This Day in Humor with Mike Durrett


Born 1904: Ray Bolger, song and dance man, who went from Vaudeville to movies, Broadway, and television. His signature successes were the crossdressing comedy "Where's Charley" onstage and the 1952 film adaptation, plus a little movie called "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), where he danced into the world's heart as the Scarecrow. Died 1987.

1932: "Mickey Mouse" and "Silly Symphony" jumped from movie screens to newspapers via syndicated comic strips.

Born 1948: William Sanderson, character actor, spent 1982-90 as a regular on the "Newhart" sitcom, often repeating one of the great comedy catchphrases of all time: "Hi, I'm Larry. This is my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl."

1949: CBS transitions "The Goldbergs" to television, airing until 1955. (Note: Some sources give 01/17/49 as the premiere date.) "'The Goldbergs' followed the adventures of Molly Goldberg, her husband Jake, and their family through life's everyday problems. Gertrude Berg both wrote the scripts and portrayed Molly in the productions," reveals TV Party. "On network radio, 'The Goldbergs' had a phenomenal 17-year run starting in 1930, second only to 'Amos and Andy' as the longest-running program of radio's golden years. A Broadway play and comic strip were also spun-off from the show."

Born 1949: Teresa Graves, actress, showed her comic flair as a regular on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" during 1969-70. Died 2002.

Born 1949: Linda Lovelace, porno movie queen, who starred in the notorious "Deep Throat" (1972), a huge underground hit, which became a topic of everyday conversation, launching zillions of jokes. Died 2002.

1984: The elderly spokesperson for Wendy's hamburgers, Clara Peller, first croaked, "Where's the beef?!"

Copyright ©2003 Mike Durrett. All rights reserved.