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Saturday Night Live (season 1)
The first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (then known as ''NBC's Saturday Night'' to avoid confusion with the similarly named variety show hosted by Howard Cosell), an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC from October 11, 1975, to July 31, 1976. The show served as a vehicle that launched to stardom the careers of a number of major comedians and actors, including Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Dan Aykroyd. History In 1974, NBC ''Tonight Show'' host Johnny Carson asked that the weekend broadcasts of "Best of Carson" (officially known as ''The Weekend Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'') come to an end (''The Tonight Show'' was a 90-minute program at the time), so he could take two weeknights off; NBC would thus air those repeats on those nights rather than feed them to affiliates for broadcast on either Saturdays or Sundays. Given Johnny Carson's undisputed status as the king of late-night television, NBC heard his request as an ultimat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, producer, musician and writer. He was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1979). During his tenure on ''SNL'', Aykroyd appeared in a recurring series of sketches about the Coneheads, and the Blues Brothers. For his work on the show he received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations winning for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1977. After his departure, he has since returned in guest roles. Aykroyd gained prominence for writing, and starring as Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), which spawned an entire media franchise, reprising the role in '' Ghostbusters II'' (1989), ''Casper'' (1995), '' Ghostbusters: Afterlife'' (2021), and an upcoming sequel (2023), cameoing as a different character in '' Ghostbusters: Answer the Call'' (2016). He also is known for his comedic roles in ''Trading Places'' (1983), ''Spies Like U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Ebersol
Duncan "Dick" Ebersol (; born July 28, 1947) is an American television executive and a senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large-scale television events such as the Olympic Games and National Football League broadcasts. Early life Ebersol was born in Torrington, Connecticut, the son of Mary (née Duncan) and Charles Roberts Ebersol, a former chairman of the American Cancer Society. He and Josiah Bunting III are half-brothers. In 1967, aged 20, Ebersol began his long history with the Olympics when he temporarily dropped out of Yale University to join Roone Arledge and ABC Sports as television's first-ever Olympic researcher. Career Move to NBC In 1974, he joined NBC as Director of Weekend Late Night Programming. In 1975, at the suggestion of Paramount Pictures executive Barry Diller, Ebersol and NBC president Herbert Schlosser approached Lorne Michaels for help in creating a show to fill the Saturd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Muppets
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety- sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters. Originally owned by The Jim Henson Company for nearly five decades, the franchise was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 2004. The Muppets originated in the short-form television series ''Sam and Friends'', which aired from 1955 to 1961. Following appearances on late night talk shows and in advertising during the 1960s, the Muppets began appearing on ''Sesame Street'' (1969–present), and attained celebrity status and international recognition through '' The Muppet Show'' (1976–1981), which received four Primetime Emmy Award wins and twenty-one nominations during its five-year run. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Muppets diversified into theatrical films, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Henson
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and director of '' The Dark Crystal'' (1982) and ''Labyrinth'' (1986). He was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and raised in both Leland, Mississippi, and University Park, Maryland. Henson began developing puppets in high school. He created '' Sam and Friends'' (1955–1961), a short-form comedy television program, while he was a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park in collaboration with Jane Nebel who was a senior. A few years later the two married. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in home economics, after which he and Jane produced coffee advertisements and developed experimental films. In 1958, he co-founded Muppets, Inc. with Jane, which became The Jim Henson Company. In 1969, Henson joined th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Brooks
Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein ; July 22, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for 1987's '' Broadcast News'' and was widely praised for his performance as a ruthless Jewish mobster in the 2011 action drama film ''Drive''. Brooks has also played in ''Taxi Driver'' (1976), '' Private Benjamin'' (1980), '' Unfaithfully Yours'' (1984), and '' My First Mister'' (2001). He has written, directed, and starred in several comedy films, such as '' Modern Romance'' (1981), ''Lost in America'' (1985), and ''Defending Your Life'' (1991). He is also the author of '' 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America'' (2011). His voice acting credits include Marlin in '' Finding Nemo'' (2003) and ''Finding Dory'' (2016), Tiberius in ''The Secret Life of Pets'' (2016), and several one-time characters in ''The Simpsons'', including Hank Scorpio in "You Only Move Twice" (1996) and Russ Cargill in ''The Simpsons M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Pardo
Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with NBC, working as the announcer for early incarnations of such notable shows as ''The Price Is Right'', ''Jackpot'', ''Jeopardy!'', ''Three on a Match'', ''Winning Streak'' and ''NBC Nightly News''. His longest, and best-known, announcing job was for NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'', a job he held for 38 seasons, from the show's debut in 1975 until 1981 and then 1982 until his death in 2014. Early life Pardo was born in Westfield, Massachusetts. His parents, Dominick George Sr. and Valeria "Viola" Rominak-Pardo, were immigrants from Poland who owned a bakery. He spent his childhood in Norwich, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated from Emerson College in 1942. Career Radio Pardo was hired for his first radio position at NBC a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Murray
William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1977 to 1980, where he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. He starred in comedy films including '' Meatballs'' (1979), ''Caddyshack'' (1980), ''Stripes'' (1981), ''Tootsie'' (1982), ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), ''Scrooged'' (1988), ''What About Bob?'' (1991), '' Groundhog Day'' (1993), '' Kingpin'' (1996), ''The Man Who Knew Too Little'' (1997), '' Charlie's Angels'' (2000), and ''Osmosis Jones'' (2001). His only directorial credit is ''Quick Change'' (1990), which he co-directed with Howard Franklin. Murray's performance in Sofia Coppola's '' Lost in Translation'' (2003) earned him a Golden Globe and a British Academy Film Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He has frequentl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Burns
John Francis Burns (November 15, 1933 – January 27, 2020) was an American comedian, actor, voice actor, writer, and producer. During the 1960s, he was part of two comedy partnerships, first with George Carlin and later with Avery Schreiber. By the 1970s, he had transitioned to working behind the camera as a writer and producer on such comedy series as ''The Muppet Show'' and ''Hee Haw''. Biography Burns enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1952. It wasn't long before Burns realized a military life was not for him: "the first week of boot camp changed my mind." He served in Korea, rose to the rank of sergeant, and was discharged around 1954. Burns began his comedy career in 1959, when he partnered with George Carlin; both were working for radio station KXOL in Fort Worth, Texas. After successful performances at a Fort Worth beat coffeehouse, The Cellar, Burns and Carlin headed for California in February 1960 and continued to work together for two more years. An albu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of counterculture comedians". He was known for his black comedy and reflections on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and taboo subjects. His "seven dirty words" routine was central to the 1978 United States Supreme Court case '' F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation'', in which a 5–4 decision affirmed the government's power to censor indecent material on public airwaves. The first of Carlin's 14 stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977. From the late 1980s onwards, his routines focused on sociocultural criticism of American society. He often commented on American political issues and satirized American culture. He was a frequent performer and guest host on ''The Tonight Show'' during the three-decade Johnny Carson era and hos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Toscanini and other conductors and served as house orchestra for the NBC network. The orchestra's first broadcast was on November 13, 1937, and it continued until disbanded in 1954. A new ensemble, independent of the network, called the Symphony of the Air, followed. It was made up of former members of the NBC Symphony Orchestra and performed from 1954 to 1963, particularly under Leopold Stokowski. History Tom Lewis, in the ''Organization of American Historians Magazine of History'', described NBC's plan for cultural programming and the origin of the NBC Symphony: :David Sarnoff, who had first proposed the "radio music box" in 1916 so that listeners might enjoy "concerts, lectures, music, recitals," felt that the medium was failing to do this. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his eidetic memory. He was at various times the music director of La Scala in Milan and the New York Philharmonic. Later in his career he was appointed the first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937–54), and this led to his becoming a household name (especially in the United States) through his radio and television broadcasts and many recordings of the operatic and symphonic repertoire. Biography Early years Toscanini was born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, and won a scholarship to the local music conservatory, where he studied the cello. Living conditions at the conservatory were harsh and strict. For example, the menu at the conservatory consisted almost entirely of fish; in his later years, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Sixth Avenue, split by a large sunken square and a private street called Rockefeller Plaza. Later additions include 75 Rockefeller Plaza across 51st Street at the north end of Rockefeller Plaza, and four International Style (architecture), International Style buildings on the west side of Sixth Avenue. In 1928, the site's then-owner, Columbia University, leased the land to John D. Rockefeller Jr., who was the main person behind the complex's construction. Originally envisioned as the site for a new Metropolitan Opera building, the current Rockefeller Center came about after the Met could not afford to move to the proposed new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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