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Dick Martin
Thomas Richard Martin (January 30, 1922 – May 24, 2008) was an American comedian and director. He was known for his role as the co-host (and comic foil of Dan Rowan) of the sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1973. Early life and career Martin was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, to William, a salesman, and Ethel Martin, a homemaker. In the early 1930s, the family moved to Detroit, where his teenage years included a bout with tuberculosis, which kept him out of the military. Early in his career, Martin was a staff writer for ''Duffy's Tavern'', a radio situation comedy. He and Dan Rowan formed the comedy team Rowan and Martin in 1952 and played in nightclubs throughout the United States and overseas. Martin played a drunk heckling a Shakespearean performer, a mainstay of their act for years. They could frequently be seen as host-performers on NBC's ''Colgate Comedy Hour,'' alternating with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and other more established ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in northwestern Calhoun County, Michigan, United States, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 52,731. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Calhoun County. Nicknamed "Cereal City", it is best known as the home of WK Kellogg Co and the founding city of Post Consumer Brands. In Battle Creek, the Kellogg brothers invented the first cereal by accident in an attempt to make granola. Toponym One local legend says Battle Creek was named after an encounter between a Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory, federal government land survey party led by Colonel John Mullett and two Potawatomi in March 1824. The two Potawatomi had approached the camp asking for food because they were hungry as the United States Army, U.S. Army was late delivering supplies promise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Torre
Marie Torre (born Torregrossa; June 17, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – January 3, 1997) was a television personality who appeared on KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1962 to 1977. She was the station's first woman anchor and one of the first female anchors in the United States. She showed great versatility, easily moving from covering hard news stories, including the kidnapping of Peggy Ann Bradnick at Shade Gap, Pennsylvania, in May 1966, to interviewing such notables and newsmakers as President Lyndon B. Johnson and Coretta Scott King. Career Torre hosted a daily interview talk show, ''Contact'', later renamed ''The Marie Torre Show'', as well as public affairs programming on KDKA-TV. She served as the station's entertainment critic, including everything from motion pictures to live theatre productions, such as the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. Earlier in her career, she gained some notoriety when, as a reporter for the ''New York Herald Tribune'', she refused to name the sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Ann Buzzi ( ; July 24, 1936 – May 1, 2025) was an American actress and comedian. She appeared on stage, in films, and on television. She was best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1973, for which she won a Golden Globe Award and received five Emmy nominations. Early life Buzzi was born July 24, 1936, in Westerly, Rhode Island, the daughter of Rena Pauline and Angelo Peter Buzzi, a nationally recognized stone sculptor. Her father, who came from a Swiss family, immigrated from Arzo, Switzerland, in 1923. She was raised in the village of Wequetequock in the town of Stonington, Connecticut, in a stone house overlooking the ocean at Wequetequock Cove, where her father owned Buzzi Memorials, a business that her older brother Harold operated until his retirement in 2013. Buzzi attended Stonington High School, where she was head cheerleader. At age 18, she moved across the country to enroll at the Pasadena Playhous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arte Johnson
Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American actor and comedian who was best known for his work as a regular on television's ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Biography Early life Johnson was born January 20, 1929, in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the son of Abraham Lincoln and Edythe Mackenzie (Goldberg/Golden) Johnson. His father was an attorney. Johnson graduated from Austin High School and received a bachelor's degree in radio journalism from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1949, where he worked at the campus radio station and the University of Illinois Theater Guild with his brother Coslough "Cos" Johnson. Following brief military service in Korea (he was discharged due to a duodenal ulcer he had suffered since childhood), [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. Tomlin started her career in stand-up comedy and sketch comedy before transitioning her career to acting across stage and screen. In a career spanning over fifty years, Tomlin has received numerous accolades, including seven Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, two Tony Awards, and a nomination for an Academy Award. She was also awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2017. Tomlin started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the variety show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1969 until 1973. Her signature role, which was written by her then-partner (now wife) Jane Wagner, was in the show '' The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe'', which opened on Broadway in 1985 and earned Tomlin the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, producer, dancer, and singer. She achieved stardom and acclaim for playing lighthearted comedic roles in film and television. In a career spanning six decades, she has received several awards including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970). She made her screen debut in a minor role the western comedy '' The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band'' (1968), before going on to receive the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for her comedic role in '' Cactus Flower'' (1969). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, playing a woman who enlists for the army in the comedy '' Private Benjamin'' (1980). Hawn has also starred in such comedy films as '' Ther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackout Gag
A blackout gag is a kind of joke in broad, rapid-fire slapstick comedy. The term is derived from burlesque and vaudeville, when the lights were quickly turned off after the punchline of a joke to accentuate it and encourage audience laughter. It may use a shock value to define the joke, and may not be initially noticeable to all viewers if it is a very fast joke. "A blackout gag and a moment's silence provide the transition to the next scene" It is distinguished from an iris shot, frequently used in the silent film era, where a black circle closes to end a scene. The term blackout gag can also apply to fast-paced television or film comedy, such as ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for six seasons from January 22, 1968, to July 23, 1973, on the NBC television network. The show, hosted by comed ...'', where there may not literally be a blackout, but a q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Schlatter
George Schlatter (born December 31, 1929) is an American television producer and Television director, director, best known for ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'', founder of the American Comedy Awards, and author of ''Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy'' (Unnamed Press 2023). For his work on television, Schlatter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Blvd. Life and career Schlatter was born on December 31, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised in Webster Groves, Missouri, a St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis inner-ring suburb. His father, George Schlatter, was a salesman, and his mother, Miriam Hoover, was a violinist. Schlatter is a Christian, although he is often described as Jewish. His father was a Presbyterianism, Presbyterian of German descent, and his mother was a Christian Science, Christian Scientist. As a teenager, Schlatter sang for two seasons with the St. Louis Municipal Opera, where his mother also performed. He attended Pepperdine University in Los A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Friendly
Edwin "Ed" Samson Friendly Jr. (April 8, 1922 – June 17, 2007) was an American television producer. He was responsible for creating the television programs ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'', ''Little House on the Prairie'', and ''Backstairs at the White House''. Born in New York City, Ed Friendly served with the United States Army in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. After the war, he worked at the advertising agency of Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn. He began his television career in 1949, working for ABC as director of sales before moving to CBS as a contract producer and then, in 1959, to NBC as vice president of special programs. Friendly moved to California in 1967 and formed his own production company, Ed Friendly Productions, Inc. He received the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1975 for ''Little House on the Prairie'' and in 1978 for '' Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion'', an adaptation of the 1972 child ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syd Cassyd
Sydney Cassyd (December 28, 1908 – February 4, 2000) was the founder of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1946. Biography Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, Cassyd worked for the Army Signal Corps as a film editor under then-Col. Frank Capra during World War II. After the war, Cassyd moved to Hollywood, where he worked as an editor for ''Box Office'' magazine, as well as a grip at Paramount Pictures. It was at Paramount that he met and teamed up with TV groundbreaker Klaus Landsberg, known for, among other things, pioneering live TV news coverage. Cassyd and Landsberg worked on an experimental Los Angeles television station that would eventually become KTLA-TV Channel 5. While at KTLA, Cassyd felt that TV needed an organization in which people could share their ideas about the fledgling medium and talk about the future of the industry. He founded the academy with seven people who came to the first meeting. By the fifth meeting, there were 250 members. Cassyd founded the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Glass Bottom Boat
''The Glass Bottom Boat'' is a 1966 American romantic spy comedy film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Doris Day, Rod Taylor, and Arthur Godfrey, with John McGiver, Paul Lynde, Edward Andrews, Eric Fleming, Dom DeLuise, and Dick Martin. It is also known as ''The Spy in Lace Panties''. Plot Axel Nordstrom manages a glass-bottom boat tourist operation on Santa Catalina Island, California. His widowed daughter, Jennifer Nelson, helps by donning a mermaid costume and swimming underneath his boat for the passengers' amusement. Jennifer meets Bruce Templeton when his fishing hook accidentally snags her costume. He reels in the bottom half, leaving Jennifer floating in the water bottomless. She later has a run-in with Bruce at her new place of employment, an aerospace research company in Long Beach, where she works in public relations. Bruce's company created GISMO, a gravitation control device which the U.S. Air Force plans to put into orbit in weeks and whose secret fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey (song), Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" with Les Brown (bandleader), Les Brown and His Band of Renown. She left Brown to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967. Day was one of the leading Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film stars of the 1950s and 1960s. Her film career began with ''Romance on the High Seas'' (1948). She starred in films of many genres, including musicals, comedies, dramas and thrillers. She played the title role in ''Calamity Jane (film), Calamity Jane'' (1953) and starred in Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film), The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956) with James Stewart. She co-starred with Rock Hudson in three successful com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
