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The NBC Comedy Hour
''The NBC Comedy Hour'' was a comedy show that ran on NBC January 8, 1956 - June 10, 1956, as a replacement for ''The Colgate Comedy Hour''. Background Robert Welch developed the series, which originally was called ''New Comedy Hour''. He expressed concern over its status as "one show that will be put together without a format". He noted that the show would feature first-rate comedians who would face the challenge of making the audience laugh. Episodes would be fast-paced, he said, each with a minimum of 24 elements including varied acts and comedic personalities with "enough material to make this, we hope, one of the fastest moving shows ever presented". Overview Leo Durocher, who initially hosted the show in January, was released from his contract before the January 22, 1956, episode, which had no master of ceremonies. Walter O'Keefe filled that role on February 5, 1956. Gale Storm was the host from February until April 8. (The trade publication ''Billboard'' reported that Sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Harshman Winters III (November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013) was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. He started performing as a stand up comedian before transitioning his career to acting in film and television. Winters received numerous accolades including two Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, the American Academy of Achievement in 1973, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1999. Beginning in 1960, Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label including '' The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters'' (1960). He also had records released every decade for over 50 years, receiving 11 Grammy nominations, including eight for Best Comedy Album, during his career. From these nominations, he won the Grammy Award for Best Album for Children for his contribution to an adaptation of '' The Little Prince'' in 1975 and the Grammy Award for Best Spoken ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
June Havoc
June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick;Ancestry Library Edition November 8, 1912 – March 28, 2010) was a Canadian-born American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist. Havoc was a child vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother Rose Thompson Hovick, born Rose Evangeline Thompson. June later acted on Broadway and in Hollywood, and stage-directed, both on and off-Broadway. She last acted on television in 1990 in a story arc on the soap opera ''General Hospital'', and she last appeared on television as herself in interviews in the "Vaudeville" episode of ''American Masters'' in 1997 and in "The Rodgers & Hart: Thou Swell, Thou Witty" episode of ''Great Performances'' in 1999. Her elder sister Louise gravitated to burlesque and became the well-known striptease performer Gypsy Rose Lee. Early life Ellen Evangeline Hovick was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. For many years 1916 was cited as her year of birth. Havoc acknowledged in her later year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Fuller
Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and actor. He was known for directing low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, often made outside the conventional studio system. After work as a reporter and a pulp novelist, Fuller wrote his first screenplay for '' Hats Off'' in 1936, and made his directorial debut with the Western '' I Shot Jesse James'' (1949). He continued to direct several other Westerns and war film throughout the 1950s. He shifted genres in the 1960s with his low-budget thriller '' Shock Corridor'' in 1963, followed by the neo-noir '' The Naked Kiss'' (1964). Fuller was inactive in filmmaking for most of the 1970s, before writing and directing the semi-autobiographical war epic '' The Big Red One'' (1980), and the drama '' White Dog'' (1982), whose screenplay he co-wrote with Curtis Hanson. Several of his films influenced French New Wave filmmakers, notably Je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American trade magazine owned by Penske Media Corporation. It was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933, ''Daily Variety'' was launched, based in Los Angeles, to cover the film industry, motion-picture industry. ''Variety'' website features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, plus a credits database, production charts and film calendar. History Founding ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville, with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. He subsequently decided to start his own publication that, he said, would "not be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father-in-law, he launched ''Variety'' as publisher and editor. In additi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Tyler
Robin Tyler (born Arlene Chernick, April 8, 1942) is the first lesbian or gay comic to come out on national television, a feminist and pioneer in the grassroots struggle for LGBTQ civil rights and marriage equality in the U.S., and a producer. She emceed and produced the main stage at three marches on Washington for LGBTQ rights, including the historic first National March On Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979. Tyler coined the phrase "We are everywhere" as a rallying cry for the LGBTQ community. This became the powerful signature chant of the 1979 march, appearing on banners and posters. The chant "We are everywhere" has continued as a popular rallying cry for LGBTQ equality. Early career Tyler arrived in New York City from Manitoba, Canada, in 1962 at 20 years of age. One of her first jobs was in New York City's famous Club 82, a nightclub known for its female impersonators and drag performances. Tyler, in her impersonation of Judy Garland, took this gender perform ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Goodman
Alfred Goodman (August 12, 1890 – January 10, 1972) was a conductor, songwriter, stage composer, musical director, arranger, and pianist. Early years Goodman was born in Nikopol, Ukraine, (another source says that he was born in Odessa, Ukraine). His father, Tobias Goodman, was a cantor in a synagogue in Odessa. Goodman sang in a choir when he was 5 years old and had become fluent in reading music by age 6. When he was about 7, the family left Russia to escape a pogrom. Disguised as farmers, they made their way to Romania. There they lost their money but escaped to the United States and settled in Baltimore. Goodman graduated from Baltimore City College and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. He earned money by playing piano for films at the Pickwick Theatre in Baltimore. Career Goodman worked as a musician in a nickelodeon and chorus boy in one of the Milton Aborn's operettas. Before he was 20, Goodman began working in Chicago as orchestrator for M. Witmark & Sons, a musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Hill Jenkins (May 12, 1910 – May 1, 1984) was an American arranger, composer, and pianist who was influential in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s. Jenkins worked with The Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, The Weavers, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Harry Nilsson, Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald. Biography Career Gordon Jenkins was born in Webster Groves, Missouri. He began his career writing arrangements for a radio Station in St. Louis. He was hired by Isham Jones, the director of a dance band known for its ensemble playing, which gave Jenkins the opportunity to develop his skills in melodic scoring. He also conducted '' The Show Is On'' on Broadway. After the Jones band broke up in 1936, Jenkins worked as a freelance arranger and songwriter, contributing to sessions by Isham Jones, Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Andre Kostelanetz, Lennie Hayton, and others. In 1938, Jenkins moved to Hollywood and worked for Paramoun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Frawley
William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best known for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the sitcom ''I Love Lucy.'' Frawley also played "Bub" O'Casey during the first five seasons of the sitcom ''My Three Sons'' and the political advisor to the Hon. Henry X. Harper ( Gene Lockhart) in the film '' Miracle on 34th Street''. Frawley began his career in Vaudeville in 1914 with his wife, Edna Louise Broedt. Their comedy act, "Frawley and Louise", continued until their divorce in 1927. He performed on Broadway multiple times. In 1916, he signed with Paramount Studios and appeared in more than 100 films over the next 35 years.Deezen, Eddie. Early life Frawley was born in Burlington, Iowa, the second son in a family of four children to Michael A. Frawley (1857–1907) and Mary E. (Brady) Frawley (1859–1921). He attended Catholic schools and sang in the choir at St. Paul's Catholic Church. As he got older, he played small ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henny Youngman
Henry "Henny" Youngman (March 16, 1906 – February 24, 1998) was an English-born American comedian and musician famous for his mastery of the "one-line joke, one-liner", his best known being "Take my wife... please". In a time when many comedians told elaborate anecdotes, Youngman's routine consisted of telling simple one-liner jokes, occasionally with interludes of violin playing. These depicted simple, cartoon-like situations, eliminating lengthy build-ups and going straight to the punch line. Known as "the King of the One-Liners", a title conferred to him by columnist Walter Winchell, a stage performance by Youngman lasted only 15 to 20 minutes but contained dozens of jokes in rapid succession. Early life Henry Youngman was born to Russian Jews Yonkel Yungman and Olga Chetkin in Whitechapel, in the East End of London, England. His family moved to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York, when he was a child. He grew up in New York City, took violin lessons and began as a comedian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Carroll
Patricia Ann Carroll (May 5, 1927 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress and comedian. She is best known for providing the voice of Ursula in ''The Little Mermaid''. She made guest appearances in many popular television series including ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Laverne & Shirley'', and '' ER;'' she also had a regular role on ''The Danny Thomas Show'' as Bunny Halper''.'' Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk, and Grammy Award winner, as well as a Tony Award nominee. Early life Carroll was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on May 5, 1927, to Maurice Clifton Carroll (d. 1963) and Kathryn Angela (née Meagher). Carroll's family moved to Los Angeles when she was five years old, and she soon began acting in local productions. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School and attended Catholic University of America after enlisting in the United States Army as a civilian actress technician. Career Carroll began her acting career in 1947. She got her first acting credit as Lore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob And Ray
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) *Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II *Bob the Railway Dog, a part of South Australian Railways folklore Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica Television, games, and radio *Bob (TV series), ''Bob'' (TV series), an American comedy series starring Bob Newhart *B.O.B. (video game), ''B.O.B.'' (video game), a side-scrolling shooter *Bob FM, on-air brand of a number of FM radio stations in North America Music Musicians and groups *B.o.B (born 1988), American rapper and record producer *Bob (band), a British indie pop band *The Bobs, an American a cappella group *Boyz on Block, a British pop supergroup Songs *B.O.B (song), "B.O.B" (song), by OutKast *Bob ("Weird Al" Yankovic song), "Bob" ("Weird Al" Yankovic song), from the 2003 album ''Poo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cliff Arquette
Clifford Charles Arquette (; December 28, 1905 – September 23, 1974) was an American actor and comedian. He was best known for performing comedic routines as his alter-ego Charley Weaver on numerous television and radio shows. Early life and career Cliff Arquette was born on December 27 1905, in Toledo, Ohio, the youngest of four children born to Winifred Ethel Clark (July 30, 1878 – February 12, 1966) and Charles Augustus Arquette (October 23, 1878 – August 12, 1927), a vaudevillian. His siblings were Naomi "Jane" Arquette Hammett (1899–1934), Russell Arquette (1901–1982), and Lester Kear Arquette (1904–1969). Cliff was of part French-Canadian descent, and his family's surname was originally "Arcouet".''Finding Your Roots'', February 9, 2016, PBS Cliff Arquette fathered a son named Alden Arquette in 1921 when he and his girlfriend were 16. Their marriage was annulled (there is no record of the marriage) but there is a record of Alden's birth. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
