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Peter Leeds
Peter Leeds (May 30, 1917 – November 12, 1996) was an American actor who appeared on television more than 8,000 times and also had many film, Broadway, and radio credits. The majority of his work took place in the 1950s and 1960s. Working with many well-known comedians, he became popular as a straight man to their antics. Beyond situation comedies, Peter Leeds was also a dramatic actor, a Broadway performer, and a regular on many variety shows. He made three guest appearances on ''Perry Mason''. Peter Leeds was also a popular voice-over artist, being heard on over 3,000 radio shows. Early life A native of Bayonne, New Jersey, Leeds received his training at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his film debut with a bit part in ''Public Enemies'' (1941). He received a scholarship from the John Marshall Law School, which he attended for one year. He also attended The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. Leeds was noticed by the Group Theater of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High School Big Shot
''High School Big Shot'' is a 1959 film starring Tom Pittman (actor), Tom Pittman as Marv Grant, a smart high school student whose plans for getting a college scholarship are threatened by his alcoholic father played by Malcolm Atterbury, and his relationship with the most popular girl in school. The plot is remarkably similar to that of Stanley Kubrick's ''The Killing (film), The Killing'', released only three years prior. Filmed in 1958 under the title ''Blood Money'', it was released by executive producer Roger Corman as a double feature with ''T-Bird Gang'' in his first Filmgroup release. ''High School Big Shot'' was featured on an episode of the comedy series ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. Plot Marv Grant is a high school student who lives with his deadbeat, alcoholic father. At school he begins dating the attractive Betty Alexander (Virginia Aldridge), who eventually manipulates him into writing her English class term paper for her. Marv does this, but the subterfuge is e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". Martin gained his career breakthrough together with comedian Jerry Lewis, billed as Martin and Lewis, in 1946. They performed in nightclubs and later had numerous appearances on radio, television and in films. Following an acrimonious ending of the partnership in 1956, Martin pursued a solo career as a performer and actor. Martin established himself as a singer, recording numerous contemporary songs as well as standards from the Great American Songbook. He became one of the most popular acts in Las Vegas and was known for his friendship with fellow artists Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., who together with several others formed the Rat Pack. Starting in 1965, Martin was the host of the television variety program ''The Dean Martin Show'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also be about a real-life person (e.g. a politician), event, or movement (e.g. the French Revolution or 1960s counterculture). Literary scholar Professor Simon Dentith defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice". The literary theorist Linda Hutcheon said "parody ... is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music, theater, television and film, animation, and gaming. Some parody is practiced in theater. The writer and critic John Gross observes in his ''Oxford Boo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double Act
A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases for the artists' entire careers. Double acts perform on the stage, television and film. The format is particularly popular in the UK where successful acts have included Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (Cook’s deadpan delivery contrasted with Moore’s buffoonery), Morecambe and Wise and ''The Two Ronnies''. The tradition is also present in the US with acts like Wheeler and Woolsey, Abbott and Costello, Gallagher and Shean, Burns and Allen, and Lyons and Yosco. The British-American comedy double act Laurel and Hardy has been described as the most popular in the world. Format Humor is often derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin, and profession but drastically different in te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stan Freberg
Stan Freberg (born Stanley Friberg; August 7, 1926 – April 7, 2015) was an American actor, author, comedian, musician, radio personality, puppeteer and advertising creative director. His best-known works include " St. George and the Dragonet", '' Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America'', his role on the television series ''Time for Beany'', multiple characters in the Looney Tunes such as Pete Puma and Bertie, and a number of classic television commercials. Early and personal life Freberg was born Stanley Friberg on August 7, 1926 in Pasadena, California, the son of Evelyn Dorothy (née Conner), a housewife, and Victor Richard Friberg (later Freberg), a Baptist minister. Freberg was of Swedish and Irish descent. He was drafted in the US Army from 1945 to 1947 where he served in Special Services attached to the Medical Corps aMcCornack General Hospitalin Pasadena, California. Freberg's work reflected both his gentle sensitivity (despite his liberal use of biting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cara Williams Show
''The Cara Williams Show'' is an American situation comedy starring Cara Williams which centers on a married couple who try to conceal their marriage from their employer. Original episodes aired from September 23, 1964, until April 21, 1965 on CBS.McNeil, Alex, ''Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, Fourth Edition'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, , pp. 146–147.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Going My Way (TV Series)
''Going My Way'' is an American comedy-drama series starring dancer and actor Gene Kelly. Based on the 1944 film of the same name starring Bing Crosby, the series aired on ABC with new episodes from October 3, 1962, to April 24, 1963. The program was Kelly's first and only attempt at a weekly television series. The series was cancelled after one season of 30 episodes. The series was produced by Revue Studios (now Universal Television), as parent company MCA owned the rights to the original film through its subsidiary, EMKA, Ltd., which in 1957 bought ''Going My Way'' and many other pre-1950 sound feature films from Paramount Pictures. Synopsis Kelly stars as Father Chuck O'Malley, a Roman Catholic priest who is sent to St. Dominic's Parish located in a lower-class section of New York City. Dick York, later of ''Bewitched'', portrays a character not in the film, Chuck's boyhood friend Tom Colwell, the director of a secular neighborhood youth center. Also co-starring is Leo G. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, California, on Riverside Drive, directly across the street from Walt Disney Studios and adjacent to the Roy E. Disney Animation Building. The network's secondary offices, and headquarters of its news division, are in New York City, at its broadcast center at 77 West 66th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Since 2007, when ABC Radio (also known as Cumulus Media Networks) was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC has reduced its broadcasting operations almost exclusively to television. It is the fifth-oldest major broadcasting network in the world and the youngest of the American Big Three television networks. The network is sometimes referred to as the Alphabet Network, as its initialism also represents the first three letters of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Investigators (1961 TV Series)
''The Investigators'' is an American dramatic television series starring James Franciscus and James Philbrook about a team of insurance investigators in New York City. Original episodes aired from October 5 to December 28, 1961,McNeil, Alex, ''Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, Fourth Edition'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, , p. 412.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (Sixth Edition)'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1995, , p. 505. on CBS. Synopsis Investigators Inc. is a very successful private investigation firm with offices on Manhattan′s stylish Upper East Side in New York City. The firm specializes in investigating very large insurance claims to root out cases of insurance fraud. Russ Andrews and Steve Banks run the firm, Bill Davis and Danny Clayton are the among the firm's investigators, and Maggie Peters serves not only as their girl Friday, but als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pete And Gladys
''Pete and Gladys'' is an American sitcom television series starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams that aired on CBS on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time for two seasons, beginning on September 19, 1960. The last episode was broadcast on September 10, 1962. Synopsis One of CBS television's most popular and highly rated sitcoms of the 1950s, ''December Bride'', starred Spring Byington and co-starred Harry Morgan as next-door neighbor Pete Porter. Pete spent most of his time complaining about his scatterbrained wife Gladys, who was unseen to viewers. In this spin-off series, Gladys emerges as the redhaired comedian Cara Williams. Pete is an insurance salesman, and the happy couple resides in Westwood, California. Besides leading-man Peter, another carryover from ''December Bride'' during the first season was the character of Hilda Crocker (Verna Felton), a close equivalent of ''I Love Lucy''s Ethel Mertz; she appeared in 23 episodes. Frances Rafferty, another ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. A situation comedy television program may be recorded in front of a studio audience, depending on the program's production format. The effect of a live studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track. Critics disagree over the utility of the term "sitcom" in classifying shows that have come into existence since the turn of the century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use the single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, thus often resembling the dramedy shows of the 1980s and 1990s rather t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
''Richard Diamond, Private Detective'' is an American detective drama, created by Blake Edwards, which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960. Radio Dick Powell starred in the ''Richard Diamond, Private Detective'' radio series as a wisecracking former police officer turned private detective. Episodes typically open with a client visiting or calling cash-strapped Diamond's office and agreeing to his fee of $100 a day plus expenses, or Diamond taking on a case at the behest of his friend and former partner, Lt. Walter Levinson. Diamond often suffers a blow to the head in his sleuthing pursuits. Most episodes end with Diamond at the piano, singing a standard, popular song, or showtune from Powell's repertoire to Helen Asher (his girlfriend) in her penthouse at 975 Park Avenue. Levinson was played variously by Ed Begley, Arthur Q. Bryan, Ted DeCorsia and Alan Reed. Helen was played by Virginia Gregg and others. Another regular cast member was W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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