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Jerry Lester
Jerry Lester (born Lester J. Goldberg; February 16, 1910 – March 23, 1995) was an American comedian, singer and performer on radio, television and the stage, knows for playing the father of the main characters, Mike Firpo, in the comedy '' Odds and Evens'' and who hosted the first network late night television program as host of ''Broadway Open House'' on NBC, a vaudeville-esque combination of comedy and music, whose success demonstrated the potential for late-night television and led to the creation of the ''Tonight Show''. Early life Jerry Lester was born in Chicago in 1910. His father was a music critic. As a youth, Lester competed in dance contests and performed in various venues. Following his graduation from Northwestern University, he performed nationally in music halls and nightclubs, going on to appear in vaudeville, several Broadway musicals including ''Beat the Band'' and ''Jackpot'', and Hollywood films in the 1940s, as well as being a performer on radio. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadway Open House
''Broadway Open House'' is network television's first late-night comedy-variety series.Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 138. It was telecast live on NBC from May 29, 1950, to August 24, 1951, airing weeknights from 11pm to midnight. One of the pioneering TV creations of NBC president Pat Weaver, it demonstrated the potential for late-night programming and led to the later development of ''The Tonight Show''.McNeil, Alex. ''Total Television: a Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present''. Penguin, 1985. Hosts The show was originally planned to be hosted by comic Don "Creesh" Hornsby (so named because he yelled "Creesh" often). Hornsby had been brought into the variety show business by Bob Hope, whose topical humor would serve as the basis for most of the late-night talk shows that would follow. One week before he was to begin hosting, the 26-year-old Hornsby suddenly contracted poli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to an antenna which radiates the waves, and received by another antenna connected to a radio receiver. Radio is very widely used in modern technology, in radio communication, radar, radio navigation, remote control, remote sensing, and other applications. In radio communication, used in radio and television broadcasting, cell phones, two-way radios, wireless networking, and satellite communication, among numerous other uses, radio waves are used to carry information across space from a transmitter to a receiver, by modulating the radio signal (impressing an information signal on the radio wave by varying some aspect of the wave) in the transmitter. In radar, used to locate and track objects like aircraft, ships, spacecraf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life (magazine)
''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography, and was one of the most popular magazines in the nation, regularly reaching one-quarter of the population. ''Life'' was independently published for its first 53 years until 1936 as a general-interest and light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes, and social commentary. It featured some of the most notable writers, editors, illustrators and cartoonists of its time: Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell and Jacob Hartman Jr. Gibson became the editor and owner of the magazine after John Ames Mitchell died in 1918. During its later years, the magazine offered brief capsule reviews (similar to those in ''The New Yorker'') of plays and movies currently running in New York City, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dagmar (American Actress)
Virginia Ruth "Jennie" Lewis (née Egnor; November 29, 1921 – October 9, 2001), known professionally as Dagmar, was an American actress, model, and television personality. In the 1950s, she became one of the first major female stars of television, receiving much press coverage. Early life Egnor was born in Yawkey, West Virginia, and went to high school in Huntington, West Virginia, where she was known as Ruthie. She attended Huntington Business School and worked at Walgreens as a cashier, waitress, sandwich maker, and soda jerk. After her marriage to Angelo Lewis in 1941, she moved to New York, where he was a naval officer, stationed at Navy Ferry Command on Long Island. Broadway Egnor adopted Jennie Lewis as her stage name (taken from her real-life married name, Virginia Lewis). To keep herself busy, she became a fashion photographer's model, and in 1944, other models encouraged her to audition for comedians Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. Although she had no show business exper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Carson
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Primetime Emmy Awards, the Television Academy's 1980 Governor's Award and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.Johnny CarsonEncyclopædia Britannica Online (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 30, 2009. During World War II, Carson served in the Navy. After the war, Carson started a career in radio. He moved from radio to TV and followed Jack Paar as the host of the late night talk show, ''Tonight''. Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s, Carson became an American icon and remained so even after his retirement in 1992. He adopt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, author, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of ''The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time'' magazine's obituary of Paar reported wryly, "His fans would remember him as the fellow who split talk show history into two eras: Before Paar and Below Paar." Early life and education Paar was born in 1918 in Canton, Ohio, the son of Lillian M. (Hein) and Howard Paar. He moved with his family to Jackson, Michigan, about south of Lansing, as a child. As a child, he developed a stutter, which he learned to manage. He contracted tuberculosis when he was 14 and left school at 16. Career Early career He first worked near home as a radio announcer at WIBM in Jackson, Michigan. As a radio announcer he was known to stop by the newspaper stand in front of the Jackson Citizen Patriot and pick up a freshly published copy of that local newspaper before going on to work where he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Allen
Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-creator and first host of ''The Tonight Show'', which was the first late-night television talk show. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his extensive network television career. He gained national attention as a guest host on ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.'' After he hosted ''The Tonight Show'', he went on to host numerous game and variety shows, including his own ''The Steve Allen Show'', ''I've Got a Secret'', and ''The New Steve Allen Show''. He was a regular panel member on CBS's ''What's My Line?'' and, from 1977 until 1981, he wrote, produced, and hosted the award-winning public broadcasting show ''Meeting of Minds'', a series of historical dramas presented in a talk format. Allen was a pianist and a prolific c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morey Amsterdam
Moritz "Morey" Amsterdam (December 14, 1908 – October 28, 1996) was an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. He played Buddy Sorrell on CBS's ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' from 1961 to 1966. Early life Amsterdam was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of the three sons of Max and Jennie (née Finder) Amsterdam, Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary. He began working in vaudeville in 1922 as the straight man for his older brother's jokes. He was a cellist, a skill he used throughout his career. By 1924, he was working in a speakeasy operated by Al Capone. After being caught in the middle of a gunfight, Amsterdam moved to California and worked writing jokes. His enormous repertoire, and his ability to come up with a joke on any subject, earned him the nickname The Human Joke Machine. He sometimes performed with a mock machine on his chest, hanging by a strap. He turned a hand crank and paper rolled out; he would then pretend to read the machine's joke, althoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jackie Gleason
John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy, exemplified by his city-bus-driver character Ralph Kramden in the television series ''The Honeymooners''. He also developed ''The Jackie Gleason Show,'' which maintained high ratings from the mid 1950s through 1970. After originating in New York City, filming moved to Miami Beach, Florida, in 1964 after Gleason took up permanent residence there. Among his notable film roles were Minnesota Fats in 1961's ''The Hustler'' (co-starring with Paul Newman) and Buford T. Justice in the ''Smokey and the Bandit'' series from 1977 to 1983 (co-starring Burt Reynolds). Gleason enjoyed a prominent secondary music career during the 1950s and 1960s, producing a series of best-selling "mood music" albums. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Hornsby
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (other), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, Gujarat, India *Don, Nord, a ''commune'' of the Nord ''département'' in northern France *Don, Tasmania, a small village on the Don River, located just outside Devonport, Tasmania *Don, Trentino, a commune in Trentino, Italy * Don, West Virginia, a community in the United States *Don Republic, a temporary state in 1918–1920 *Don Jail, a jail in Toronto, Canada People Role or title *Don (honorific), a Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian title, given as a mark of respect *Don, a crime boss, especially in the Mafia , ''Don Konisshi'' (コニッシー) *Don, a resident assistant at universities in Canada and the U.S. *University don, in British and Irish universities, especially at Oxford, Cambridge, St An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Weaver
Sylvester Laflin "Pat" Weaver Jr. (December 21, 1908 – March 15, 2002) was an American broadcasting executive who was president of NBC between 1953 and 1955. He has been credited with reshaping commercial broadcasting's format and philosophy as radio gave way to television as America's dominant home entertainment. His daughter is actress Sigourney Weaver. Early life and education Born in Los Angeles, Sylvester Laflin Weaver Jr. was the son of Eleanor Isabel (née Dixon) and Sylvester Laflin Weaver. His brother was comedian Doodles Weaver. Weaver was of Scottish descent (possibly Clan MacFarlane), as well as of Ulster-Scots, Dutch and early New England ancestry. He was related to Matthew Laflin, an American manufacturer of gunpowder, businessman, philanthropist, and an early pioneer of Chicago. Both were descendants of Charles Laflin, a gunpowder manufacturer, who came to America in 1740 from Ulster, Ireland, settling at Oxford, Massachusetts. Charles Laflin and his family wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Carter (comedian)
Jack Chakrin (June 24, 1922 – June 28, 2015), known by his stage name Jack Carter, was an American comedian, actor and television presenter. Brooklyn-born, Carter had a long-running comedy act similar to fellow rapid-paced contemporaries Milton Berle and Morey Amsterdam. Life and career Carter was born in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York, in 1922 to a Jewish family. Carter served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He hosted an early television variety program called ''Cavalcade of Stars'' on the DuMont Network. He was lured to NBC to host his own program titled ''The Jack Carter Show''. Carter recommended Jackie Gleason take his place as host of ''Cavalcade of Stars'', though DuMont did not hire Gleason until the network's choice, Jerry Lester, also jumped to NBC. ''The Jack Carter Show'' appeared under the banner of the ''Saturday Night Revue'', NBC's -hour Saturday night programming slot. Carter hosted his show for one hour each week followed b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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