We’re all familiar with the timeless movie classic Casablanca (1943), and its unforgettable theme song As Time Goes By, crooned by Dooley Wilson (who portrayed the piano-playing “Sam” in the film) ...
Happy Birthday, Nelson Eddy!(Post)When asked one time why he refused to watch any of the nineteen motion pictures he appeared in between 1933 and 1947, the man born Nelson Ackerman Eddy on this date in 1901 was refreshingly honest: ...
Happy Birthday, Benita Hume!(Post)When Jack Benny and his writers concocted the script that would introduce actor Ronald Colman as Jack’s “next door neighbor” on The Jack Benny Program, the writers’ first inclination was to hire a ...
Happy Birthday, Joan Alexander!(Post)In 1938, aspiring actress Joan Alexander found herself in Vienna after a lengthy tour of major cities in North America, Latin America, and Europe while studying her craft. The former model was und ...
Happy Birthday, Ralph Bell!(Post)It would be no exaggeration to state that the actor born Ralph Scognamiglio in New Jersey (though sources also state his place of birth as New York City) on this date in 1915 had a lifelong love a ...
Happy Birthday, Harold Peary!(Post)Fans of old-time radio might get a kick out of watching an old Perry Mason rerun, “The Case of the Lover’s Gamble,” which turns up on Me-TV every now and then. At the risk of spoiling the ending, t ...
Happy Birthday, Jean Vander Pyl!(Post)Universal Pictures brought a live-action version of the classic TV cartoon series The Flintstones to the big screen in 1994 and had the novel idea of casting Jean Vander Pyl (the actress who voice ...
Happy Birthday, Danny Thomas!(Post)Danny Thomas was an entertainer struggling to make it big in show business. He often had difficulty securing gigs, and the news that there was a baby on the way in the Thomas household didn’t make ...
Happy Birthday, Barbara Eiler!(Post)You’re familiar with the old cliché: a young girl leaves her hometown and heads for Hollywood, determined to become an actress…nay, not just an actress—a star! All that needs to be done is to han ...
Happy Birthday, Irene Dunne!(Post)Irene Dunne is acknowledged by many classic movie fans to be the greatest actress who never won an Academy Award. It wasn’t for a lack of trying: she was nominated five times—for Cimarron (1931), ...
Happy Birthday, Mary Lansing!(Post)“The Big Easy” (New Orleans, Louisiana) welcomed actress Mary Lansing on this date in 1911. From 1933 until 1970, Lansing was the wife of fellow thespian Frank Nelson, whom she met while the two o ...
Happy Birthday, Harriet Hilliard!(Post)If actress-singer Harriet Hilliard—born on this date in 1909—had kept her birth name of Peggy Louise Snyder…do you think anyone would have been comfortable referring to her long-running radio and ...
Happy Birthday, Howard McNear!(Post)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 garrulo ...
Happy Birthday, William Bendix!(Post)In movies, television—and especially on radio—actor William Bendix frequently played a typical blue-collar working stiff. Take his most famous role, Chester A. Riley, of the successful radio/TV s ...
Happy Birthday, Jack Benny!(Post)It’s Valentine’s Day! Time for the traditional exchange of cards, candy, flowers, and other affectionate gifts with our loved ones! If you listen closely, you can hear the sounds of cash registers ...
Happy Birthday, Irving Brecher!(Post)The only scriptwriter to receive sole credit on two of the Marx Brothers’ classic feature film comedies was Irving Brecher, born in the Bronx on this date in 1914. An impressive achievement, to b ...