commonly used product, such as the Hula Hoop or the Frisbee. Others may have an educational element, such as a Crooke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dave Garroway
David Cunningham Garroway (July 13, 1913 – July 21, 1982) was an American Celebrity, television personality. He was the founding host and anchor of NBC's ''Today (American TV program), Today'' from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing and relaxing style belied a lifelong battle with depression (mood), depression. Garroway has been honored for his contributions to radio and television with List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame#G, a star for each on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the St. Louis Walk of Fame, the city where he spent part of his teenaged years and early adulthood. Early life Born in Schenectady, New York, Garroway was of Scottish descent. By the time he was 14, he had moved with his family 13 times, finally settling in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended University City High School (St. Louis), University City High School and Washington University in St. Louis, from which he earned a degree in abnormal psychology. Before going into broadcasting, Garroway worked as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles. Hefner extended the ''Playboy'' brand into a world network of Playboy Clubs. He also resided in luxury mansions where Playboy Playmate, ''Playboy'' Playmates shared his wild partying life, fueling media interest. Early life and education Hefner was born in Chicago on April 9, 1926, the first child of accountant Glenn Lucius Hefner (1896–1976) and his wife Grace Caroline (Swanson) Hefner (1895–1997) who worked as a teacher. His parents were from Nebraska. He had a younger brother named Keith (1929–2016). His mother was of Swedish ancestry, and his father was German and English. Hefner was a descendant of Plymouth governor William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor), William Bradford through his father's line. He described his family as "conservative, Midwestern, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. As a performer, she was known for her ability to adapt to her screen partner's acting style. Born in Helena, Montana, Loy was raised in rural Radersburg, Montana, Radersburg and Helena, Montana, Helena. She relocated to Los Angeles with her mother in early adolescence and trained as a dancer in high school. She was discovered by production designer Natacha Rambova, who organized film auditions for her. She began obtaining small roles in the late 1920s. Loy devoted herself fully to acting after a few roles in silent films. She was originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a femme fatale, vamp or a woman of Asian descent, but her career prospects improved greatly following her portrayal of Nick and Nora Charles, Nora Charles in ''The Thin Man (film), The Thin Man'' (1934). The role helped elevate her reputation and she became known as a versatile ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he was one of Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood's definitive leading man, leading men. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor, Academy Award, received an Academy Honorary Award in 42nd Academy Awards, 1970, and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1981. He was named AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars#List of 50 greatest screen legends: Top 25 Male and Top 25 Female stars, the second greatest male star of the Golden Age of Hollywood by the American Film Institute in 1999. Grant was born into an impoverished family in Bristol, where he had an unhappy childhood marked by the absence of his mother and his father's alcoholism. He became attracted to theatre at a young age when he visited the Bristol Hippodrome. At 16, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's nominee for president 1964 United States presidential election, in 1964. Goldwater was born in Phoenix, Arizona, where he helped manage his family's department store. During World War II, he flew aircraft between the U.S. and India. After the war, Goldwater served in the Phoenix City Council. In 1952, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he rejected the legacy of the New Deal and, along with the conservative coalition, fought against the New Deal coalition. Goldwater also challenged his party's Rockefeller Republican, moderate to liberal wing on policy issues. He supported the Civil Rights Act of 1957, Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and Civil Rights Act of 1960, 1960 and the Twenty-fourth A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes MacArthur (; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Often referred to as the "First Lady of American Theatre", she was the second person and first woman to win EGOT, the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award), and the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. The annual Helen Hayes Awards, which have recognized excellence in professional theatre in greater Washington, D.C., since 1984, are her namesake. In 1955, the former Fulton Theatre on 46th Street in New York City's Theater District, Manhattan, Theatre District was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre. When that venue was demolished in 1982, the nearby Hayes Theater, Little Theatre was renamed in her honor. Helen Hayes is regarded as one of the greatest leading ladies of the 20th-century theatre. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, with a career spanning seven decades in film, stage, television and radio. Famously nicknamed as "The King of Comedy", he is regarded as one of the greatest comedians of the 20th century. His fame rose to prominence together with singer Dean Martin, billed as Martin and Lewis, in 1946 and for ten years, the two did a series of sixteen buddy-comedy films, along with The Colgate Comedy Hour, their televised run on ''The Colgate Comedy Hour'', live stage performances, guest spots on other shows and a The Martin and Lewis Show, radio series. After the team's split in 1956, Lewis became a highly popular solo movie star in twenty-nine motion pictures from 1957 to 1972, including the critically acclaimed smash hit ''The Nutty Professor (1963 film), The Nutty Professor'' (1963). For television, he hosted ''The Jerry Lewis Show'' (both the Ameri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Downs
Hugh Malcolm Downs (February 14, 1921July 1, 2020) was an American television presenter, radio personality, author, and music composer. A regular television presence from the mid 1940s until the late 1990s, he had several successful roles on morning, prime-time, and late-night television. For several years, he held the certified Guinness World Record for the most hours on commercial network television before being surpassed by Regis Philbin, who died 24 days after he did. Downs served as announcer and sidekick for '' Tonight Starring Jack Paar'' from 1957 to 1962, co-host of the NBC News program '' Today'' from 1962 to 1971, host of the ''Concentration'' game show from 1958 to 1969, and anchor of the ABC News magazine '' 20/20'' from 1978 to 1999. Downs started his career in radio in 1939 and began in live television in 1945 in Chicago, where he became a regular on several nationally broadcast programs over the next decade. He moved to New York City in 1954, when he was invited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer who performed in films and vaudeville on television, radio, and the stage. He is considered one of America's greatest comedians. Marx made 13 feature films as a team with his brothers, who performed under the name the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third born. He also had a successful solo career, primarily on radio and television, most notably as the host of the game show ''You Bet Your Life''. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, spectacles, cigar, and a thick Foundation (cosmetics), greasepaint mustache (later a real mustache) and eyebrows. Early life Groucho was born Julius Henry Marx on October 2, 1890, in Manhattan, New York City. Marx stated that he was born in a room above a butcher's shop on East 78th Street, "Between Lexington Avenue, Lexington and Third A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercury Seven
The Mercury Seven were the group of seven astronauts selected to fly spacecraft for Project Mercury. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. Their names were publicly announced by NASA on April 9, 1959: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. The Mercury Seven created a new profession in the United States, and established the image of the American astronaut for decades to come. All of the Mercury Seven eventually flew in space. They piloted the six spaceflights of the Mercury program that had an astronaut on board from May 1961 to May 1963, and members of the group flew on all of the NASA human spaceflight programs of the 20th centuryMercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. Shepard became the first American to enter space in 1961, and walked on the Moon on Apollo 14 in 1971. Grissom flew the first crewed Gemini mission in 1965, but died in 1967 in the Apollo 1 fire; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
