Today’s birthday girl was born Sadye Marks 109 years ago on this date in Seattle, Washington—the daughter of newly arrived Jewish immigrants from Romania. Much of her childhood, however, was spent in Vancouver, British Columbia. At a Passover seder, fourteen-year-old Sadye was introduced to a popular vaudeville entertainer who was born Benjamin Kubelsky…but was just […]

Aspiring songwriter Harry Miller (Jack Oakie) is long on ambition…and short on talent.  With his piano-playing partner Teddy Jordan (Milton Berle), Harry is barely making the rent on the apartment they share in NYC—their main source of income derives from the mail-order songwriting “lessons” they send to Van Buren, Arkansas native Lester Robin (Bob Burns) […]

The man born Hans Georg Conried, Jr. on this date ninety-seven years ago in Baltimore, Maryland is described by author Leonard Maltin in his book The Great American Broadcast as “one of the most prolific performers in the medium,” demonstrating a proficiency for “a dazzling range of dialects” and taking on “both serious and comic […]

Effervescent chanteuse Sally Baker (Frances Langford) is a success at a nightclub owned by racketeer Lucky Maddox (Sheldon Leonard)—but when Maddox’s attentions start to drift towards a more amorous direction, she decides to go west, young man, go west.  She’s received communication from an agent named Phil Merwin (Ray Walker) that he’ll be able to […]

Character great Jack Joseph Kruschen was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on this date in 1922.  A dues-paying member of the “Hey!  It’s That Guy!” show business fraternity, you’ve seen Jack in scores of films and TV shows.  Modern audiences remember him fondly as George “Papa” Papadopoulos, Sr. from the popular family sitcom Webster, which starred […]

In the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina—as seen on the popular situation comedy The Andy Griffith Show—the locus of the town’s goings-on was usually the humble barber shop run by garrulous Floyd Lawson.  Floyd, a fey, gentle soul who looked at the world around him with a sense of awe and bewilderment, would become […]

He’s acknowledged by many to have been one of the finest straight men in comedy—if not the finest.  This, however, does George Burns a disservice.  The man born on this date in 1896 immodestly attributed the success of his hit comedy teaming with wife Gracie Allen to Gracie herself…but at the height of their popularity, […]

When radio actress Cathy Lewis—born on this date in Spokane, Washington in 1916—married actor-director-producer Elliott Lewis (who would later become known as “Mr. Radio”) in 1943, she didn’t even have to take her husband’s surname.  That’s because Cathy Lewis was actually born “Cathy Lewis,” and their union (making them “Mr. and Mrs. Radio”) would bear […]