Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.

Origins

The phrase comes from the ''batacchio'' or ''bataccio'' — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in ''Commedia dell'arte''. When struck, the battacchio produces a loud smacking noise, though little force is transferred from the object to the person being struck. Actors may thus hit one another repeatedly with great audible effect while causing very little actual physical damage. Along with the inflatable bladder (of which the whoopee cushion is a modern variant), it was among the earliest special effects that a person could carry.

History

While the object from which the genre is derived dates from the Renaissance, theater historians argue that slapstick comedy has been at least somewhat present in almost all comedic genres since the rejuvenation of theater in church liturgical dramas in the Middle Ages. (Some argue for instances of it in Greek and Roman theater, as well.) Beating the devil off stage, for example, remained a stock comedic device in many otherwise serious religious plays. Shakespeare also incorporated many chase scenes and beatings into his comedies, such as in his play The Comedy of Errors. Building on its later popularity in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century ethnic routines of the American vaudeville house, the style was explored extensively during the "golden era" of black and white, silent movies directed by figures Mack Sennett and Hal Roach and featuring such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, the Keystone Kops, the Three Stooges and El Chavo. Slapstick is also common in animated cartoons such as ''Tom and Jerry'' and ''Looney Tunes''.

Slapstick continues to maintain a presence in modern comedy that draws upon its lineage, running in film from Buster Keaton and Louis de Funès to Mel Brooks to the ''Jackass'' movies to the Farrelly Brothers, and in live performance from Weber & Fields to Jackie Gleason to Rowan Atkinson.

See also

Laughter

Slapstick film

Wacky Comedy film

Physical comedy

Stage combat

References

External links

"What's the Origin of Slapstick?" ''The Straight Dope,'' 1 March 2005.

"Slapstick." ''Answers.com,'' 2008.

Dirks, Tim. "Comedy Films." ''filmsite.org,'' 1996-2008.

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name	Buster Keaton
birth name	Joseph Frank Keaton
birth date	October 04, 1895
birth place	Piqua, Kansas, U.S.
death date	February 01, 1966
death place	Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
other names	Joseph Francis Keaton
occupation	ActorDirectorProducerWriter
years active	1898–1966
spouse	Natalie Talmadge (1921–32)Mae Scriven (1933–36)Eleanor Norris (1940-66) (his death)}}

Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 February 1, 1966) was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".

Keaton was recognized as the seventh-greatest director of all time by ''Entertainment Weekly''. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Keaton the 21st-greatest male star of all time. Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, [when] he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies." Orson Welles stated that Keaton's ''The General'' is the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made. A 2002 worldwide poll by ''Sight & Sound'' ranked Keaton's ''The General'' as the 15th best film of all time. Three other Keaton films received votes in the magazine's survey: ''Our Hospitality'', ''Sherlock, Jr.'', and ''The Navigator''.

Early life in vaudeville

Keaton was born Joseph Frank Keaton into a vaudeville family. He was named "Joseph" to continue a tradition on his father's side—he was sixth in a line bearing the name Joseph Keaton—and "Frank" for his maternal grandfather, who disapproved of the parents' union. Later, Keaton changed his middle name to "Francis". His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton, a native of Vigo County, Indiana. Joe Keaton owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini, the ''Mohawk Indian Medicine Company'', which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas, the small town where his mother, Myra Edith Cutler, happened to go into labor.

According to a frequently-repeated story, which may be apocryphal, Keaton acquired the nickname "Buster" at about eighteen months of age. Keaton told interviewer Fletcher Markle that Harry Houdini happened to be present one day when the young Keaton took a tumble down a long flight of stairs without injury. After the infant sat up and shook off his experience, Houdini remarked, "That was a real buster!" According to Keaton, in those days, the word "buster" was used to refer to a spill or a fall that had the potential to produce injury. After this, it was Keaton's father who began to use the nickname to refer to the youngster. Keaton retold the anecdote over the years, including during a 1964 interview with the CBC's ''Telescope''.

At the age of three, Keaton began performing with his parents in ''The Three Keatons''. He first appeared on stage in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware. The act was mainly a comedy sketch. Myra played the saxophone to one side, while Joe and Buster performed on center stage. The young Keaton would goad his father by disobeying him, and the elder Keaton would respond by throwing him against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into the audience. A suitcase handle was sewn into Keaton's clothing to aid with the constant tossing. The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls safely; he was rarely injured or bruised on stage. This knockabout style of comedy led to accusations of child abuse, and occasionally, arrest. However, Buster Keaton was always able to show the authorities that he had no bruises or broken bones. He was eventually billed as "The Little Boy Who Can't Be Damaged," with the overall act being advertised as "'The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage." Decades later, Keaton said that he was never hurt by his father and that the falls and physical comedy were a matter of proper technical execution. In 1914, Keaton told the ''Detroit News'':

The secret is in landing limp and breaking the fall with a foot or a hand. It's a knack. I started so young that landing right is second nature with me. Several times I'd have been killed if I hadn't been able to land like a cat. Imitators of our act don't last long, because they can't stand the treatment.

Keaton claimed he was having so much fun that he would sometimes begin laughing as his father threw him across the stage. Noticing that this drew fewer laughs from the audience, he adopted his famous deadpan expression whenever he was working.

The act ran up against laws banning child performers in vaudeville. It is said that, when one official saw Keaton in full costume and makeup and asked a stagehand how old he was, the stagehand then pointed to the boy's mother, saying, "I don't know, ask his wife!" According to one biographer, Keaton was made to go to school while performing in New York, but only attended for part of one day. Despite tangles with the law and a disastrous tour of music halls in the United Kingdom, Keaton was a rising star in the theater. Keaton stated that he learned to read and write late, and was taught by his mother. By the time he was 21, his father's alcoholism threatened the reputation of the family act, so Keaton and his mother, Myra, left for New York, where Buster Keaton's career swiftly moved from vaudeville to film.

Although he did not see active combat, he served in World War I, during which time he suffered an ear infection that permanently impaired his hearing.

Silent film era

In February 1917, Keaton met Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle at the Talmadge Studios in New York City, where Arbuckle was under contract to Joseph M. Schenck. Joe Keaton disapproved of films, and Buster also had reservations about the medium. During his first meeting with Arbuckle, he asked to borrow one of the cameras to get a feel for how it worked. He took the camera back to his hotel room, dismantled and reassembled it. With this rough understanding of the mechanics of the moving pictures, he returned the next day, camera in hand, asking for work. He was hired as a co-star and gag man, making his first appearance in ''The Butcher Boy''. Keaton later claimed that he was soon Arbuckle's second director and his entire gag department. Keaton and Arbuckle became close friends.

In 1920, ''The Saphead'' was released, in which Keaton had his first starring role in a full-length feature. It was based on a successful play, ''The New Henrietta'', which had already been filmed once under the title "The Lamb" with Douglas Fairbanks playing the lead. It is said to have been Fairbanks that recommended Keaton to take up the role for the remake five years later.

After Keaton's successful work with Arbuckle, Schenck gave him his own production unit, Buster Keaton Comedies. He made a series of two-reel comedies, including ''One Week'' (1920), ''The Playhouse'' (1921), ''Cops'' (1922), and ''The Electric House'' (1922). Based on the success of these shorts, Keaton moved to full-length features. Keaton's writers included Clyde Bruckman and Jean Havez, but the most ingenious gags were often conceived by Keaton himself. Comedy director Leo McCarey, recalling the freewheeling days of making slapstick comedies, said, "All of us tried to steal each other's gagmen. But we had no luck with Keaton, because he thought up his best gags himself and we couldn't steal ''him!''" The more adventurous ideas called for dangerous stunts, also performed by Keaton at great physical risk. During the railroad water-tank scene in ''Sherlock Jr.'', Keaton broke his neck when he fell against a railroad track, but did not realize it until years afterward. A scene from ''Steamboat Bill Jr.'' required Keaton to run into the shot and stand still on a particular spot. Then, the facade of a two-story building toppled forward on top of Keaton. Keaton's character emerged unscathed, thanks to a single open window which passed directly over him. The stunt required precision, because the prop house weighed two tons, and the window only offered a few inches of space around Keaton's body. The sequence became one of the iconic images of Keaton's career.

The film critic David Thomson later described Keaton's style of comedy: "Buster plainly is a man inclined towards a belief in nothing but mathematics and absurdity ... like a number that has always been searching for the right equation. Look at his face — as beautiful but as inhuman as a butterfly — and you see that utter failure to identify sentiment." Gilberto Perez describes "Keaton's genius as an actor to keep a face so nearly deadpan and yet render it, by subtle inflections, so vividly expressive of inner life. His large deep eyes are the most eloquent feature; with merely a stare he can convey a wide range of emotions, from longing to mistrust, from puzzlement to sorrow."

Aside from ''Steamboat Bill Jr.'' (1928), Keaton's most enduring feature-length films include ''Our Hospitality'' (1923), ''The Navigator'' (1924), ''Sherlock Jr.'' (1924), ''Seven Chances'' (1925), ''The Cameraman'' (1928), and ''The General'' (1927). ''The General'', set during the American Civil War, combined physical comedy with Keaton's love of trains, including an epic locomotive chase. Employing picturesque locations, the film's storyline reenacted an actual wartime incident. Though it would come to be regarded as Keaton's proudest achievement, the film received mixed reviews at the time. It was too dramatic for some filmgoers expecting a lightweight comedy, and reviewers questioned Keaton's judgment in making a comedic film about the Civil War, even while noting it had a "few laughs". The fact that the heroes of the story were from the Confederate side may have also contributed to the film's unpopularity.

It was an expensive misfire, and Keaton was never entrusted with total control over his films again. His distributor, United Artists, insisted on a production manager who monitored expenses and interfered with certain story elements. Keaton endured this treatment for two more feature films, and then exchanged his independent setup for employment at Hollywood's biggest studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Keaton's loss of independence as a filmmaker coincided with the coming of sound films (although he was interested in making the transition) and mounting personal problems, and his career in the early sound era was hurt as a result.

Marriages

In 1921, Keaton married Natalie Talmadge, sister-in-law of his boss, Joseph Schenck, and sister of actresses Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge. During the first three years of the marriage, the couple had two sons, James (1922–2007) and Robert (1924–2009), but after the birth of Robert, the relationship began to suffer.

According to Keaton's autobiography, Natalie turned him out of their bedroom and sent detectives to follow him to see whom he was dating behind her back. Her extravagance was another factor in the breakdown of the marriage. During the 1920s, according to his autobiography, he dated actress Kathleen Key. When he ended the affair, Key flew into a rage and tore up his dressing room.

After attempts at reconciliation, Natalie divorced Keaton in 1932, taking his entire fortune and refusing to allow any contact between Keaton and his sons, whose last name she had changed to Talmadge. Keaton was reunited with them about a decade later when his older son turned 18. The failure of his marriage, along with the loss of his independence as a filmmaker, led Keaton into a period of alcoholism.

During the height of his popularity, Keaton spent $300,000 to build a home in Beverly Hills, which was later owned by James Mason and Cary Grant. Keaton's "Italian Villa" can be seen in Keaton's film ''Parlor, Bedroom and Bath''. Keaton later said, "I took a lot of pratfalls to build that dump." Mason found numerous cans of rare Keaton films in the house in the 1950s; the films were quickly transferred by Raymond Rohauer to safety film before the original cellulose nitrate prints further deteriorated.

Keaton was at one point briefly institutionalized; however, according to the TCM documentary ''So Funny it Hurt'', Keaton escaped a straitjacket with tricks learned during his vaudeville days. In 1933, he married his nurse, Mae Scriven, during an alcoholic binge about which he afterwards claimed to remember nothing (Keaton himself later called that period an "alcoholic blackout"). Scriven herself would later claim that she didn't know Keaton's real first name until after the marriage. When they divorced in 1936, it was again at great financial cost to Keaton.

In 1940, Keaton married Eleanor Norris (1918–1998), who was 23 years his junior. She has been credited with saving his life by stopping his heavy drinking, and helped to salvage his career. The marriage lasted until his death. Between 1947 and 1954, they appeared regularly in the Cirque Medrano in Paris as a double act. She came to know his routines so well that she often participated in them on TV revivals.

Sound era and television

Keaton signed with MGM in 1928, a business decision that he would later call the worst of his life. He realized too late that the studio system MGM represented would severely limit his creative input. For instance, the studio refused his request to make his early project, ''Spite Marriage'', as a sound film and after the studio converted, he was obliged to adhere to dialogue-laden scripts. For the first time, Keaton was forced to use a stunt double during some of the more dangerous scenes, as MGM wanted badly to protect its investment. He also stopped directing, but continued to perform and made some of his most financially successful films for the studio. MGM tried teaming the laconic Keaton with the rambunctious Jimmy Durante in a series of films, ''The Passionate Plumber'', ''Speak Easily'', and ''What! No Beer?'' The latter would be Keaton's last starring feature. The films proved popular. (Thirty years later, both Keaton and Durante had cameo parts in ''It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World''.)

In the first Keaton pictures with sound, he and his fellow actors would shoot each scene three times: one in English, one in Spanish, and one in either French or German. The actors would phonetically memorize the foreign-language scripts a few lines at time and shoot immediately after. This is discussed in the TCM documentary ''Buster Keaton: So Funny it Hurt'', with Keaton complaining about having to shoot lousy films not just once, but three times. His stage name in Spanish markets was ''Pamplinas'' ("Nonsense"), and his nickname was ''Cara de palo'' ("Wooden face").

Behind the scenes, Keaton's world was in chaos, with divorce proceedings and alcoholism contributing to production delays and unpleasant incidents at the studio. Keaton was so depleted during the production of 1933's ''What! No Beer?'' that MGM released him after the filming was complete, despite the film being a resounding hit. In 1934, Keaton accepted an offer to make an independent film in Paris, ''Le Roi des Champs-Élysées''. During this period, he made one other film in Europe, ''The Invader'' (released in America as ''An Old Spanish Custom'' in 1936).

Educational Pictures

Upon Keaton's return to Hollywood, he made a screen comeback in a series of 16 two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures. Most of these are simple visual comedies, with many of the gags supplied by Keaton himself. The high point in the Educational series is ''Grand Slam Opera'', featuring Buster in his own screenplay as an amateur-hour contestant. When the series lapsed in 1937, Keaton returned to MGM as a gag writer, including the Marx Brothers films ''At the Circus'' (1939) and ''Go West'' (1940), and providing material for Red Skelton. He also helped and advised Lucille Ball in her comedic work in films and television.

Columbia Pictures

In 1939, Columbia Pictures hired Keaton to star in ten two-reel comedies, running for two years. The director was usually Jules White, whose emphasis on slapstick made most of these films resemble White's Three Stooges comedies. Keaton's personal favorite was the series' debut entry, ''Pest from the West'', a shorter, tighter remake of Keaton's little-viewed 1935 feature ''The Invader''; it was directed not by White but by Mack Sennett veteran Del Lord. Moviegoers and exhibitors welcomed Keaton's Columbia comedies, proving that the comedian had not lost his appeal. However, taken as a whole, Keaton's Columbia shorts rank as the worst comedies he made, an assessment he concurred with in his autobiography. The final entry was ''She's Oil Mine'', and Keaton swore he would never again "make another crummy two-reeler." He stuck to his word, and the Columbia entries would be his final starring series for any film studio.

1940s and feature films

Keaton's personal life had stabilized with his 1940 marriage, and now he was taking life a little easier, abandoning Columbia for the less strenuous field of feature films. Throughout the 1940s, Keaton played character roles in both "A" and "B" features. Critics rediscovered Keaton in 1949 and producers occasionally hired him for bigger "prestige" pictures. He had cameos in such films as ''In the Good Old Summertime'' (1949), ''Sunset Boulevard'' (1950), and ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (1956).

Keaton also had a small bit part as Jimmy The Crook near the beginning of the long, frantic chase scene in ''It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' (1963), directing Spencer Tracy's character, Captain C. G. Culpepper, in storing his police car in a shoreline garage. Keaton was given more screen time in ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' (1966). He also appeared in a comedy routine about two inept stage musicians in Charlie Chaplin's ''Limelight'' (1952), recalling the vaudeville of ''The Playhouse''. With the exception of ''Seeing Stars'', a minor publicity film produced in 1922, ''Limelight'' was the only time in which the two would ever appear together on film.

In 1949, comedian Ed Wynn invited Keaton to appear on his CBS Television comedy-variety show, ''The Ed Wynn Show'', which was televised live on the West Coast. Kinescopes were made for distribution of the programs to other parts of the country since there was no transcontinental coaxial cable until September 1951.

1950s and television

In 1950, Keaton had a successful television series, ''The Buster Keaton Show'', which was broadcast live on a local Los Angeles station. An attempt to recreate the first series on film as ''Life with Buster Keaton'' (1951), which allowed the program to be broadcast nationwide, was less well-received. A theatrical feature film, ''The Misadventures of Buster Keaton'', was fashioned from the series. Keaton said he canceled the filmed series himself because he was unable to create enough fresh material to produce a new show each week. Keaton also appeared on Ed Wynn's variety show. At the age of 55, he successfully recreated one of the stunts of his youth, in which he propped one foot onto a table, then swung the second foot up next to it, and held the awkward position in midair for a moment before crashing to the stage floor. ''I've Got a Secret'' host Garry Moore recalled, "I asked (Keaton) how he did all those falls, and he said, 'I'll show you'. He opened his jacket and he was all bruised. So that's how he did it—it ''hurt''—but you had to care enough not to care."

Unlike his contemporary Harold Lloyd, who kept his films from being televised (and therefore became lesser known to today's audiences), Keaton's periodic television appearances helped to revive interest in his silent films in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1954, Keaton played his first television dramatic role in "The Awakening", an episode of the syndicated anthology series ''Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents''. About this time, he also appeared on NBC's ''The Martha Raye Show''.

On April 3, 1957, Keaton was surprised by Ralph Edwards for the weekly NBC program ''This Is Your Life''. The half hour program, which also promoted the release of the biographical film ''The Buster Keaton Story'' with Donald O'Connor, summarized Keaton's life and career up to that point.

In December 1958, Keaton was a guest star as a hospital janitor who provides gifts to sick children in a special Christmas episode of ''The Donna Reed Show'' on ABC. The program was titled "A Very Merry Christmas". He returned to the program in 1965 in the episode "Now You See It, Now You Don't". The 1958 episode has been included in the DVD release of Donna Reed's television programs.

In August 1960, Keaton accepted the role of mute King Sextimus the Silent in the national touring company of ''Once Upon A Mattress'', a successful Broadway musical. Eleanor Keaton was cast in the chorus, and during rehearsals, she fielded questions directed at her husband, creating difficulties in communication. After a few days, Keaton warmed up to the rest of the cast with his "utterly delicious sense of humor", according to Fritzi Burr, who played opposite him as his wife Queen Aggravaine. When the tour landed in Los Angeles, Keaton invited the entire cast and crew to a spaghetti party at his Woodland Hills home, and entertained them by singing vaudeville songs.

In 1960, Keaton returned to MGM for the final time, playing a lion tamer in a 1960 adaptation of Mark Twain's ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn''. Much of the film was shot on location on the Sacramento River, which doubled for the Mississippi River setting of Twain's original book.

In 1961, he starred in ''The Twilight Zone'' episode "Once Upon a Time", which included both silent and sound sequences. Keaton played time traveler Mulligan, who traveled from 1890 to 1960, then back, by means of a special helmet.

Keaton also found steady work as an actor in TV commercials, including a popular series of silent ads for Simon Pure Beer in which he revisited some of the gags from his silent film days. In 1963, Keaton appeared in the episode "Think Mink" of ABC's ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' sitcom, starring Fess Parker.

In 1964, Keaton appeared with Joan Blondell and Joe E. Brown in the final episode of ABC's circus drama, ''The Greatest Show on Earth'', starring Jack Palance. That same year, he appeared on Lucille Ball's CBS television show, ''The Lucy Show'', in an episode ("A Day in the Park") filmed in color but initially televised in black and white; this featured him sitting on a park bench, reading a newspaper, which he gradually unfolded into a huge, single sheet. Harvey Korman played a policeman in the scene.

At the age of 70, Keaton suggested that, for his appearance in the 1965 film ''Sergeant Deadhead'', he run past the end of a firehose into a six-foot-high flip and crash. When director Norman Taurog balked, expressing concerns for Keaton's health, Keaton said, "I won't hurt myself, Norm, I've done it for years!" Keaton also starred in three other films for American International Pictures (''Beach Blanket Bingo'', ''Pajama Party'', and ''How to Stuff a Wild Bikini'').

In 1965, Keaton starred in a short film called ''The Railrodder''for the National Film Board of Canada. Wearing his traditional porkpie hat, he travelled from one end of Canada to the other on a motorized handcar, performing gags similar to those in films he made 50 years before. The film is also notable for being Keaton's last silent screen performance. ''The Railrodder'' was made in tandem with a behind-the-scenes documentary about Keaton's life and times, called ''Buster Keaton Rides Again'', also made for the National Film Board. He played the central role in Samuel Beckett's ''Film'' (1965), directed by Alan Schneider. Also in 1965, he traveled to Italy to play a role in ''Due Marines e un Generale'', co-starring alongside with the famous Italian comedian duo of Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia.

Keaton's last film appearance was in ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' (1966) which was filmed in Spain in late 1965. He amazed the cast and crew by doing many of his own stunts, although Thames Television said his increasingly ill health did force the use of a stunt double for some scenes.

Death

Keaton died of lung cancer on February 1, 1966, in Woodland Hills, California. Despite being diagnosed with the terminal illness in January 1966, he was never told that he was terminally ill, and thought that he had bronchitis. Confined to a hospital during his final days for treatment, Keaton was restless and paced the room endlessly. In a British television documentary on his career, his widow Eleanor told producers of Thames Television that Keaton was up out of bed and moving around, and even played cards with friends who came to visit at their house the day before he died. Eleanor Keaton died in 1998, from emphysema and lung cancer, aged 80.

Influence and legacy

Keaton has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: 6619 Hollywood Boulevard (for motion pictures); and 6321 Hollywood Boulevard (for television).

A 1957 film biography, ''The Buster Keaton Story'', starred Donald O'Connor as Keaton. The screenplay, by Sidney Sheldon (who also directed the film), was vaguely based on his life, but contained many factual errors and merged his three wives into one character. Most of the story centered on his drinking problem, in the producer's attempt to imitate the success of ''I'll Cry Tomorrow'', a sudsy biography about another alcoholic celebrity (Lillian Roth). The 1987 documentary, ''Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow'', which won two Emmy Awards and was directed by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, is considered a much more accurate telling of Keaton’s story.

In 1994, caricaturist Al Hirschfeld penned a series of silent film stars for the United States Post Office, including Rudolph Valentino and Keaton. Hirschfeld said that modern film stars were more difficult to depict, that silent film comedians such as Laurel and Hardy and Keaton "looked like their caricatures".

Keaton's physical comedy is cited by Jackie Chan in his autobiography documentary ''Jackie Chan: My Story'' as being the primary source of inspiration for his own brand of self-deprecating physical comedy.

Paul Merton often stated on his show ''Silent Clowns'' how influential and hilarious Buster Keaton was to fellow comedians.

Pork pie hats

Keaton designed and fabricated many of his own pork pie hats during his career. In 1964, he told an interviewer that in making the pork pie, he started with a good Stetson hat and cut it down, stiffening the brim with concentrated sugar water. The hats were often destroyed during Keaton's wild film antics; some were given away as gifts and some were snatched by souvenir hunters. Keaton said he was lucky if he used only six hats in making a film. Keaton estimated that he and his wife Eleanor made thousands of the hats during his career.

Keaton in music

In 1987 Italian singer-songwriters Claudio Lolli and Francesco Guccini wrote a song, ''Keaton'', about his work in Italy on the film ''Due Marines e un Generale''

Filmography

See also

Camille Keaton

References

Further reading

Agee, James, "Comedy's Greatest Era" from ''Life'' (September 5, 1949), reprinted in ''Agee on Film'' (1958) McDowell, Obolensky, (2000) Modern Library

Keaton, Buster (with Charles Samuels), ''My Wonderful World of Slapstick'' (1960) Doubleday, (1982) Da Capo Press ISBN 0-306-80178-7

Blesh, Rudi, ''Keaton'' (1966) The Macmillan Company ISBN 0-02-511570-7

Lahue, Kalton C., ''World of Laughter: The Motion Picture Comedy Short, 1910-1930'' (1966) University of Oklahoma Press

Lebel, Jean-Patrick, ''Buster Keaton'' (1967) A.S. Barnes

Brownlow, Kevin, "Buster Keaton" from ''The Parade’s Gone By'' (1968) Alfred A. Knopf, (1976) University of California Press

McCaffrey, Donald W., ''4 Great Comedians: Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, Langdon'' (1968) A.S. Barnes

Robinson, David, ''Buster Keaton'' (1969) Indiana University Press, in association with British Film Institute

Robinson, David, ''The Great Funnies: A History of Film Comedy'' (1969) E.P. Dutton

Durgnat, Raymond, "Self-Help with a Smile" from ''The Crazy Mirror: Hollywood Comedy and the American Image'' (1970) Dell

Maltin, Leonard, ''Selected Short Subjects'' (first published as ''The Great Movie Shorts'', 1972) Crown Books, (revised 1983) Da Capo Press

Gilliatt, Penelope, "Buster Keaton" from ''Unholy Fools: Wits, Comics, Disturbers of the Peace'' (1973) Viking

Mast, Gerald, ''The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies'' (1973, 2nd ed. 1979) University of Chicago Press

Kerr, Walter, ''The Silent Clowns'' (1975) Alfred A. Knopf, (1990) Da Capo Press ISBN 0-394-46907-0

Anobile, Richard J. (ed.), ''The Best of Buster: Classic Comedy Scenes Direct from the Films of Buster Keaton'' (1976) Crown Books

Yallop, David, ''The Day the Laughter Stopped: The True Story of Fatty Arbuckle'' (1976) St. Martin's Press

Byron, Stuart and Weis, Elizabeth (eds.), ''The National Society of Film Critics on Movie Comedy'' (1977) Grossman/Viking

Moews, Daniel, ''Keaton: The Silent Features Close Up'' (1977) University of California Press

Everson, William K., ''American Silent Film'' (1978) Oxford University Press

Maltin, Leonard, ''The Great Movie Comedians'' (1978) Crown Books

Dardis, Tom, ''Keaton: The Man Who Wouldn't Lie Down'' (1979) Scribners, (2004) Limelight Editions

Benayoun, Robert, ''The Look of Buster Keaton'' (1983) St. Martin's Press

Staveacre, Tony, ''Slapstick!: The Illustrated Story'' (1987) Angus & Robertson Publishers

Edmonds, Andy, ''Frame-Up!: The Shocking Scandal That Destroyed Hollywood's Biggest Comedy Star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle'' (1992) Avon Books

Kline, Jim, ''The Complete Films of Buster Keaton'' (1993) Carol Pub. Group

Meade, Marion, ''Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase'' (1995) HarperCollins

Rapf, Joanna E. and Green, Gary L., ''Buster Keaton: A Bio-Bibliography'' (1995) Greenwood Press

Oldham, Gabriella, ''Keaton's Silent Shorts: Beyond the Laughter'' (1996) Southern Illinois University Press

Horton, Andrew, ''Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr.'' (1997) Cambridge University Press

Bengtson, John, ''Silent Echoes: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Buster Keaton'' (1999) Santa Monica Press

Knopf, Robert, ''The Theater and Cinema of Buster Keaton'' (1999) Princeton University Press ISBN 0-69100-442-0

Keaton, Eleanor, ''Buster Keaton Remembered'' (2001) Harry N. Abrams ISBN 0-8109-4227-5

Mitchell, Glenn, ''A – Z of Silent Film Comedy'' (2003) B.T. Batsford Ltd.

McPherson, Edward, ''Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat'' (2005) Newmarket Press ISBN 1-55704-665-4

Oderman, Stuart, ''Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle: A Biography of the Silent Film Comedian'' (2005) McFarland & Co.

Neibaur, James L., ''Arbuckle and Keaton: Their 14 Film Collaborations'' (2006) McFarland & Co.

Keaton, Buster, ''Buster Keaton: Interviews'' (Conversations with Filmmakers Series) (2007) University Press of Mississippi

Brighton, Catherine, ''Keep Your Eye on the Kid: The Early Years of Buster Keaton'' (2008) Roaring Brook Press (An illustrated children's book about Keaton's career)

Smith, Imogen Sara, ''Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy'' (2008) Gambit Publishing ISBN 978-0967591742

Carroll, Noel, ''Comedy Incarnate: Buster Keaton, Physical Humor, and Bodily Coping'' (2009) Wiley-Blackwell

Neibaur, James L., ''The Fall of Buster Keaton: His Films for MGM, Educational Pictures, and Columbia'' (2010) Scarecrow Press

External links

The International Buster Keaton Society

Buster Keaton Museum

Buster Keaton and the Muskegon Connection

Buster Keaton in Five Easy Clips

Buster Keaton Photo Galleries (includes rare images of BK smiling and laughing)

Buster Keaton as a child performer(Univ. of Washington/ Sayre collection)

Category:Silent film directors Category:1895 births Category:1966 deaths Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:Actors from Kansas Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American silent film actors Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Mimes Category:People from Beverly Hills, California Category:People from Woodson County, Kansas Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Slapstick comedians Category:Silent film comedians Category:Ukulele players Category:Vaudeville performers Category:Short film directors

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"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise. Also, " The Man is coming" is a term used to frighten small children who are misbehaving.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.

History

The term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to the late 19th Century. In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

It was also used as a term for a drug dealer in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such media as Curtis Mayfield's "No Thing On Me", William Burroughs's novel ''Naked Lunch'', and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan, specifically Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, to buy heroin.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in ''U.S. News and World Report'', had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine ''Easyriders'' which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

In present day, the phrase has been popularized in commercials and cinema.

Use as praise

The term has also been used as an approbation or form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (who is in charge)." One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's pre-eminent position at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."

In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment ("you da man!") indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

See also

Absentee landlord

Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four'')

New World Order (conspiracy theory)

Ruling class

The Establishment

Power elite

Corrections officer

YTMND

Notes

References

Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). ''Random House Dictionary of American Slang''. New York: Random House.

Category:Slang expressions Category:Stock characters Category:English idioms Category:Pejorative terms for people Category:Military-industrial complex

name	Dick Van Dyke
birth name	Richard Wayne Van Dyke
birth date	December 13, 1925
birth place	West Plains, Missouri, U.S.
nationality	American
occupation	Actor, comedian, producer, writer
years active	1955–present
spouse	Margie Willett (1948–84) (divorced)
partner	Michelle Triola (1976–2009) (her death)
parents	Loren "Cookie" Van DykeHazel (née McCord) Van Dyke
home town	Danville, Illinois
nationality	American
notable works	The Dick Van Dyke Show }}

Richard Wayne "Dick" Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer with a career spanning six decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke, and father of Barry Van Dyke. Van Dyke starred in the films ''Bye Bye Birdie,'' ''Mary Poppins'', ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'', and the television series ''The Dick Van Dyke Show,'' and ''Diagnosis: Murder .'' Van Dyke has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.

Life and career

Early and personal life

Van Dyke was born in West Plains, Missouri, to Loren (nickname "Cookie") and Hazel (born McCord) Van Dyke, but he grew up in Danville, Illinois. He is the older brother of actor Jerry Van Dyke, who is best known for his role on the TV series ''Coach.'' His grandson, Shane Van Dyke, is also an actor, and directed ''Titanic II''. He is of Dutch descent on his father's side. His mother, as a ''Mayflower'' descendant, is of English extraction but also carries additional Scottish ancestry.

During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps where he became a radio announcer and served in Special Services entertaining troops in the Continental United States. While Van Dyke appeared at the Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, he and the former Margerie Willett were married on the radio show "Bride and Groom", in 1948. They had four children: Christian (Chris), Barry, Carrie Beth, and Stacy. They divorced in 1984 after a long separation. He lived with longtime companion Michelle Triola for more than 30 years until her death in 2009. Van Dyke's son Barry Van Dyke and grandsons Shane Van Dyke and Carey Van Dyke are also actors; both of these last two, along with other Van Dyke relations and grandchildren, appeared in various episodes of the long-running series ''Diagnosis: Murder.'' All of Van Dyke's children are married, and he has seven grandchildren. His son Chris was district attorney for Marion County, Oregon in the 1980s. In 1987, his granddaughter Jessica Van Dyke died from Reye's Syndrome which drove him to do a series of television commercials to raise public awareness of the danger to children. In 2010, he claimed to have once been rescued from drifting out to sea and possible death by a pod of porpoises.

Radio and stage career

During the late 1940s, Van Dyke was a radio DJ in Danville, Illinois. In 1947, Van Dyke was persuaded by Phil Erickson to form a comedy duo with him called "Eric and Van—the Merry Mutes." The team toured the West Coast nightclub circuit, performing a mime act and lip synching to old 78 records. They brought their act to Atlanta, Georgia, in the early 1950s and performed a local television show featuring original skits and music called "The Merry Mutes".

On the stage, Van Dyke was the lead in Broadway's ''Bye Bye Birdie''. In a May 2011 interview with Rachael Ray, Van Dyke noted that when he auditioned for a smaller part in the show he had no dance experience, and that after he sang his audition song he did an impromptu soft-shoe out of sheer nervousness. Gower Champion, the show's director and choreographer, was watching, and promptly went up on stage to inform Van Dyke he had the lead. An astonished Van Dyke protested that he could not dance, to which Champion replied "We'll teach you". That musical won four Tony awards including Van Dyke's Best Actor Tony, in 1961. In 1980, Van Dyke appeared as the title role in ''The Music Man'' on Broadway.

Television career

Dick Van Dyke's start in television was with WDSU-TV New Orleans Channel 6 (NBC), first as a single comedian and later as emcee of a comedy program. Van Dyke's first network TV appearance was with Dennis James on James' ''Chance of a Lifetime'' in 1954. He later appeared on ''The Phil Silvers Show'' in the 1957–8 season. He also appeared early in his career on ABC's ''The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom'' and NBC's ''The Polly Bergen Show''. During this time a friend from the Army was working as an executive for CBS television and recommended Van Dyke to that network. Out of this came a seven year contract with the network. During an interview on NPR's ''Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' program, Van Dyke said he was the anchorman for the CBS morning show during this period with Walter Cronkite as his newsman.

Van Dyke starred in the situation comedy ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' on CBS from 1961 to 1966, in which he portrayed a comedy writer named Rob Petrie. Originally the show was supposed to have Carl Reiner as the lead but CBS insisted on recasting and Reiner chose Van Dyke to replace him in the role. Complementing Van Dyke was a veteran cast of comic actors including Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Jerry Paris, Ann Morgan Guilbert, and Carl Reiner (as Alan Brady), as well as television newcomer Mary Tyler Moore, who played Rob's wife, Laura Petrie. Van Dyke won three Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and the series received four Emmy Awards as Outstanding Comedy Series.

From 1971 to 1974 Van Dyke starred in an unrelated sitcom called ''The New Dick Van Dyke Show'' in which he starred as a local television talk show host. He received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance but the show was less successful than its predecessor, and Van Dyke pulled the plug on the show after just three seasons. In 1973 Van Dyke voiced his animated likeness for the October 27, 1973 installment of Hanna-Barbera's ''The New Scooby-Doo Movies,'' "Scooby-Doo Meets Dick Van Dyke," the series' final first-run episode. The following year, he received an Emmy Award nomination for his role as an alcoholic businessman in the television movie ''The Morning After'' (1974). Van Dyke revealed after its release that he had recently overcome a real-life drinking problem. That same year he guest-starred as a murdering photographer on an episode of ''Columbo.'' Van Dyke returned to comedy in 1976 with the sketch comedy show ''Van Dyke and Company,'' which co-starred Andy Kaufman and Super Dave Osborne. Despite being canceled after three months, the show won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy-Variety Series. When Carol Burnett's main foil, Harvey Korman, quit Burnett's long-running variety series in 1977 Van Dyke took his place. This was the first time he had ever played second banana on television and there were few comic sparks between Van Dyke and Burnett. He left after three months. For the next decade he appeared mostly in low-rated TV movies. One exception was an atypical role as a murdering judge on the first episode of the TV series ''Matlock'' in 1986 starring Andy Griffith. In 1989 he guest-starred on the NBC comedy series ''The Golden Girls'' portraying a lover of Beatrice Arthur's character. This role earned him his first Emmy Award nomination since 1977.

His film work affected his TV career: the reviews he received for his role as D.A. Fletcher in ''Dick Tracy'' led him to star first as the character Dr. Mark Sloan in an episode of ''Jake and the Fatman'', then in a series of TV movies on CBS that became the foundation for his popular television drama ''Diagnosis: Murder.'' The series ran from 1993 to 2001 with son Barry Van Dyke co-starring. Van Dyke continued to find television work after the show ended, including a dramatically and critically successful performance of ''The Gin Game'', produced for television in 2003 that reunited him with Mary Tyler Moore. In 2003 he portrayed a doctor on ''Scrubs''. A 2004 special of ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' titled ''The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited'' was heavily promoted as the first new episode of the classic series to be shown in 38 years. Van Dyke and his surviving cast members recreated their roles; the program was roundly panned by critics. In 2006 he guest-starred as college professor Dr. Jonathan Maxwell for a series of ''Murder 101'' mystery films on the Hallmark Channel.

Film career

Van Dyke began his film career by reprising his stage role in the film version of ''Bye Bye Birdie'' (1963). Despite his unhappiness with the adaptation—its focus differed from the stage version— the film was a success. That same year, Van Dyke was cast in two roles: as the chimney sweep Bert, and as Mr. Dawes Senior, the chairman of the bank in Walt Disney's ''Mary Poppins'' (1964). For his scenes as the chairman, he was heavily costumed to look much older, and was credited in that role as "Nackvid Keyd" (at the end of the credits, the letters unscramble into "Dick Van Dyke"). Van Dyke's attempt at a cockney accent has been decried as one of the worst accents in film history, cited as an example by actors since as an example of how not to sound. In a 2003 poll by ''Empire'' magazine of the worst-ever accents in film, he came in second. Van Dyke claims that his accent coach was Irish, who "didn't do an accent any better than I did." Still, ''Mary Poppins'' was successful upon release and its enduring appeal has made it one of the most famous films of all time. "Chim Chim Cher-ee", one of the songs that Van Dyke performed in ''Mary Poppins'', won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the Sherman Brothers, the film's songwriting duo.

Many of the comedy films Van Dyke starred in throughout the 1960s were relatively unsuccessful at the box office, including ''What a Way to Go!,'' ''Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.,'' ''Fitzwilly,'' ''The Art of Love,'' ''Some Kind of a Nut,'' ''Never a Dull Moment,'' and ''Divorce American Style.'' But he also starred (with his native accent, despite the English setting) in the successful musical ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' (1968), which co-starred Sally Ann Howes and featured songs by the Sherman Brothers, and choreography by Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood. The Sherman Brothers, Breaux, and Wood were also songsmiths and choreographers for Mary Poppins.

In 1969, Van Dyke appeared in the comedy-drama ''The Comic,'' written and directed by Carl Reiner. Van Dyke portrayed a self-destructive silent-film era comedian who struggles with alcoholism, depression, and his own rampant ego. Reiner wrote the film especially for Van Dyke, who often spoke of his admiration for silent film era comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and his hero Stan Laurel. Twenty one years later in 1990, Van Dyke, whose usual role had been the amiable hero, took a small but villainous turn as the crooked D.A. Fletcher in Warren Beatty's film ''Dick Tracy.'' Van Dyke returned to motion pictures in 2006 with ''Curious George'' as Mr. Bloomsberry and as villain Cecil Fredericks in the Ben Stiller film ''Night at the Museum.'' He reprised the role in a cameo for the sequel, ''Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian'' but it was cut from the film. It can be found in the special features on the DVD release.

Other projects

Van Dyke received a Grammy Award for his performance on the soundtrack to ''Mary Poppins''. In 1970 he published ''Faith, Hope and Hilarity: A Child's Eye View of Religion'' a book of humorous anecdotes based largely on his experiences as a Sunday School teacher. Van Dyke was principal in "KXIV Inc." and owned 1400 AM KXIV in Phoenix (later KSUN) from 1965 to 1985. KXIV was at one time an applicant for an FM station in the same area.

As an a cappella enthusiast, Van Dyke has sung in a group called "The Vantastix" since September 2000. The quartet has performed several times in Los Angeles as well as on ''Larry King Live'', The First Annual TV Land Awards, and sung the national anthem at three Los Angeles Lakers games including a nationally televised NBA Finals performance on NBC. Van Dyke was made an honorary member of the Barbershop Harmony Society in 1999.

Van Dyke became a computer animation enthusiast after purchasing a Commodore Amiga in 1991. He is credited with the creation of 3D-rendered effects used on ''Diagnosis: Murder'' and ''The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited''. Van Dyke has displayed his computer-generated imagery work at SIGGRAPH, and continues to work with LightWave 3D. In 2010, Van Dyke appeared on a children's album titled ''Rhythm Train,'' with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and singer Leslie Bixler. Van Dyke raps on one of the album's tracks.

Works

Books

}} (Van Dyke's memoir) |last=Van Dyke |first=Dick ||title=Altar Egos |=Westwood, New Jersey |publisher=F. H. Revell Co. |year=1967}} |last=Van Dyke |first=Dick |title=Faith, hope and hilarity |editor=Ray Parker |others=Phil Interlandi (drawings) |location=Garden City, New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=1970}}

Albums

''Bye Bye Birdie'' (Original Cast Album) (1960)

''Bye Bye Birdie'' (Soundtrack) (1963)

''Songs I Like By Dick Van Dyke'' (with Enoch Light & his Orchestra/Ray Charles Singers) (1963)

''Put on a Happy Face'' (with Dick Van Dyke and The Vantastix) (2008)

''Rhythm Train'' (with Leslie Bixler and Chad Smith) (2010)

Stage

''The Girls Against the Boys'' (November 2, 1959 – November 14, 1959)

''Bye Bye Birdie'' (April 14, 1960 – October 7, 1961) (left the show when it moved to the Shubert Theatre)

''The Music Man'' (June 5, 1980 – June 22, 1980) (Revival)

''Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life'' (guest star from January 24, 2006 – January 26, 2006)

Filmography

''What a Way to Go!'' ''The Art of Love (film) ''Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.'' ''Divorce American Style'' ''Never a Dull Moment (1968 film) ''Some Kind of a Nut'' ''Cold Turkey (film) ''Tubby the Tuba (1975 film) ''The Runner Stumbles'' ''Dick Tracy (1990 film) ''Walt - The Man Behind the Myth'' ''Batman: New Times'' ''Curious George''

style="background:#B0C4DE;"	Year	Film	Role	Notes
''1963 in film	1963	''Bye Bye Birdie''	Albert Peterson
rowspan="2"	1964	|	Edgar Hopper
''Mary Poppins (film)	Mary Poppins''	Bert/Mr. Dawes, Senior
1965 in film	1965	The Art of Love'' ||	Paul Sloane/Toulouse aka Picasso
1966 in film	1966	|	Lt. Robin Crusoe
rowspan="2"	1967	|	Richard Harmon
''Fitzwilly''	Claude R. Fitzwilliam
rowspan="2"	1968	Never a Dull Moment'' ||	Jack Albany
''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (film)	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang''	Caractacus Potts
rowspan="2"	1969	|	Fred Amidon
''The Comic''	Billy Bright
1971 in film	1971	Cold Turkey'' ||	Rev. Clayton Brooks
1976 in film	1976	Tubby the Tuba'' ||	Tubby the Tuba	(voice)
1979 in film	1979	|	Father Brian Rivard
1990 in film	1990	Dick Tracy'' ||	D.A. Fletcher
2001 in film	2001	|	narrator/interviewee	(voice)
2005 in film	2005	|	Commissioner Gordon	(voice)
rowspan="2"	2006	|	Mr. Bloomsberry	(voice)
''Night at the Museum''	Cecil Fredricks
2009 in film		2009	''Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian''

*Note: Although he is not seen in the regular release of ''Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian'', Dick van Dyke's work can be seen in the "Deleted Scenes" section of the film's DVD, along with Bill Cobbs and Mickey Rooney.

Television

''The Morning Show'' (1955) (host)

''CBS Cartoon Theater'' (1956)

''To Tell the Truth'' (1956 - 1957)

''The Phil Silvers Show (1957)

''The Chevy Showroom Starring Andy Williams'' (1958)

''Mother's Day'' (1958–1959)

''Laugh Line'' (1959) (canceled after 3 months)

''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1961–1966)

"Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman" (1969)

"Dick Van Dyke Meets Bill Cosby" (1970)

''The New Dick Van Dyke Show'' (1971–1974)

"Julie and Dick at Covent Garden" (1974)

''The Morning After'' (1974)

''Columbo: Negative Reaction'' (1974)

''Van Dyke and Company'' (1976)

''The Carol Burnett Show'' (cast member in 1977)

'' George and Mildred '' (one episode in 1978))

''Supertrain'' (1979)

''The Runner Stumbles'' (1979)

"True Life Stories" (1981)

"Harry's Battles" (1981)

''The Country Girl'' (1982)

''Drop-Out Father'' (1982)

''Wrong Way Kid'' (1983) (voice)

"Found Money" (1983)

"Breakfast with Les and Bess" (1985)

''Strong Medicine'' (1986)

''Ghost of a Chance'' (1987)

''The Van Dyke Show'' (1988)

''The Golden Girls'' (1989)

''Matlock'' (1990)

''Daughters of Privilege'' (1991)

''The House on Sycamore Street'' (1992)

"The Town That Santa Forgot" (1993) (voice)

''A Twist of the Knife'' (1993)

''Becker'' (1999) (Becker's father)

''Diagnosis: Murder'' (1993–2001)

''Paul O'Grady Does America'' (2003)

''A Town Without Pity'' (2002)

''Diagnosis: Murder - Without Warning'' (2002)

''Sabrina the Teenage Witch as Duke'' (2000)

''The Gin Game'' (2003)

''The Alan Brady Show'' (2003) (voice)

''The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited'' (2004)

''Scrubs'' (2004)

''Murder 101'' (2006–2008)

''The Bonnie Hunt Show'' (2010)

''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (2010)

''The Rachel Ray Show'' (2011)

''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (2011)

References

[35] My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: a Memoir, Dick van Dyke (2011)

External links

Dick Van Dyke in Danville, Ill and Crawfordsville, Ind. — PDF Article

At the Museum of Broadcast Communications

"Remembering the Van Dyke Show"

Dick Van Dyke -Disney Legends profile (requires Flash)

Dick Van Dyke talks about his career for the Archive of American Television Arts and Sciences (requires Flash)

Empire - The Worst British Accents Ever - Number 11 - Dick Van Dyke singing in Mary Poppins (1964) (requires Flash)

Category:Actors from Missouri Category:American dancers Category:American film actors Category:American male singers Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:United States Army Air Forces soldiers Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American Presbyterians Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:American tenors Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jamie Records artists Category:People from Danville, Illinois Category:People from Howell County, Missouri Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Tony Award winners Category:1925 births Category:Living people

cs:Dick Van Dyke cy:Dick Van Dyke de:Dick Van Dyke et:Dick Van Dyke es:Dick Van Dyke fa:دیک ون دایک fr:Dick Van Dyke id:Dick Van Dyke it:Dick Van Dyke nl:Dick Van Dyke ja:ディック・ヴァン・ダイク no:Dick Van Dyke pl:Dick Van Dyke pt:Dick Van Dyke ro:Dick Van Dyke ru:Ван Дайк, Дик sr:Дик Ван Дајк sh:Dick Van Dyke fi:Dick Van Dyke sv:Dick Van Dyke tl:Dick Van Dyke

name	Martha Raye
birthname	Margy Reed
birth date	August 27, 1916
birth place	Butte, Montana, U.S.
death date	October 19, 1994
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
yearsactive	1934–1985
occupation	Actress/Singer/Comedienne
spouse	Bud Westmore (1937-1938)David Rose (1938-1941)Neal Lang (1941-1944)Nick Condos (1944-1953)Edward T. Begley (1954-1956)Robert O'Shea (1956-1960)Mark Harris (1991-1994) }}

Martha Raye (August 27, 1916 – October 19, 1994) was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She was honored in 1969 with an Academy Award as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient for her volunteer efforts and services to the troops.

Early years

Raye's life as a singer and comedy performer began very early in her childhood. She was born at St. James Hospital, in Butte, Montana as Margy Reed, where her Irish immigrant parents, Peter F. Reed and Maybelle Hooper, were performing at a local vaudeville theatre as "Reed and Hooper". Two days after Martha was born, her mother was already back on stage, and Martha first appeared in their act when she was three years old. She performed with her brother, Bud, and soon the two children became such a highlight that the act was renamed "Margie and Bud." Some show business insiders speculated that the Judy Garland song from ''A Star Is Born'', "I was born in a trunk in the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho" was inspired by Raye's beginnings.

Raye continued performing from that point on and even attended the Professional Children's School in New York City, but she received so little formal schooling, getting only as far as the fifth grade, that she often had to have scripts and other written documents read to her by others.

Career

In the early 1930s, Raye was a band vocalist with the Paul Ash and Boris Morros orchestras. She made her first film appearance in 1934 in a band short titled ''A Nite in the Nite Club''. In 1936, she was signed for comic roles by Paramount Pictures, and made her first picture for Paramount. Her first feature film was ''Rhythm on the Range'' with crooner Bing Crosby. From 1936-39, covering 39 shows, she was a featured cast member on Al Jolson's weekly CBS radio show, "The Lifebuoy Program” aka “Cafe Trocadero.” In addition to comedy, Martha sang both solos and duets with Jolson. Over the next 26 years, she would eventually appear with many of the leading comics of her day, including Joe E. Brown, Bob Hope, W. C. Fields, Abbott and Costello, Charlie Chaplin, and Jimmy Durante. She joined the USO soon after the US entered World War II.

Martha Raye was known for the size of her mouth, which appeared large in proportion to the rest of her face, thus earning her the nickname The Big Mouth. She later referred to this in a series of commercials for Polident denture cleaner in the 1980s: "So take it from The Big Mouth: new Polident Green gets tough stains clean!" Her mouth would come to relegate her motion picture work to largely supporting comic parts, and was often made up in such a way that it appeared even larger than it already was. In the Warner Brothers cartoon ''The Woods are Full of Cuckoos'', she is caricatured as a jazzy scat-singing donkey named ''Moutha Bray''.

USO

During World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, she travelled extensively to entertain the American troops, even though she had a lifelong fear of flying.

In October 1966, she went to Soc Trang, Vietnam, to entertain the troops at the base which was the home base of the 121st Aviation company, the Soc Trang Tigers, the gunship platoon, The Vikings and the 336th Aviation company. Shortly after her arrival, both units were called out on a mission to extract supposed POWs from an area nearby. Raye decided to hold her troupe of entertainers there until the mission was completed so that all of the servicemen could watch her show. She often served as a nurse while on these trips.

During that time, a serviceman flying a "Huey Slick" helicopter carrying troops recalls that his ship received combat damage to the extent that he had to return to base at Soc Trang:

I was the pilot of that "slick" which had received major damage to the tail-rotor drive shaft from a lucky enemy rifle shot. The maintenance team at the staging area inspected and determined that a one-time flight back to base camp would be okay but grounded the aircraft after that.

Upon arriving back at Soc Trang, I informed Martha (she came right up to us and asked how things were going) that we had a gunship down in the combat area and additional efforts were being made to extract the crew. I don't recall if we had received word of the death of the pilot at that time. Martha stated that she and her troupe would remain until everyone returned from the mission.

As there were no replacements, the servicemen could not return to the mission. While the servicemen waited, Raye played poker with them and helped to keep everyone's spirits up.

I enjoyed playing cards with Martha but regretted it somewhat. It appears that she had plenty of practice playing poker with GIs during her USO service in multiple wars. But I still love her for who she was and what she did.

When the mission was completed, which had resulted in the loss of a helicopter, gunship and a Viking pilot, there was also an officer, the Major who was in command of the Vikings who had been wounded when the ship went down. He was flying pilot position but was not in control of the ship when the command pilot, a Warrant Officer, was shot. When he and the two remaining crewmen were returned to Soc Trang, Raye volunteered to assist the doctor in treating the wounded flyer. When all had been completed, Raye waited until everybody was available and then put on her show. Everyone involved appreciated her as an outstanding trouper and a caring person. During the Vietnam War, she was made an honorary Green Beret because she visited United States Army Special Forces in Vietnam without fanfare, and she helped out when things got bad in Special Forces A-Camps. As a result, she came to be known affectionately by the Green Berets as "Colonel Maggie."

On November 2, 1993, Martha Raye was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Bill Clinton, for her service to her country. The citation reads:

"A talented performer whose career spans the better part of a century, Martha Raye has delighted audiences and uplifted spirits around the globe. She brought her tremendous comedic and musical skills to her work in film, stage, and television, helping to shape American entertainment. the great courage, kindness, and patriotism she showed in her many tours during World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam Conflict earned her the nickname "Colonel Maggie." The American people honor Martha Raye, a woman who has tirelessly used her gifts to benefit the lives of her fellow Americans."

TV career

Raye was an early television star when that medium was very young; for a while she had her own program, ''The Martha Raye Show'' (1954–1956) in which she was the lead and her awkward boyfriend was portrayed by retired middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano. The writer and producer was future ''The Phil Silvers Show'' creator Nat Hiken. Other stars who appeared on her show included Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cesar Romero and Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb. She also appeared on other TV shows in the 1950s, such as ''What's My Line?''. Following the demise of her TV variety show, the breakup of her fifth marriage, and a series of other personal and health problems, she attempted suicide with sleeping pills on August 14, 1956. Well wishers gave her a St. Christopher's medal, a St. Genesius medal and a Star of David. After her recovery, she wore these faithfully, although she was neither Roman Catholic nor Jewish. At the end of her TV programs, she would also thank the nuns at The Sisters of St. Francis Hospital in Miami, Florida, where she recovered. She would always say, "Goodnight, Sisters" as a sign of appreciation and gratitude. Later, Raye served as the television spokesperson for Polident denture cleanser, principally during the 1970s and 1980s.

Later career

In 1970, she portrayed Boss Witch, the "Queen of all Witch-dom" in the feature film ''Pufnstuf'' for Sid and Marty Krofft. This led to her being cast as villainess Benita Bizarre in ''The Bugaloos'' (1970), which the Kroffts produced the same year.

She often appeared as a guest on other programs, particularly ones that often had older performers as guest stars, such as ABC's ''The Love Boat'' and on variety programs, including the short-lived ''The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show'', also on ABC. She also appeared for two years as Mel Sharples' mother, Carrie, on the CBS sitcom ''Alice''. She made guest appearances or did cameo roles in such series as ''Murder, She Wrote'' on CBS and ''The Andy Williams Show'' and ''McMillan & Wife'', both on NBC. She appeared again as housekeeper Agatha for the 6 episode run of the retooled ''McMillan''.

Personal life

Raye's personal life was complex and emotionally tumultuous. She was married seven times.

She was married to Hamilton "Buddy" Westmore from May 30, 1937 until September 1937, filing for divorce on the basis of extreme cruelty; to conductor and composer, David Rose from October 8, 1938 to May 19, 1941; to Neal Lang from May 25, 1941 to February 3, 1944; to Nick Condos from February 22, 1944 to June 17, 1953 which resulted in the birth of her only child Melodye Raye Condos on July 26, 1944; to Edward T. Begley from April 21, 1954 to October 6, 1956; to Robert O'Shea from November 7, 1956 to December 1, 1960; and to Mark Harris from September 25, 1991 until her death in 1994.

Mark Harris

Raye's marriage to Harris in a Las Vegas ceremony made headlines in 1991, partly because Raye was 75 and Harris was 42, and partly because the two had known each other for less than a month. Harris was also bisexual. They remained married until her death in 1994. At that time, Harris received the bulk of Martha Raye's estate, including her home in Bel Air, California. Raye's will left nothing to her only daughter from a previous marriage, Melodye Condos, from whom Raye was estranged at the time of her death. On April 23, 2008, Harris was interviewed on ''The Howard Stern Show'' and revealed that he had spent all but $100,000 of the money left to him in Raye's will, from an estimated $3 million. He also revealed that he had suffered two heart attacks and was living in New York with one of his adult daughters. Before her death, with Harris's support, Raye sued Bette Midler and the producers of the movie ''For The Boys'' in the early 1990s, claiming that the film was based on Martha's extensive experience as a much-loved entertainer of US troops during three wars. She lost the case when the judge after hearing evidence on both sides decided that Raye did not have a case.

Death

Raye's final years were spent dealing with ongoing health problems. She suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had lost both legs in 1993 due to circulatory problems. She died of pneumonia on October 19, 1994, after a long history of cardiovascular disease. Raye was 78 years of age, and residing in Los Angeles at the time of her death.

In appreciation of her work with the USO during World War II and subsequent wars, special consideration was given to bury her in Arlington National Cemetery upon her death. However, at her request, she was ultimately buried with full military honors in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She is the only woman buried in the SF (Special Forces) cemetery at Ft. Bragg. She was an honorary Colonel in the Marines and an honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army.

Raye has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for motion pictures, located at 6251 Hollywood Blvd., and for television, located at 6547 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography

Film

''A Nite in a Nite Club'' (1934)

''Rhythm on the Range'' (1936)

''The Big Broadcast of 1937'' (1936)

''Hideaway Girl'' (1936)

''College Holiday'' (1936)

''Cinema Circus'' (1937)

''Waikiki Wedding'' (1937)

''Mountain Music'' (1937)

''Artists & Models'' (1937)

''Double or Nothing'' (1937)

''The Big Broadcast of 1938'' (1938)

''College Swing'' (1938)

''Tropic Holiday'' (1938)

''Give Me a Sailor'' (1938)

''Never Say Die'' (1939)

''$1000 a Touchdown'' (1939)

''The Farmer's Daughter'' (1940)

''The Boys from Syracuse'' (1940)

''Navy Blues'' (1941)

''Keep 'Em Flying'' (1941)

''Hellzapoppin''' (1941)

''Four Jills in a Jeep'' (1944)

''Pin Up Girl'' (1944)

''Monsieur Verdoux'' (1947)

''Billy Rose's Jumbo'' (1962)

''No Substitute for Victory'' (1970) (documentary)

''The Phynx'' (1970)

''Pufnstuf'' (1970)

''The Concorde ... Airport '79'' (1979)

Television

''Four Star Revue'' (host from 1951–1953)

''The Martha Raye Show'' (1954–1956)

''Club Oasis'' (1957-1958)

''The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show'', episode "Circus", December 8, 1962

''The Judy Garland Show (1964)

''The Hollywood Palace, April 2, 1966

''The Carol Burnett Show'' (1969)

''The Bugaloos'' (1970–1972)

''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' (1977)

''Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol'' (1979)

''The Gossip Columnist'' (1980)

''Pippin: His Life and Times'' (1981)

''Alice (cast member from 1982–1984)

''Murder, She Wrote'', episode "Armed Response" (1985)

''Alice in Wonderland'' (1985)

References

External links

''All Star Revue'' episode guide at Classic TV Info.

''The Martha Raye Show'' episode guide at Classic TV Info.

Martha's Bio (from ALICE Website)

Colonel Maggie

Story of Raye

Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American pop singers Category:American television actors Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Actors from Montana Category:People from Butte, Montana Category:Torch singers Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Vaudeville performers Category:Women comedians Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:American stage actors Category:20th-century actors Category:1916 births Category:1994 deaths

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