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Carroll Pratt
Carroll Holmes Pratt (April 19, 1921 – November 11, 2010) was an American sound engineer who, along with laugh track inventor Charley Douglass, pioneered the use of prerecorded laughter. Early life Carroll Pratt was born April 19, 1921, in Hollywood, California, to Carroll, Sr., a sound engineer during the early years of sound in films and television, and Edith Pratt (née Holmes), a housewife and homemaker. The Pratt family relocated to Sydney, Australia, where Pratt's father worked on Australia's first film with sound, before returning to the U.S. The junior Pratt soon took an interest in sound engineering as well. After serving in the United States Air Force during World War II, Pratt began working as a sound engineer at MGM Studios. Charley Douglass and Northridge Electronics Pratt met Charley Douglass, inventor of the laugh track while at MGM. Pratt regularly helped Douglass transport the bulky "laff box" into studios and was eventually added to the payroll of Northridge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and Universal Pictures, are located near or in Hollywood. Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910. Soon thereafter a prominent film industry emerged, having developed first on the East Coast. Eventually it became the most recognizable in the world. History Initial development H.J. Whitley, a real estate developer, arranged to buy the E.C. Hurd ranch. They agreed on a price and shook hands on the deal. Whitley shared his plans for the new town with General Harrison Gray Otis, publisher of the ''Los Angeles Times'', and Ivar Weid, a prominent businessman in the area. Daeida Wilcox, who donated land to help ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Reynolds
Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal (April 4, 1923 – February 3, 2020) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He was one of the developers and producers of the TV series ''M*A*S*H''. Early life Reynolds was born on April 4, 1923, to Frank Eugene Blumenthal, a businessman and entrepreneur, and Maude Evelyn (Schwab) Blumenthal, a model, in Cleveland, Ohio. Reynolds initially was raised in Detroit, before the family relocated to Los Angeles in 1934. Reynolds served in the United States Navy during World War II. He served on ships including a destroyer-minesweeper the USS ''Zane''. Following the war, Reynolds received a degree in history at the University of California, Los Angeles, and resumed his acting career. Career Acting Reynolds made his screen debut in the 1934 ''Our Gang'' short ''Washee Ironee'', and for the next three decades made numerous appearances in films such as ''Captains Courageous'' (1937), ''Love Finds Andy Hardy'' (1938), '' Boys Town'' (1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bewitched
''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typical suburban housewife. The show was popular, finishing as the second-rated show in America during its debut season, staying in the top ten for its first three seasons, and ranking in eleventh place for both seasons four and five. The show continues to be seen throughout the world in syndication and on recorded media. ''Bewitched'' was created by Sol Saks under executive producer Harry Ackerman and starred: Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens; Dick York (1964–1969) as Darrin Stephens, her husband (Dick Sargent replaced an ailing York for the final three seasons, 1969–1972); Agnes Moorehead as Endora, Samantha's mother; David White as Larry Tate, Darrin's boss; Irene Vernon (1964–1966) and later Kasey Rogers (1966–1972) as Lou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Favorite Martian
''My Favorite Martian'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966, for 107 episodes. The show stars Ray Walston as "Uncle Martin" (the Martian) and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara. The first two seasons, totaling 75 episodes, were in black and white, and the 32 episodes of the third and final season were filmed in color. John L. Greene created the central characters and developed the core format of the series, which was produced by Jack Chertok. Premise A human-appearing extraterrestrial in a one-man spaceship nearly collides at high altitude with the U.S. Air Force's rocket plane, the North American X-15. The spaceship's pilot is a 450-year-old anthropologist from Mars. Tim O'Hara, a young newspaper reporter for ''The Los Angeles Sun'', is on his way home from Edwards Air Force Base, where he had gone to report on the flight of the X-15. Returning home to Los Angeles, O'Hara spots the same silver spaceship coming down quickly, after which it cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beverly Hillbillies
''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family from the hills of the Ozarks, who move to posh Beverly Hills, California, after striking oil on their land. The show was produced by Filmways and was created by Paul Henning. It was followed by two other Henning-inspired "country cousin" series on CBS: ''Petticoat Junction'' and its spin-off '' Green Acres'', which reversed the rags-to-riches, country-to-city model of ''The Beverly Hillbillies''. ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' ranked among the top 20 most-watched programs on television for eight of its nine seasons, ranking as the No. 1 series of the year during its first two seasons, with 16 episodes that still remain among the 100 most-watched television episodes in American history. It accumulated seven Emmy nominations during its run. It rema ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jetsons
''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produced from 1985 to 1987. It was Hanna-Barbera's Space Age counterpart to ''The Flintstones''.CD liner notes: Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, 1995 MCA Records While the Flintstones lived in a world which was a comical version of the Stone Age, with machines powered by birds and dinosaurs, the Jetsons live in a comical version of a century in the future, with elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions. The original had 24 episodes and aired on Sunday nights on ABC beginning on September 23, 1962, with prime time reruns continuing through September 22, 1963. It debuted as the first program broadcast in color on ABC, back in the early 1960s when only a handful of ABC stations were capable of broadcasting i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dick Van Dyke Show
''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' is an American television sitcom created by Carl Reiner that initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. It was produced by Calvada Productions"Calvada" is derived from the letters from producers ''CA''rl Reiner, Sheldon ''L''eonard, ''VA''n Dyke and ''DA''nny Thomas. SourceThe Dick Van Dyke Show: Anatomy of a Classic/ref> in association with the CBS Television Network, and was shot at Desilu Studios. Other producers included Bill Persky and Sam Denoff. The music for the show's theme song was written by Earle Hagen. The show starred Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, and Larry Mathews. ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' centered on the work and home life of television comedy writer Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke), the head writer for the fictional ''Alan Brady Show,'' who lived in New Rochelle, New York with his stylish wife Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore) an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Andy Griffith Show
''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color. The series originated partly from an episode of ''The Danny Thomas Show.'' The show stars Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor, the widowed sheriff of Mayberry, North Carolina, a fictional community of roughly 2,000–5,000 people. Other major characters include Andy's cousin, the well-meaning and enthusiastic deputy, Barney Fife ( Don Knotts); Andy's aunt and housekeeper, Bee Taylor (Frances Bavier); and Andy's young son, Opie (Ron Howard). Eccentric townspeople and, periodically, Andy's girlfriends complete the cast. Regarding the tone of the show, Griffith said that despite a contemporary setting, the show evoked nostalgia, saying in a ''Today'' interview, "Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Flintstones
''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the Rubbles. It was originally broadcast on ABC from September 30, 1960, to April 1, 1966, and was the first animated series to hold a prime-time slot on television. The show follows the lives of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their pet dinosaur Dino, eventually seeing the addition of baby Pebbles. Barney and Betty Rubble are their neighbors and best friends. They adopt a super strong baby named Bamm-Bamm and acquire a pet hopparoo named Hoppy. Producers William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who earned seven Academy Awards for ''Tom and Jerry'', and their staff faced a challenge in developing a thirty-minute animated program with one storyline that fit the parameters of family-based domestic situation comedy of the era. After consideri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Three Sons
''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seasons. ''My Three Sons'' chronicles the life of widower and aeronautical engineer Steven Douglas (Fred MacMurray) as he raises his three sons. The series originally featured William Frawley (who had first co-starred with Fred MacMurray 25 years earlier in the film ''Car 99'') as the boys' maternal grandfather and live-in housekeeper, William Michael Francis "Bub" O'Casey. William Demarest, playing Bub's brother, "Uncle Charley", replaced Frawley in 1965 because of Frawley's declining health. In September 1965 (when the show moved from ABC to CBS and began to be filmed in color), eldest son Mike (Tim Considine) married fiancée Sally Ann Morrison (Meredith MacRae), and his character was written out of the show. To keep the emphasis on "three sons", original youngest son Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kraft Music Hall
''The Kraft Music Hall'' was a popular old-time radio variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired first on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949. Radio ''The Kraft Program'' debuted June 26, 1933, as a musical-variety program featuring orchestra leader Paul Whiteman and served to supplement print advertising and in-store displays promoting Kraft products. During its first year the show went through a series of name changes, including ''Kraft Musical Revue'', until it finally settled on ''Kraft Music Hall'' in 1934. Whiteman remained the host until December 6, 1935. Ford Bond was the announcer. Billed as "The King of Jazz", Whiteman was arguably America's first popular music superstar. Whiteman's foresight regarding the coming of the jazz age and his decisions to hire the best jazz musicians was a powerful boost for jazz, swing and blues. Though he was prohibited from hiring black performers, he hired arrangers and composers. Bing Crosby took over as master ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 American Broadcasting Company, ABC,The Steve Allen Show from the Museum of Broadcast Communications and in first-run broadcast syndication, syndication from 1962 to 1964. The first three seasons aired on Sunday nights at 8:00pm Eastern Time, directly opposite ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. It moved to Mondays at 10:00pm Eastern in the 1959–60 season under the name ''The Steve Allen Plymouth Show'' (sponsored by Plymouth (automobile), Plymouth automobile). After a season's absence, the series briefly returned on Wednesdays at 7:30pm Eastern. The syndicated version aired mostly in late nights. The program, between September 1957 and June 1960, became one of the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
