Download or read book Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio Comedy written by Kathryn Fuller-Seeley and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Jack Benny became one of the most influential entertainers of the 20th century--by being the top radio comedian, when the comics ruled radio, and radio was the most powerful and pervasive mass medium in the US. In 23 years of weekly radio broadcasts, by aiming all the insults at himself, Benny created Jack, the self-deprecating "Fall Guy" character. He indelibly shaped American humor as a space to enjoy the equal opportunities of easy camaraderie with his cast mates, and equal ego deflation. Benny was the master of comic timing, knowing just when to use silence to create suspense or to have a character leap into the dialogue to puncture Jack's pretentions. Jack Benny was also a canny entrepreneur, becoming one of the pioneering "showrunners" combining producer, writer and performer into one job. His modern style of radio humor eschewed stale jokes in favor informal repartee with comic hecklers like his valet Rochester (played by Eddie Anderson) and Mary Livingstone his offstage wife. These quirky characters bouncing off each other in humorous situations created the situation comedy. In this career study, we learn how Jack Benny found ingenious ways to sell his sponsors' products in comic commercials beloved by listeners, and how he dealt with the challenges of race relations, rigid gender ideals and an insurgent new media industry (TV). Jack Benny created classic comedy for a rapidly changing American culture, providing laughter that buoyed radio listeners from 1932's depths of the Great Depression, through World War II to the mid-1950s"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio Comedy written by Kathryn Fuller-Seeley and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Jack Benny became one of the most influential entertainers of the 20th century--by being the top radio comedian, when the comics ruled radio, and radio was the most powerful and pervasive mass medium in the US. In 23 years of weekly radio broadcasts, by aiming all the insults at himself, Benny created Jack, the self-deprecating "Fall Guy" character. He indelibly shaped American humor as a space to enjoy the equal opportunities of easy camaraderie with his cast mates, and equal ego deflation. Benny was the master of comic timing, knowing just when to use silence to create suspense or to have a character leap into the dialogue to puncture Jack's pretentions. Jack Benny was also a canny entrepreneur, becoming one of the pioneering "showrunners" combining producer, writer and performer into one job. His modern style of radio humor eschewed stale jokes in favor informal repartee with comic hecklers like his valet Rochester (played by Eddie Anderson) and Mary Livingstone his offstage wife. These quirky characters bouncing off each other in humorous situations created the situation comedy. In this career study, we learn how Jack Benny found ingenious ways to sell his sponsors' products in comic commercials beloved by listeners, and how he dealt with the challenges of race relations, rigid gender ideals and an insurgent new media industry (TV). Jack Benny created classic comedy for a rapidly changing American culture, providing laughter that buoyed radio listeners from 1932's depths of the Great Depression, through World War II to the mid-1950s"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Treadmill to Oblivion written by Fred Allen and published by Ravenio Books. This book was released on 2016-10-21 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the spring of 1932, I had finished a two-year run in Threes A Crowd, a musical revue in which I appeared with Clifton Webb and Libby Holman. The following September I was to go into a new show. I had no contract; merely the producers promise. When I returned to New York to start rehearsals, I discovered that there was to be no show. It had been a hot summer. Many people hadn’t been able to keep things. One of the things the producer hadn’t been able to keep was his promise. With the advance of refrigeration, I hope that along with the frozen foods someday we will have frozen conversation. A person will be able to keep a frozen promise indefinitely. This will be a boon to show business where more chorus girls are kept than promises. With no immediate plans for the theater, I began to wonder about radio. Many of the big-name comedians were appearing on regular programs. In the theater the actor had uncertainty, broken promises, constant travel and a gypsy existence. In radio, if you were successful, there was an assured season of work. The show could not close if there was nobody in the balcony. There was no travel and the actor could enjoy a permanent home. There may have been other advantages but I didn’t need to know them. The pioneer comedians on radio were Amos and Andy, Ray Knight and his Cuckoo Hour, the Gold Dust Twins, Stoopnagle and Budd and the Tasty Yeast Jesters. With the exception of Amos and Andy, who had been playing smalltime vaudeville theaters under the name of Sam and Henry, the others were trained and developed in radio. All of these artists performed their comedy routines in studios without audiences. Their entertainment was planned for the listener at home. In the early 1930’s when the Broadway comedians descended on radio, things went from hush to raucous. The theater buffoon had no conception of the medium and no time to study its requirements. The Broadway slogan was “Its dough—lets go!” Eddie Cantor, Jack Pearl, Ed Wynn, Joe Penner and others were radio sensations. They brought their audiences into the studios, used their theater techniques and their old vaudeville jokes, and laughter, rehearsed or spontaneous, started exploding between the commercials. The cause of this merriment was not always clear. The bewildered set owner in Galesburg, Illinois, suddenly realized that he no longer had to be able to understand radio comedy. As he sat in his Galesburg living room he knew that he had proxy audiences sitting in radio studios in New York, Chicago and Hollywood watching the comedians, laughing and shrieking “Vass you dere, Charlie” and “Wanna buy a duck” for him.
Download or read book A Companion to the History of American Broadcasting written by Aniko Bodroghkozy and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presented in a single volume, this engaging review reflects on the scholarship and the historical development of American broadcasting A Companion to the History of American Broadcasting comprehensively evaluates the vibrant history of American radio and television and reveals broadcasting’s influence on American history in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. With contributions from leading scholars on the topic, this wide-ranging anthology explores the impact of broadcasting on American culture, politics, and society from an historical perspective as well as the effect on our economic and social structures. The text’s original and accessibly-written essays offer explorations on a wealth of topics including the production of broadcast media, the evolution of various television and radio genres, the development of the broadcast ratings system, the rise of Spanish language broadcasting in the United States, broadcast activism, African Americans and broadcasting, 1950’s television, and much more. This essential resource: Presents a scholarly overview of the history of radio and television broadcasting and its influence on contemporary American history Contains original essays from leading academics in the field Examines the role of radio in the television era Discusses the evolution of regulations in radio and television Offers insight into the cultural influence of radio and television Analyzes canonical texts that helped shape the field Written for students and scholars of media studies and twentieth-century history, A Companion to the History of American Broadcasting is an essential and field-defining guide to the history and historiography of American broadcasting and its many cultural, societal, and political impacts.
Download or read book Radio Voices written by Michele Hilmes and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at the history of radio broadcasting as an aspect of American culture, and discusses social tensions, radio formats, and the roles of African Americans and women
Download or read book Star Attractions written by Tamar Jeffers McDonald and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2019-12-15 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During Hollywood’s “classic era,” from the 1920s to 1950s, roughly twenty major fan magazines were offered each month at American newsstands and abroad. These publications famously fed fan obsessions with celebrities such as Mae West and Elvis Presley. Film studies scholars often regard these magazines with suspicion; perhaps due to their reputation for purveying scandal and gossip, their frequent mingling of gushing tone, and blatant falsehood. Looking at these magazines with fresh regarding eyes and treating them as primary sources, the contributors of this collection provide unique insights into contemporary assumptions about the relationship between fan and star, performer and viewer. In doing so, they reveal the magazines to be a huge and largely untapped resource on a wealth of subjects, including gender roles, appearance and behavior, and national identity. Contributors: Emily Chow-Kambitsch, Alissa Clarke, Jonathan Driskell, Lucy Fischer, Ann-Marie Fleming, Oana-Maria Mazilu, Adrienne L. McLean, Sarah Polley, Geneviève Sellier, Michael Williams
Download or read book Hollywood in the Neighborhood written by Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008-03-04 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hollywood in the Neighborhood presents a vivid new picture of how movies entered the American heartland—the thousands of smaller cities, towns, and villages far from the East and West Coast film centers. Using a broad range of research sources, essays from scholars including Richard Abel, Robert Allen, Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, Terry Lindvall, and Greg Waller examine in detail the social and cultural changes this new form of entertainment brought to towns from Gastonia, North Carolina to Placerville, California, and from Norfolk, Virginia to rural Ontario and beyond. Emphasizing the roles of local exhibitors, neighborhood audiences, regional cultures, and the growing national mass media, their essays chart how motion pictures so quickly and successfully moved into old opera houses and glittering new picture palaces on Main Streets across America.
Download or read book That s Not All Folks written by Mel Blanc and published by Grand Central Pub. This book was released on 1989-11-01 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The legendary cartoon and radio voice man offers a behind-the-scenes chronicl of his many-voiced career, detailing his creation of world-famous voices and his work with the best-loved cartoon characters and radio personalities.
Download or read book Tuning In The Great Gildersleeve written by Clair Schulz and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve bade farewell to Fibber McGee and Molly and left Wistful Vista on a train in 1941, no one could have predicted that he would be riding the airwaves with his own new show until 1957. But when one listens to episodes of radio's first spinoff, it becomes clear the The Great Gildersleeve succeeded because its likable and amusing characters were appealingly fallible, much like the folks each of us knew in our hometowns. This book is a guide to more than 500 episodes of The Great Gildersleeve that are in circulation and also to the scripts of 46 episodes for which no recordings exist. Background on the development of the program is included, and the appendices include a list of episodes as well as information about cast members, notable occurrences on the program, ratings, and the films and TV series.
Download or read book Theater of the Mind written by Neil Verma and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-06-29 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For generations, fans and critics have characterized classic American radio drama as a “theater of the mind.” This book unpacks that characterization by recasting the radio play as an aesthetic object within its unique historical context. In Theater of the Mind, Neil Verma applies an array of critical methods to more than six thousand recordings to produce a vivid new account of radio drama from the Depression to the Cold War. In this sweeping exploration of dramatic conventions, Verma investigates legendary dramas by the likes of Norman Corwin, Lucille Fletcher, and Wyllis Cooper on key programs ranging from The Columbia Workshop, The Mercury Theater on the Air, and Cavalcade of America to Lights Out!, Suspense, and Dragnet to reveal how these programs promoted and evolved a series of models of the imagination. With close readings of individual sound effects and charts of broad trends among formats, Verma not only gives us a new account of the most flourishing form of genre fiction in the mid-twentieth century but also presents a powerful case for the central place of the aesthetics of sound in the history of modern experience.
Download or read book Children and the Movies written by Garth Jowett and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-26 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Children and the Movies: Media Influence and the Payne Fund Controversy analyzes the first and most comprehensive study of the influence of movies on American youth, the Payne Fund Studies. First published in 1933, these studies are intrinsically important for their insights and conclusions regarding the effects of movies on behaviour. They are, moreover, also an important landmark of modern social science research, demonstrating the rapid evolution of this discipline in American academic institutions over the first three decades of the century.
Download or read book Satchmo at the Waldorf written by Terry Teachout and published by Dramatists Play Service, Inc.. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE STORY: SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF is a one-man, three-character play in which the same actor portrays Louis Armstrong, the greatest of all jazz trumpeters; Joe Glaser, his white manager; and Miles Davis, who admired Armstrong's playing but disliked his onstage manner. It takes place in 1971 in a dressing room backstage at the Empire Room of New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where Armstrong performed in public for the last time four months before his death. Reminiscing into a tape recorder about his life and work, Armstrong seeks to come to terms with his longstanding relationship with Glaser, whom he once loved like a father but now believes to have betrayed him. In alternating scenes, Glaser defends his controversial decision to promote Armstrong's career (with the help of the Chicago mob) by encouraging him to simplify his musical style, while Davis attacks Armstrong for pandering to white audiences.
Download or read book Cartoon Vision written by Dan Bashara and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Cartoon Vision Dan Bashara examines American animation alongside the modern design boom of the postwar era. Focusing especially on United Productions of America (UPA), a studio whose graphic, abstract style defined the postwar period, Bashara considers animation akin to a laboratory, exploring new models of vision and space alongside theorists and practitioners in other fields. The links—theoretical, historical, and aesthetic—between animators, architects, designers, artists, and filmmakers reveal a specific midcentury modernism that rigorously reimagined the senses. Cartoon Vision invokes the American Bauhaus legacy of László Moholy-Nagy and György Kepes and advocates for animation’s pivotal role in a utopian design project of retraining the public’s vision to better apprehend a rapidly changing modern world.
Download or read book The Top 100 Classic Radio Shows written by Carl Amari and published by Portable Press. This book was released on 2017-11-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revisit radio's golden age with this classic compilation! A compendium of the top radio shows from the golden age of Hollywood. This book is chock-full of fascinating facts and behind-the-scenes information about the best shows from every era including the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Organized into six categories, you'll learn tantalizing tidbits about the shows and talent who made them famous. Includes comedies, westerns, dramas, variety shows, mysteries and suspense, sci-fi and superheroes. Settle into your easy chair and get ready to revisit the golden oldies, including The Roy Rogers Show, The War of the Worlds, The Bob Hope Show, The Shadow, and much more. Includes three audio CDs featuring one radio show from each genre, plus many more shows available to download. Audio CD run times: CD1: 58:26 CD2: 59:05 CD3: 54:22 Total: 2:51:53
Download or read book Make Em Laugh written by Michael Kantor and published by Twelve. This book was released on 2008-12-02 with total page 713 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the most popular routines and the most ingenious physical shtick to the snappiest wisecracks and the most biting satire of the last century, Make 'Em Laugh illuminates who we are as a nation by exploring what makes us laugh, and why. Authors Laurence Maslon and Michael Kantor draw on countless sources to chronicle the past century of American comedy and the geniuses who created and performed it-melding biography, American history, and a lotta laughs into an exuberant, important book. Each of the six chapters focuses a different style or archetype of comedy, from the slapstick pratfalls of Buster Keaton and Lucille Ball through the wiseguy put-downs of Groucho Marx and Larry David, to the incendiary bombshells of Mae West and Richard Pryor . And at every turn the significance of these comedians-smashing social boundaries, challenging the definition of good taste, speaking the truth to the powerful-is vividly tangible. Make 'Em Laugh is more than a compendium of American comic genius; it is a window onto the way comedy both reflects the world and changes it-one laugh at a time. Starting from the groundbreaking PBS series, the authors have gone deeper into the works and lives of America's great comic artists, with biographical portraits, archival materials, cultural overviews, and rare photos. Brilliantly illustrated, with insights (and jokes) from comedians, writers and producers, along with film, radio, television, and theater historians, Make 'Em Laugh is an indispensible, definitive book about comedy in America.
Download or read book Soupy Sales and the Detroit Experience written by Francis Shor and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Soupy Sales left Detroit in 1960 after seven years on WXYZ TV, he was the highest-paid local television personality and one of the most well-known and loved celebrities in town. His daytime television programs in the early morning and noontime had an enormous and devoted following. The latter, Lunch with Soupy Sales, was nationally syndicated on ABC on Saturday, starting in the fall of 1959. His late evening program, Soupyâ (TM)s On, featured everything from renowned jazz artists to pop singers to satirical skits. While he would achieve more celebrity status in Los Angeles and New York during the 1960s, the template for the puppet characters, comedy routines, and zany sketches had been set in Detroit. This study of the content and context of Soupyâ (TM)s time on WXYZ TV provides important insights into key threads of popular culture in the 1950s, including the role of television and its impact on the family and children, the influence of Cold War and consumerist ideology, Jewish-inflected humor, and jazz, especially as a component of the Detroit socio-cultural history in this period. All of these seemingly disparate topics, however, lead back to identifying the manufacturing of a television personality at a particular moment in time and in a specific location. Beyond the network of Soupy fans, anyone interested in how a television personality achieves local and national prominence should consider reading this book. Also, those who want to understand the role of the media and popular culture in the 1950s will be enlightened, and even entertained, by this exploration of Soupy Salesâ (TM) Detroit experience.
Download or read book Eddie Green The Rise of an Early 1900s Black American Entertainment Pioneer written by Elva Diane Green and published by BearManor Media. This book was released on 2016-07-19 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A good man is hard to find, as the famous 1919 song by Eddie Green attests, but the pioneering Black filmmaker, movie star, Old Time Radio icon, and composer established himself as the living portrait of all that is admirable. His legacy now inspires a whole new generation. In an era when Black entertainers struggled to gain a foothold in show business, Eddie Green rivaled Oscar Micheaux for honors as a pioneering Black filmmaker. Audiences from The Apollo to Broadway propelled Eddie into two of America's most popular long-running radio series. From poverty to prominence, he accomplished more than most people could dream. Discover Eddie's rags-to-riches story as told by his daughter. Her years of research have unearthed long-buried revelations and enlightening images that testify to one man's determination to rise above all obstacles and triumph against all odds through five decades from Vaudeville to television and then into the stuff of legends. The sands of time may have buried his name, but Eddie Green's laughter still echoes around the world. Thanks to this first-ever biography, a good man is no longer hard to find. Illustrated. Appendices include songs written by Eddie Green; the radio programs and movies in which he appeared; the movies he wrote, produced, and directed; rare script excerpts.
