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The Bickersons
''The Bickersons'' was a radio comedy sketch series that began September 8, 1946, on NBC, moving the following year to CBS where it continued until August 28, 1951. The show's married protagonists, portrayed by Don Ameche (later by Lew Parker) and Frances Langford, spent nearly all their time together in relentless verbal war. Origins ''The Bickersons'' was created by Philip Rapp, the one-time Eddie Cantor writer who had also created the Fanny Brice skits (for ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air'' and ''Burns and Allen, Maxwell House Coffee Time'') that grew into radio's ''Baby Snooks''. Several years after the latter established itself a long-running favorite, Rapp developed and presented John and Blanche Bickerson, first as a short sketch on ''The Old Gold Show'' and ''The Chase and Sanborn Hour'' (the show that made stars of Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy), and then as a 15-minute situational sketch as part of ''Drene Time''. This was a variety show starring Don Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running situation comedies in the history of American network television, the ''Danny Thomas Show''. In addition to guest roles on many of the comedy, talk, and musical variety programs of his time, his legacy includes a lifelong dedication to fundraising for charity. Most notably, he was the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, a leading center in pediatric medicine with a focus on pediatric cancer. St. Jude now has affiliate hospitals in eight other American cities as of early 2020. Already a successful entertainer, Thomas began his film career in 1947, playing opposite child actress Margaret O'Brien in '' The Unfinished Dance'' (1947) and '' Big City'' (1948). He then starred in the long-running television sitc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Mathis
John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the ''Billboard'' charts. Mathis has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for three recordings. Although frequently described as a romantic singer, his discography includes traditional pop, Brazilian and Spanish music, soul, rhythm and blues, show tunes, Tin Pan Alley, soft rock, blues, country music, and even a few disco songs for his album ''Mathis Magic'' in 1979. Mathis has also recorded six albums of Christmas music. In a 1968 interview, Mathis cited Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby among his musical influences. Early life and education Mathis was born in Gilmer, Texas, on September 30, 1935, the fourth of seven children of Clem Mathis and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in dramatic films, especially two of Alfred Hitchcock's Thriller (genre), thrillers, ''Saboteur (film), Saboteur'' (1942) and ''Dial M for Murder'' (1954).Wise and Wilderson 2000, p. 189. He received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie, Best Actor in a Single Performance in 1955. On February 8, 1960, he received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture and television industries, at 6816 Hollywood Boulevard and 1718 Vine Street. He used the stage name Robert Cummings from mid-1935 until the end of 1954 and was credited as Bob Cummings from 1955 until his death. Early life Cummings was born ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared over the act's run (with only three active at any given time): Moe Howard (born Moses Horwitz) and Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg) were mainstays throughout the ensemble's nearly 50-year run and the pivotal "third stooge" was played by (in order of appearance) Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz), Curly Howard (born Jerome Horwitz), Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser, and "Curly Joe" DeRita. The act began in the early 1920s as part of a vaudeville comedy act billed as "Ted Healy and His Stooges", consisting originally of Ted Healy and Moe Howard. Over time, they were joined by Moe's brother, Shemp Howard, and then Larry Fine. The four appeared in one feature film, '' Soup to Nuts'', before Shemp left to pursue a solo career. He was replace ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leading ''The Guardian'' to coin him "the most successful tragi-comedian of his age." He starred in over sixty films and was nominated for an Academy Award eight times, winning twice, and received many other accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards (counting the honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award), two Cannes Film Festival Awards, two Volpi Cups, one Silver Bear, three BAFTA Awards, and two Emmy Awards. In 1988, he was awarded the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the American cinema. His best known films include '' Mister Roberts'' (1955, for which he won the year's Oscar for Best Supporting Actor), '' Some Like It Hot'' (1959), ''The Apartment'' (1960), '' Days of Wine and Roses'' (1962), ''Irm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
That Girl
''That Girl'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from September 8, 1966 to March 19, 1971. It starred Marlo Thomas as the title character Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress, who moves from her hometown of Brewster, New York, to try to make it big in New York City. Ann has to take a number of offbeat "temp" jobs to support herself in between her various auditions and bit parts. Ted Bessell played her boyfriend Donald Hollinger, a writer for ''Newsview Magazine''. Lew Parker and Rosemary DeCamp played Lew Marie and Helen Marie, her concerned parents. Bernie Kopell, Ruth Buzzi, and Reva Rose played Ann and Donald's friends. ''That Girl'' was developed by writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, who had served as head writers on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (with which Thomas' father, Danny Thomas, was closely associated) earlier in the 1960s. Storyline ''That Girl'' was one of the first sitcoms to focus on an unmarried woman who was not a domestic or livi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in the United States. It was owned by DuMont Laboratories, Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, a television equipment and set manufacturer, and began operation on June 28, 1942.Weinstein, David (2004). ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'', p. 16. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. . The network was hindered by the prohibitive cost of broadcasting, a freeze on new television stations in 1948 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that restricted the network's growth, and even the company's partner, Paramount Pictures. Despite several innovations in broadcasting and the creation of one of television's biggest stars of the 1950s—Jackie Gleason—the network never found itself on solid fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Time (TV Series)
''Star Time'' is an American variety series which aired on the DuMont Television Network from September 5, 1950, to February 27, 1951, and starred singer-actress Frances Langford. It was broadcast from 10 to 11 p.m. on Tuesdays. Broadcast history The hour-long comedy-variety show spotlighted several regulars and guest performers. One feature of each telecast was a lengthy skit, written and directed by Philip Rapp, with Langford and Lew Parker performing as The Bickersons, a quarrelsome married couple that migrated from radio as a distinctively-unhappy sitcom man and wife. With Langford as a first-class singer, music was an integral component of the series. The premier telecast spotlighted The Harmonicats, a trio of versatile harmonica players who had achieved great prominence in the 1940s. But the program soon settled on a regular slot called Club Goodman in which the Benny Goodman Sextet—with Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and Terry Gibbs, among others—played jazz arrangeme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Honeymooners
''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom which originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It follows the lives of New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden (Gleason), his wife Alice (Audrey Meadows), Ralph's best friend Ed Norton (Art Carney) and Ed's wife Trixie (Joyce Randolph) as they get involved with various schemes in their day-to-day living. Most episodes revolve around Ralph's poor choices in absurd dilemmas which frequently show his judgmental attitude in a comedic tone. The show occasionally features more serious issues such as women's rights and social status. The sketches first aired on the DuMont network's variety series ''Cavalcade of Stars'', which Gleason hosted, and subsequently on the CBS network's ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' which was broadcast live in front of a theater audience. The popularity of the sketches led ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Gift Of The Magi
"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time. The plot and its twist ending are well known; the ending is generally considered an example of comic irony. The story was allegedly written at Pete's Tavern on Irving Place in New York City. The story was initially published in '' The New York Sunday World'' under the title "Gifts of the Magi" on December 10, 1905. It was first published in book form in the O. Henry anthology ''The Four Million'' in April 1906. Plot On Christmas Eve, Della Young discovers that she has only $1.87 (equivalent to about $62 in 2022) to buy a present for her husband Jim. She visits the nearby shop of a hairdresser, Madame Sofronie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrew (archetype)
The shrew – an unpleasant, ill-tempered woman characterised by scolding, nagging, and aggression – is a comedic, stock character in literature and folklore, both Western and Eastern. The theme is illustrated in Shakespeare's play ''The Taming of the Shrew''. As a reference to actual women, rather than the stock character, ''shrew'' is considered old-fashioned, and the synonym ''scold'' (as a noun) is archaic. The term ''shrew'' is still used to describe the stock character in fiction and folk storytelling. None of these terms are usually applied to males in Modern English. This stereotype or cliché was common in early- to mid-20th-century films, and retains some present-day currency, often shifted somewhat toward the virtues of the stock female character of the heroic virago. Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand collected over 400 literary and oral version of shrew stories in 30 cultural groups in Europe in the middle 20th century.Vasvári (2002), citing: This has been repub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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