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Joan Davis
Josephine "Joan" Davis (June 29, 1907 – May 22, 1961) was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy ''I Married Joan'', Davis had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress and a leading star of 1940s radio comedy. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, she was the only child of LeRoy Davis and Nina Mae (née Sinks) Davis, who were married in St. Paul on November 23, 1910."Joan was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 29, 1907. Joan's birth certificate is interesting in that it was altered some 32 years after it was originally filed. It has been stamped with a notation along the bottom edge, reading “Amended by State Registrar pursuant to affidavit filed on _____,” with the date 2-11-44 written by hand. Asterisks indicate three areas of the document that were amended. The birth date, originally recorded as July 4, 1912, was crossed out by hand and changed to June 29. No middle name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abe Burrows
Abe Burrows (born Abram Solman Borowitz; December 18, 1910 – May 17, 1985) was an American humorist, author, and director for radio and the stage. He won a Tony Award and was selected for two Pulitzer Prizes, only one of which was awarded. Early years Born Abram Solman Borowitz in New York City, Burrows graduated from New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn and later attended both City College and New York University. He began working as a runner on Wall Street while at NYU, and he also worked in an accounting firm. After he met Frank Galen in 1938, the two wrote and sold jokes to an impressionist who appeared on Rudy Vallée's radio program. Career Radio His radio career gained strength when he collaborated with Ed Gardner, the writer and star of radio's legendary '' Duffy's Tavern''. The two created the successful series after Gardner's character, Archie, premiered on ''This Is New York'', an earlier radio program. Burrows was made the show's head writer in 1941, and he credite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Married Joan
''I Married Joan'' is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from 1952 to 1955. It starred actress Joan Davis as the manic, scatterbrained wife of a mild-mannered community judge (Jim Backus). Synopsis The show, whose syndicated opening makes the claim "America's favorite comedy show, starring America's queen of comedy, Joan Davis, as Mrs. Joan Stevens" focused on a married couple, Joan and Bradley Stevens. ''I Married Joans trademark was broad physical slapstick, with Joan Stevens portrayed as bright but somewhat childlike and given to misunderstanding. Virtually every episode had a plot which provided star Davis with a setup for at least one scene of over-the-top physical comedy. Davis's real-life daughter, Beverly Wills, was a regular cast member for several months of the show's second season, portraying Joan's sister, Beverly Grossman. Early installments began with Backus, as Judge Stevens in chambers, recalling how one of his wife's madcap mishaps paralleled the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tail Spin
''Tail Spin'' (also known as ''Tailspin'') is a 1939 aviation film. The screenplay was written by Frank Wead and directed by Roy Del Ruth. It was based on the book, "Women with Wings: A novel of the modern day aviatrix" (Ganesha Publishing, 1935), authored by Genevieve Haugen, who was also an advisor and stunt pilot in the film. ''Tail Spin'' starred Alice Faye, Constance Bennett, Nancy Kelly, Joan Davis, Charles Farrell and Jane Wyman. Plot Trixie Lee (Alice Faye) takes a leave of absence from her job as a Hollywood hat-check girl to pursue her career as an aviatrix. She and partner Babe Dugan (Joan Davis) enter an air race from Los Angeles to Cleveland, but an oil leak causes their aircraft to crash. Navy flyer Tex Price (Kane Richmond) helps with their engine. Meanwhile, steel mogul T.P. Lester (Harry Davenport) indulges the ambition of his daughter Gerry (Constance Bennett) to fly in the Powder Puff national race. Gerry is also Tex's ex. Trixie wants to win both Tex and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duffy's Tavern
''Duffy's Tavern'' is an American radio situation comedy that ran for a decade on several networks ( CBS, 1941–42; NBC-Blue Network, 1942–44; and NBC, 1944–51), concluding with the December 28, 1951, broadcast. The program often featured celebrity guest stars but always hooked them around the misadventures of Archie, the tavern's manager, portrayed by Ed Gardner. Archie was prone to involvement in get-rich-quick schemes and romantic missteps, and constantly communicated with malaprops and mixed metaphors. Gardner had performed the character of Archie, talking about Duffy's Tavern, as early as November 9, 1939, when he appeared on NBC's ''Good News of 1940''. Characters and story In the early 1940s, Gardner worked as a director, writer, and producer for radio programs. In 1941, he created a character for ''This Is New York'', a program that he was producing. The character, which Gardner played, became Archie of ''Duffy's Tavern''. In the familiar opening, " When Irish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Von Zell
Harry Rudolph von Zell (July 11, 1906 – November 21, 1981) was an American announcer of radio programs, and an actor in films and television shows. He is best remembered for his work on ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show''. Life and career Early years Harry von Zell was born July 11, 1906, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the first of Iva Clara (née Gohn) and Harry Adolph von Zell's two children. Von Zell's father was a sports reporter for the Indianapolis Star. The family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, where von Zell graduated from high school. Later, the family moved to California, where he studied music and drama at the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked at a variety of jobs. After friends tricked him into singing on a radio program, he began receiving offers from radio stations, and his career in that medium began. Announcing Von Zell broke into show business as a singer and announcer at radio station KMIC in Inglewood, California, in the mid-1920s. In late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verna Felton
Verna Arline Felton (July 20, 1890December 14, 1966) was an American actress, best known for providing many voices in numerous Disney animated films. She also provided the voice for Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law, Pearl Slaghoople in Hanna-Barbera's '' The Flintstones'' (1962–1963) and had roles in live-action films. However, she was most active in radio programs, where her characters were known for their husky voices and no-nonsense attitudes. Two of her most famous roles were as Dennis Day's mother, Mrs. Day on '' The Jack Benny Program'' (1939–1962) and as Hilda Crocker on the CBS sitcom '' December Bride'' (1952–1959). Felton's television appearances include those in ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show'', '' I Love Lucy'', '' Where's Raymond?'', ''Pete and Gladys'' and '' Dennis the Menace''. Early years Verna Arline Felton was born in Salinas, California, on July 20, 1890. Her father, Horace Wilcox Felton, a doctor, died shortly before her ninth birthday. Whe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan Soap
Swan was a brand of soap introduced by the Lever Brothers Company in 1941 to compete with Ivory. Swan may have been advertised as a soap that could be used in the kitchen as a hand soap or in the bathroom to bathe the baby. Actually, during the radio show My Friend Irma, it was specifically promoted as a dish soap. Swan, like Ivory, was a floating soap, but Lever had developed and patented a new manufacturing method that both streamlined the process and resulted in a finer product more like milled soap. A typical advertisement boasted that Swan was "the white floating soap that's purer than the finest castiles". Lever and Procter & Gamble became embroiled in litigation over the process and products of it. Lever sued Procter & Gamble for patent infringement after the format of Ivory changed; the Appellate Court found that the patent had been infringed and Procter & Gamble were required to pay $5.675 million to Lever. Lever Brothers used the Swan brand name to sponsor several rad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson. Lever Brothers entered the United States market in 1895 and acquired Mac Fisheries, owner of T. Wall & Sons, in 1925. Lever Brothers was one of several British companies that took an interest in the welfare of its British employees. Its brands included "Lifebuoy", " Lux" and " Vim". Lever Brothers merged with Margarine Unie to form Unilever in 1929. History Starting with a small grocery business begun by his father, William Lever and his brother James entered the soap business in 1885 by buying a small soap works in Warrington. The brothers teamed up with a Cumbrian chemist, William Hough Watson, who became an early business partner. Watson invented the process which resulted in a new soa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sealtest Dairy
Sealtest Dairy is a Good Humor-Breyers brand for dairy products. Formerly a division of National Dairy Products Corporation (precursor to Kraft Foods) of Delaware, it produced milk, cream, ice cream, and lemonade. The Sealtest brand was also later used by various companies in Canada under license (now held by Agropur). History Sealtest had milk and ice cream plants across the midwestern and northeastern part of the United States, with large operations in Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Huntington, Indiana, Rockford, Illinois, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York City. Its Mid-South (region), Mid-South operations were based in Nashville. The Milwaukee operation was purchased from a family-owned dairy operation, Luick Dairy, in the late 1940s or after. The Sealtest brand was originally a franchise, much like the 'Quality Chekd' dairy brand - local milk bottlers bought the rights to the Sealtest name in their market areas. Luick and presumably all the other fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Haley
John Joseph Haley Jr. (August 10, 1897 – June 6, 1979) was an American actor, comedian, dancer, radio host, singer and vaudevillian. He was best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man and his farmhand counterpart Hickory in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film '' The Wizard of Oz''. Early life Haley was born on August 10, 1897. His father was a waiter by trade, and later a ship's steward. He died in the wreck of the schooner Charles A. Briggs at Nahant, Massachusetts on February 1, 1898, when Jack was almost six months old. He had one older brother, William Anthony "Bill" Haley, a musician, who died of pneumonia in 1916 at the age of twenty-one after contracting tuberculosis. Career Haley headlined in vaudeville as a song-and-dance comedian. One of his closest friends was Fred Allen, who would frequently mention "Mr. Jacob Haley of Newton Highlands, Massachusetts" on the air. Haley made a few phonograph records in 1923, and in the early 1930s, Haley starred in comedy shorts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour
''The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour'' (also known as ''The Rudy Vallée Show'', ''The Fleischmann Yeast Hour'', and ''The Fleischmann Hour'') was a pioneering musical variety radio program broadcast on NBC from 1929 to 1936, when it became ''The Royal Gelatin Hour'', continuing until 1939. This program was sponsored by Fleischmann’s Yeast, a popular brand of yeast. The person responsible for this major step ahead in broadcasting was NBC executive Bertha Brainard, who became head of programming for NBC in 1928. She began pushing for singer-bandleader Rudy Vallée to host a variety series by explaining that only a woman could understand the appeal of Vallée's voice. Regulars First airing on October 29, 1929, See FN 30 the show quickly became a top-rated program, being one of the five most popular shows for every year between the 1929–30 and 1934–35 seasons (it was second only to ''Amos 'n' Andy'' during the 1930–31 season). Host Vallée appeared along with regulars Ole Ols ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Davis Swan Soap 1945
Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (other), multiple tropical cyclones are named Joan Music *Joan (album), ''Joan'' (album), a 1967 album by Joan Baez *"Joan", a song by The Art Bears from their 1978 album ''Hopes and Fears (Art Bears album), Hopes and Fears'' *"Joan", a song by Lene Lovich from her 1980 album ''Flex (album), Flex'' *"Joan", a song by Erasure from their 1991 album ''Chorus (Erasure album), Chorus'' *"Joan", a song by The Innocence Mission from their 1991 album ''Umbrella (The Innocence Mission album), Umbrella'' *"Joan", a song by God Is My Co-Pilot (band), God Is My Co-Pilot from their 1992 album ''I Am Not This Body'' Other uses *Jōan (era), a Japanese era name *Joan (play), ''Joan'' (play), 2015 one-woman play written by Lucy J. Skillbeck *Joan Township, Ontario, a geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
