Dayton Allen (born Dayton Allen Bolke; September 24, 1919 – November 11, 2004) was an American

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

and

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

. He was one of the "men in the street" on '' The Steve Allen Show''. His catchphrase was "Why not, Bubbe?" (pronounced "whooooyyy not!")

Early life

Allen was born in New York City, the son of Helen and Sol Bolke, a dress manufacturer. His younger brother,

Bradley Bolke Bradley Bolke (October 1, 1925 – January 15, 2019) was an American voice actor. Early life Bolke was born on October 1, 1925, in New York City. He later lived in Dobbs Ferry, New York. His brother was actor Dayton Allen Dayton Allen (born ...

, had some limited success as a voice actor, often appearing in supporting roles alongside Allen. He grew up in

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of t ...

, where he graduated from A.B. Davis High School in June 1936. One of his school friends was Art Carney.

Career

Allen, like Carney, began his career in radio. In 1937–1938

WINS (AM) WINS (1010 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial AM radio, AM radio station licensed to New York City, New York, New York, owned by Audacy, Inc. It features an All-news radio, all-news format known as 1010 WINS, with the call sign Phonetics, phoneti ...

hired him as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

. He was the voice of various New York-based children's television show characters, appearing on ''

Winky Dink and You ''Winky Dink and You'' was a CBS children's television show that aired from 1953 to 1957, on Saturday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Eastern / 9:30 Central. It was hosted by Jack Barry and featured the exploits of a cartoon character named Winky Di ...

'' as Mr. Bungle for five years, and playing "Phineas T. Bluster", "Flub-a-Dub", and various other puppet characters on '' Howdy Doody'' (as well as several "live" characters, including Ugly Sam and Pierre the Chef) for 4 years. Dayton was also the voice of Deputy Dawg, Heckle and Jeckle, Luno, and many early 1960s

Terrytoons Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in name only). Terrytoons was founded by ...

cartoon characters. Allen also provided the voice of

Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp ''Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp'' is an American action/adventure comedy series that originally aired Saturday mornings on ABC from September 12, 1970 to January 2, 1971 and rebroadcast the following season. The live-action film series featured a ...

. He continued to be a voiceover performer through the 1990s. He was best known as the "Why Not?" man when he joined the cast of the NBC Sunday night variety show that Allen began hosting to compete against Ed Sullivan on CBS. The catchphrase began as a stalling ad-lib to an interview question; then it caught on. Allen used it for television commercials and saw novelty toys, a book, and a record spin-off from the "Why not?" phenomenon. In its day, fans were shouting "Why not?" as often as ''

Mad Magazine Mad, mad, or MAD may refer to: Geography * Mad (village), a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia * Mád, a village in Hungary * Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, by IATA airport code * Mad River (disambiguation), several r ...

s famous "What? Me Worry?" His brother,

, was also a voice actor best known as the voice of Chumley (Tennessee Tuxedo's walrus sidekick) on ''

Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales ''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' is an animated television series that originally aired Saturday mornings on CBS from 1963 to 1966 as one of the earliest Saturday morning cartoons. It was produced by Total Television, the same company that prod ...

'', and the syndicated version of ''

The Underdog Show ''The Underdog Show'' was a six-week television series presented by Julian Clary and his dog, Valerie. The series was produced by the independent production company Splash Medi Format The show on BBC2 featured celebrities Julia Sawalha, Anton du ...

''. Allen's talents as a mimic were showcased in October 1963 when he appeared alongside

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

on the CBS-TV game show ''

I've Got A Secret ''I've Got a Secret'' is an American panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show, ''What's My Line ...

''. The show’s panelists had been blindfolded, and all their questions to Groucho were answered instead by Allen doing an accurate Groucho impersonation. Finally, with panelists Bess Myerson, Betsy Palmer,

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming wea ...

, and

Bill Cullen William Lawrence Francis Cullen (February 18, 1920 – July 7, 1990) was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades. His biggest claim to fame was as a game show host; over the course of his career, he host ...

all stumped, the secret was revealed. A classic example of Allen's humor comes from an August 1968 appearance on ''The Steve Allen Show'', syndicated nationally in the US by Filmways: "Did you know your mind alone can make you smart?" After his show business career ended, Allen was a real estate agent, operating out of an office in

Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2019, its population rose to an estimated 11,027. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a p ...

. He died of complications from a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

References

External links

*
Dayton Allen profile
archive.org
Dayton Allen remembered
m newsfromme.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Dayton 1919 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male comedians American male voice actors American male radio actors Male actors from New York City Comedians from New York City People from Dobbs Ferry, New York Businesspeople from New York City 20th-century American comedians Terrytoons people 20th-century American businesspeople