Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (1949), the title character in Peter Pan (1954), and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1959). She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. She was the mother of actor Larry Hagman.
Benjamin Kubelsky, known professionally as Jack Benny, was an American entertainer, who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with a highly popular comedic career in radio, television, and film. He was known for his comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated summation "Well! "
John Florence Sullivan, known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist, topically pointed radio program The Fred Allen Show (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the Golden Age of American radio.
The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and television careers, a caricature of himself as a minimally talented musician and penny pincher who was the butt of all the jokes.
Beatrice Benaderet was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that spanned over three decades. Benaderet first specialized in voice-over work in the golden age of radio, appearing on numerous programs while working with comedians of the era such as Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, and Lucille Ball. Her expertise in dialect and characterization led to her becoming Warner Bros.' leading voice of female characters in their animated cartoons of the early 1940s through the mid-1950s.
Kenneth Laurence Baker was an American singer and actor who first gained notice as the featured singer on radio's The Jack Benny Program during the 1930s.
The Great Lie is a 1941 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding, and starring Bette Davis, George Brent and Mary Astor. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee is based on the novel January Heights by Polan Banks.
Dennis Day was an American singer, radio, television, and film personality, and comedian. He was of Irish descent.
Our Hospitality is a 1923 American silent comedy film directed by Buster Keaton and John G. Blystone. Starring Keaton, Joe Roberts, and Natalie Talmadge and distributed by Metro Pictures Corporation, it uses slapstick and situational comedy to tell the story of Willie McKay, caught in the middle of the infamous "Canfield–McKay" feud, an obvious satire of the real-life Hatfield–McCoy feud.
Edmund Lincoln Anderson was an American comedian and actor. To a generation of early radio and television comedy he was known as "Rochester".
It's in the Bag! is a 1945 comedy film featuring Fred Allen in his only starring film role. The film was released by United Artists at a time when Allen was at the peak of his fame as one of the most popular radio comedians. The film has been preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Sara Berner was an American actress. Known for her expertise in dialect and characterization, she began her show-business career in vaudeville before becoming a voice actress for radio and animated shorts. She starred in her own radio show on NBC, Sara's Private Caper, and was best known as telephone operator Mabel Flapsaddle on The Jack Benny Program.
June Moon is a play by George S. Kaufman and Ring Lardner. Based on the Lardner short story "Some Like Them Cold," about a love affair that loses steam before it ever gets started, it includes songs with words and music by Lardner but is not considered a musical.
The Mouse That Jack Built is a 1959 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodie cartoon short starring Jack Benny and the regular cast of The Jack Benny Program as mice. The short, released on April 4, 1959, was written by Tedd Pierce and directed by Robert McKimson.
Buck Benny Rides Again is a 1940 American Western comedy film from Paramount Pictures starring Jack Benny and Ellen Drew. The film featured regulars from Benny's radio show including Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Andy Devine, Phil Harris, and Dennis Day. It also included a debut film appearance for radio star Lillian Cornell. The film was directed and produced by Mark Sandrich and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Theresa Harris was an American television and film actress, singer and dancer.
The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos is a 1937 Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. The short was released on December 4, 1937.
The Fred Allen Show is a long-running American radio comedy program starring comedian Fred Allen and his wife Portland Hoffa. Over the course of the program's 17-year run, it was sponsored by Linit Bath Soaps, Hellmann's, Ipana, Sal Hepatica, Texaco and Tenderleaf Tea. The program ended in 1949 under the sponsorship of the Ford Motor Company.
Malibu Beach Party is a 1940 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on September 14, 1940.
Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio Comedy is a 2017 book that documents the pre-television years of American comedian Jack Benny, when he crafted his fictional alter ego, and built a supporting cast of characters and running gags that segued to his later career in television. Author Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley is a professor and graduate advisor at the University of Texas Moody College of Communication in Austin, specializing in Media Studies.
