The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( (singular) , derived from ''bol'shinstvo'', "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903.

The Bolsheviks were the majority faction in a crucial vote, hence their name. They ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, and founded the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic which would later in 1922 become the chief constituent of the Soviet Union.

The Bolsheviks, founded by Vladimir Lenin, were by 1905 a mass organization consisting primarily of workers under a democratic internal hierarchy governed by the principle of democratic centralism, who considered themselves the leaders of the revolutionary working class of Russia. Their beliefs and practices were often referred to as Bolshevism. Bolshevik revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky commonly used the terms "Bolshevism" and "Bolshevist" after his exile from the Soviet Union to differentiate between what he saw as true Leninism and the regime within the state and the party which arose under Stalin.

History of the split

In the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, held in Brussels and London during August 1903, Lenin and Martov disagreed over the membership rules. Lenin wanted members "who recognise the Party Programme and support it by material means and by personal participation in one of the party's organisations." Julius Martov suggested "by regular personal assistance under the direction of one of the party's organisations." Lenin advocated limiting party membership to a smaller core of active members, as opposed to "card carriers" who might only be active in party branches from time to time or not at all. This active base would develop the cadre, a core of "professional revolutionaries", consisting of loyal communists who would spend the majority of their time organising the party toward a mass revolutionary party capable of leading a workers' revolution against the Tsarist autocracy.

The base of active and experienced members would be the recruiting ground for this professional core. Sympathizers would be left outside and the party would be organised based on the concept of democratic centralism. Martov, until then a close friend of Lenin, agreed with him that the core of the party should consist of professional revolutionaries, but argued that party membership should be open to sympathizers, revolutionary workers and other fellow travelers.

The two had disagreed on the issue as early as March-May 1903, but it was not until the Congress that their differences became irreconcilable and split the party. Although at first the disagreement appeared to be minor and inspired by personal conflicts, for example, Lenin's insistence on dropping less active editorial board members from ''Iskra'' or Martov's support for the Organizing Committee of the Congress which Lenin opposed, the differences quickly grew and the split became irreparable.

Origins of the name

The two factions were originally known as "hard" (Lenin's supporters) and "soft" (Martov's supporters). Soon, however, the terminology changed to "Bolsheviks" and "Mensheviks", from the Russian "bolshinstvo" (majority) and "menshinstvo" (minority), based on the fact that Lenin's supporters narrowly defeated Martov's supporters on the question of party membership. Neither Lenin nor Martov had a firm majority throughout the Congress as delegates left or switched sides. At the end, the Congress was evenly split between the two factions.

From 1907 on, English language articles sometimes used the term "Maximalist" for "Bolshevik" and "Minimalist" for "Menshevik", which proved confusing since there was also a "Maximalist" faction within the Russian Socialist-Revolutionary Party in 1904–1906 (which after 1906 formed a separate Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries Maximalists) and then again after 1917.

Composition of the party

The average party member was very young. In 1907, 22% of Bolsheviks were under 20, 37% were 20-24 and 16% were 25-29. By 1905, 62% of the members were industrial workers (3% of the population in 1897). 22% of Bolsheviks were gentry (1.7% of the total population), 38% were uprooted peasants, compared with 19% and 26% for the Mensheviks. In 1907 78.3% of the Bolsheviks were Russian and 10% were Jewish (34 and 20% for the Mensheviks). Total membership was 8,400 in 1905, 13,000 in 1906 and 46,100 by 1907 (8,400, 18,000, 38,200 respectively for the Mensheviks). By 1910 both factions together had fewer than 10,000 members.

Beginning of the 1905 Revolution (1903–1905)

The two factions were in a state of flux in 1903–1904 with many members changing sides. The founder of Russian Marxism, Georgy Plekhanov, who was at first allied with Lenin and the Bolsheviks, parted ways with them by 1904. Leon Trotsky at first supported the Mensheviks, but left them in September 1904 over their insistence on an alliance with Russian liberals and their opposition to a reconciliation with Lenin and the Bolsheviks. He remained a self-described "non-factional social democrat" until August 1917 when he joined Lenin and the Bolsheviks as their positions assembled and he came to believe that Lenin was right on the issue of the party.

All but one members of the Central Committee were arrested in Moscow in early 1905. The remaining member, with the power of appointing a new one, was won over by the Bolsheviks.

The lines between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks hardened in April 1905 when the Bolsheviks held a Bolsheviks-only meeting in London, which they called the Third Party Congress. The Mensheviks organised a rival conference and the split was thus formalised.

The Bolsheviks played a relatively minor role in the 1905 Revolution, and were a minority in the St. Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies led by Trotsky. The less significant Moscow Soviet, however, was dominated by the Bolsheviks. These soviets became the model for those formed in 1917.

The Mensheviks ("The minority") (1906–1907)

As the Russian Revolution of 1905 progressed, Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and smaller non-Russian social democratic parties operating within the Russian Empire attempted to reunify at the Fourth (Unification) Congress of the RSDLP held at Folkets hus, Norra Bantorget in Stockholm, April 1906. When the Mensheviks struck an alliance with the Jewish Bund, the Bolsheviks found themselves in a minority.

However, all factions retained their respective factional structure and the Bolsheviks formed the Bolshevik Center, the de-facto governing body of the Bolshevik faction within the RSDLP. At the Fifth Congress held in London in May 1907, the Bolsheviks were in the majority, but the two factions continued functioning mostly independently of each other.

Split between Lenin and Bogdanov (1908–1909)

With the defeat of the revolution in mid-1907 and the adoption of a new, highly restrictive election law, the Bolsheviks began debating whether to boycott the new parliament known as the Third Duma. Lenin and his supporters Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev argued for participating in the Duma while Lenin's deputy philosopher Alexander Bogdanov, Anatoly Lunacharsky, Mikhail Pokrovsky and others argued that the social democratic faction in the Duma should be recalled.

The latter became known as recallists ("otzovists" in Russian). A smaller group within the Bolshevik faction demanded that the RSDLP central committee should give its sometimes unruly Duma faction an ultimatum, demanding complete subordination to all party decisions. This group became known as "ultimatists" and was generally allied with the recallists.

With a majority of Bolshevik leaders either supporting Bogdanov or undecided by mid-1908 when the differences became irreconcilable, Lenin concentrated on undermining Bogdanov's reputation as a philosopher. In 1909 he published a scathing book of criticism entitled ''Materialism and Empiriocriticism'' (1909), assaulting Bogdanov's position and accusing him of philosophical idealism. In June 1909, Bogdanov was defeated at a Bolshevik mini-conference in Paris organised by the editorial board of the Bolshevik magazine ''Proletary'' and expelled from the Bolshevik faction.

Final attempt at party unity (1910)

With both Bolsheviks and Mensheviks weakened by splits within their ranks and by Tsarist repression, they were tempted to try to re-unite the party. In January 1910, Leninists, recallists and various Menshevik factions held a meeting of the party's Central Committee in Paris. Kamenev and Zinoviev were dubious about the idea, but were willing to give it a try under pressure from "conciliator" Bolsheviks like Victor Nogin.

Lenin was firmly opposed to any re-unification, but was outvoted within the Bolshevik leadership. The meeting reached a tentative agreement and one of its provisions made Trotsky's Vienna-based ''Pravda'' a party-financed 'central organ'. Kamenev, Trotsky's brother-in-law, was added to the editorial board from the Bolsheviks, but the unification attempts failed in August 1910 when Kamenev resigned from the board amid mutual recriminations.

Forming a separate party (1912)

The factions permanently broke off relations in January 1912 after the Bolsheviks organised a Bolsheviks-only Prague Party Conference and formally expelled Mensheviks and recallists from the party. As a result, they ceased to be a faction in the RSDLP and instead declared themselves an independent party, called Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (bolsheviks) - or RSDLP(b). Unofficially the Party has been referred to as the "Bolshevik Party". Throughout the century, the Party adopted a number of different names. In 1918, RSDLP(b) became (All-)Russian Communist Party (bolsheviks) and remained so until 1925. From 1925-52 the name was All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks), and from 1952-91 Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Although the Bolshevik leadership decided to form a separate party, convincing pro-Bolshevik workers within Russia to follow suit proved difficult. When the first meeting of the Fourth Duma was convened in late 1912, only one out of six Bolshevik deputies, Matvei Muranov, (another one, Roman Malinovsky, was later exposed as an Okhrana [Tsarist secret police] agent) voted to break away from the Menshevik faction within the Duma on 15 December 1912. The Bolshevik leadership eventually prevailed and the Bolsheviks formed their own Duma faction in September 1913.

Political philosophy

The Bolsheviks believed in organising a party in a centralised and disciplined fashion that sought to overthrow the Tsar through a mass workers' revolution. They believed and succeeded in creating a vanguard party, a mass revolutionary party composed of what they called "the most militant and class-conscious" workers capable of leading the masses of Russian workers.

Although the Bolsheviks were not monolithic, they were characterised by a rigid adherence to the leadership of the central committee, based on the principles of democratic centralism. The Mensheviks favored open party membership and espoused cooperation with the other socialist and some non-socialist groups in Russia. Bolsheviks generally refused to co-operate with liberal or radical parties, viewing them as "bourgeois" parties, or even eventually other socialist organisations, although Lenin sometimes made tactical alliances.

From Bolshevism to Communism

In 1952 at the XIX Party Congress Stalin declared: "There are no more Mensheviks. Why should we call ourselves Bolsheviks? We are not the majority, but the whole party." According to his suggestion, the Bolshevik party was renamed the Communist Party of Soviet Union. Since that time, the term Bolshevik has been regarded as obsolete, and relevant only to the pre-Revolutionary times, during the Russian Revolution itself and the Russian Civil War which followed.

Derogatory usage of "Bolshevik"

During the days of the Cold War in the United Kingdom, labour union leaders and other leftists were sometimes derisively described as "Bolshie". The usage is roughly equivalent to the term "Commie", "Red" or "pinko" in the United States during the same period. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and other Nazi leaders used it in reference to the worldwide revolutionary movement coordinated by the Soviet Union.

See also

Democratic centralism

Leninism

October Revolution

Old Bolshevik

Vladimir Lenin

Related ideologies

Jewish Bolshevism

Trotskyism

Non-Russian/Soviet groups having used the name "Bolshevik"

Bangladesh: Maoist Bolshevik Reorganisation Movement of the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party

India: Bolshevik Party of India

India/Sri Lanka: Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma

India: Revolutionary Socialist Party (Bolshevik)

Mexico: Bolshevik Communist Party

Senegal: Bolshevik Nuclei

Sri Lanka: Bolshevik Samasamaja Party

References

External links

Bolshevism, the Road to Revolution, by Alan Woods

Chronology of the Bolshevik Party World History Database

The Bolsheviks and Workers Control, by Maurice Brinton

by Bertrand Russell, November 1920

Twenty Years in Underground Russia: Memoirs of a Rank-and-File Bolshevik, by Cecilia Bobrovskaya

Category:Communist parties in Russia Category:Factions in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Category:History of Russia Category:Political parties established in 1903 Category:Political parties of the Russian Revolution Category:Russian loanwords Category:Soviet phraseology

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Name	Steve Allen
Birth name	Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen
Birth date	December 26, 1921
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Death date	October 30, 2000
Death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S
Spouse	(divorced) (his death)
Occupation	Actor, comedian, television personality, musician, writer
Years active	1940s–2000 }}

Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best-known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts''. He graduated to become the first host of ''The Tonight Show'', where he was instrumental in innovating the concept of the television talk show. Thereafter, he hosted numerous game and variety shows, including ''The Steve Allen Show'', ''I've Got a Secret'', ''The New Steve Allen Show'', and was a regular panel member on CBS' ''What's My Line?''

Allen was a "creditable" pianist, and a prolific composer, having penned over 14,000 songs, one of which was recorded by Perry Como and Margaret Whiting, others by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Les Brown, and Gloria Lynne. Allen won a Grammy award in 1963 for best jazz composition, with his song ''The Gravy Waltz''. His vast number of songs have never been equaled, however; singer/songwriter Julian Barry is said to have written over 5000 compositions. Allen wrote more than 50 books and has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life

Allen was born in New York City, the son of Billy and Isabelle Allen (née Donohue), a vaudeville comedienne. Allen was raised on the south side of Chicago by his mother's Irish Catholic family. Milton Berle once called Allen's mother "the funniest woman in vaudeville."

Allen's first radio job was on station KOY in Phoenix, Arizona, after he left Arizona State Teachers College (now Arizona State University) in Tempe, while still a sophomore. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and was trained as an infantryman. He spent his service time at Camp Roberts, near Monterey, California and did not serve overseas. Allen returned to Phoenix before deciding to move back to California.

Career

Allen became an announcer for KFAC in Los Angeles and then moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1946, talking the station into airing a five-nights-a-week comedy show, ''Smile Time'', co-starring Wendell Noble. After Allen moved to CBS Radio's KNX in Los Angeles, his music-and-talk half-hour format gradually changed to include more talk on a full-hour, late-night show, boosting his popularity and creating standing-room-only studio audiences. During one episode of the show reserved primarily for an interview with Doris Day, his guest star failed to appear, so Allen picked up a microphone and went into the audience to ad lib for the first time. His radio show attracted a huge local following, and in 1950 it replaced ''Our Miss Brooks'', exposing Allen to a national audience for the first time.

Allen's first television experience had come in 1949 when he answered an ad for a TV announcer for professional wrestling. He knew nothing about wrestling, so he watched some shows and discovered that the announcers did not have well-defined names for the holds. When he got the job, he created names for many of the holds, some of which are still used today. The gig lasted several months before ABC decided to replace the matches with old movies.

After CBS radio gave Allen a weekly prime time show, CBS television believed it could groom him for national small-screen stardom and gave Allen his first network television show. ''The Steve Allen Show'' premiered at 11 am on Christmas Day, 1950, and was later moved into a thirty-minute, early evening slot. This new show required him to uproot his family and move from LA to New York, since at that time a coast to coast program could not originate from LA. The show was only a modest ratings success, and was canceled in 1952, after which CBS tried several shows to showcase Allen's talent.

Allen achieved national attention when he was pressed into service at the last minute to host ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'' because Godfrey was unable to appear. Allen turned one of Godfrey's live Lipton commercials upside down, preparing tea and instant soup on camera and then pouring both into Godfrey's ukulele. With the audience (including Godfrey, watching from Miami) uproariously and thoroughly entertained, Allen gained major recognition as a comedian and host.

He was a regular on the popular panel game show ''What's My Line?'' (where he coined the popular phrase, "Is it bigger than a breadbox?") from 1953 to 1954 and returned frequently as a panelist after Fred Allen died in March 1956, until the series ended in 1967.

''The Tonight Show''

Leaving CBS, he created a late-night New York talk-variety TV program in 1953 for what is now WNBC-TV. The following year, on September 27, 1954, the show went on the full NBC network as ''The Tonight Show'', with fellow radio personality Gene Rayburn (who later went on to host hit game shows such as ''Match Game'', 1962–1982) as the original announcer. The show ran from 11:15 pm to 1:00 am on the East Coast.

While ''Today'' developer Sylvester "Pat" Weaver is often credited as the ''Tonight'' creator, Allen often pointed out that he had previously created it as a local New York show. Allen told his nationwide audience that first evening: "This is ''Tonight'', and I can't think of too much to tell you about it except I want to give you the bad news first: this program is going to go on ''forever...'' you think you're tired now. Wait until you see one o'clock roll around!"

It was as host of ''The Tonight Show'' that Allen pioneered the "man on the street" interviews and audience-participation comedy breaks that have become commonplace on late-night TV.

The Steve Allen Show

In 1956, NBC offered Allen a new, prime-time, Sunday night variety hour, ''The Steve Allen Show'', aimed at dethroning CBS's top-rated ''Ed Sullivan Show''. The show included a typical run of star performers, including early TV appearances by Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Many popular film and television stars were guest stars: Bob Hope, Kim Novak, Errol Flynn, Abbott and Costello, Esther Williams, Jerry Lewis, Martha Raye, The Three Stooges, and a host of others.

The show's regulars were Tom Poston, Louis Nye, Bill Dana, Don Knotts, Pat Harrington, Jr., Dayton Allen, and Gabriel Dell. All except film veteran Dell were relatively obscure performers prior to their stints with Allen, and all went on to stardom. The comedians in Allen's gang were often seen in "The Man in the Street," featuring interviews about some topical subject. Poston would appear as a dullard who couldn't remember his own name; Nye was "Gordon Hathaway," fey Madison Avenue executive; Dana played amiable Latino "Jose Jimenez"; Knotts was an exceedingly jittery man who, when asked if he was nervous, invariably replied with an alarmed "No!"; Harrington was Italian immigrant "Guido Panzini"; Dayton Allen played wild-eyed zanies answering any given question with "Why not?". Gabe Dell usually played straight men in sketches (policemen, newsmen, dramatic actors, etc.).

Other recurring routines included "Crazy Shots" (also known as "Wild Pictures"), a series of sight gags accompanied by Allen on piano; Allen inviting audience members to select three musical notes at random, and then composing a song based on the three notes; a satire on radio's long-running ''The Answer Man'' and a precursor to Johnny Carson's Carnac the Magnificent (Sample answer: "Et tu, Brute."/Allen's reply: "How many pizzas did you eat, Caesar?")

The live Sunday night show aired opposite ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' on CBS and ''Maverick'' on ABC. One of Allen's guests was comedian Johnny Carson, a future successor to Allen as host of ''The Tonight Show''. Among Carson's material during that appearance was a portrayal of how a poker game between Allen, Sullivan, and ''Maverick'' star James Garner (all impersonated by Carson) would transpire. Allen's programs also featured a good deal of music; he helped the careers of singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, who were regulars on his early ''Tonight Show'', and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Allen's show also had one of the longest unscripted "crack-ups" on live TV when Allen began laughing hysterically during "Big Bill Allen's Sports Roundup." He laughed uncontrollably for over a minute, with the audience laughing along, because, as he later explained, he caught sight of his unkempt hair on an off-camera monitor. He kept brushing his hair and changing hats to hide the messy hair, and the more he tried to correct his appearance the funnier it got.

Allen helped the recently invented Polaroid camera become popular by demonstrating its use in live commercials and amassed a huge windfall for his work because he had opted to be paid in Polaroid Corporation stock.

Allen remained host of "Tonight" for three nights a week (Monday and Tuesday nights were taken up by Ernie Kovacs) until early 1957, when he left the "Tonight" show to devote his attention to the Sunday night program. It was his (and NBC's) hope that the Steve Allen show could defeat Ed Sullivan in the ratings. Nevertheless the TV Western ''Maverick'' often bested both ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''The Steve Allen Show'' in audience size. In September 1959, Allen relocated to Los Angeles and left Sunday night television (the 1959-'60 season originated from NBC Color City in Burbank as ''The Steve Allen Plymouth Show'', on Monday nights). Back in Los Angeles, he continued to write songs, hosted other variety shows, and wrote books and articles about comedy.

Later TV projects

From 1962 to 1964, Allen re-created ''The Tonight Show'' on a new late-night ''The Steve Allen Show'', which was syndicated by Westinghouse TV. The five-nights-a-week taped show was broadcast from an old vaudeville theater renamed ''The Steve Allen Playhouse'' on 1228 N. Vine St. in Hollywood. (Several sources have erroneously identified Allen's show using the name of his theater.)

The show was marked by the same wild and unpredictable stunts and comedy skits that often extended down the street to a supermarket known as the Hollywood Ranch Market. He also presented Southern California eccentrics, including health food advocate Gypsy Boots, quirky physics professor Dr. Julius Sumner Miller, wacko comic Prof. Irwin Corey, and an early musical performance by Frank Zappa.

During one episode, Allen placed a telephone call to the home of Johnny Carson, posing as a ratings company interviewer, asking Carson if the Television was on, and what program he was watching. Carson didn't immediately realize the caller was Allen, and the exchange is classic humor from both, beginning to end. A rarity is the exchange between Allen and Carson about Carson's guests, permitting him to plug his own show on a competing network.

One notable program, which Westinghouse refused to distribute, featured Lenny Bruce during the time the comic was repeatedly being arrested on obscenity charges; footage from this program was first telecast in 1998 in a Bruce documentary aired on HBO. Regis Philbin took over hosting the Westinghouse show in 1964, but only briefly.

The show also featured plenty of jazz played by Allen and members of the show's band, the Donn Trenner Orchestra, which included such virtuoso musicians as guitarist Herb Ellis and flamboyantly comedic hipster trombonist Frank Rosolino (whom Allen credited with originating the "Hiyo!" chant later popularized by Ed McMahon). While the show was not an overwhelming success in its day, David Letterman, Steve Martin, Harry Shearer, Robin Williams, and a number of other prominent comedians have cited Allen's "Westinghouse show," which they watched as teenagers, as being highly influential on their own comedic visions.

Allen later produced a second half-hour show for Westinghouse, titled ''Jazz Scene'', which featured West Coast jazz musicians such as Rosolino, Stan Kenton, and Teddy Edwards. The short-lived show was hosted by Oscar Brown, Jr.

Allen hosted a number of television programs up until the 1980s, including ''The New Steve Allen Show'' in 1961 and the game show ''I've Got a Secret'' (replacing original host Garry Moore) in 1964. In the summer of 1967, he brought most of the regulars from over the years back with ''The Steve Allen Comedy Hour'', featuring the debuts of Rob Reiner, Richard Dreyfuss, and John Byner and featuring Ruth Buzzi, who would become famous soon after on "Laugh-In." In 1968–71, he returned to syndicated nightly variety-talk with the same wacky stunts that would influence David Letterman in later years, including becoming a human hood ornament; jumping into vats of oatmeal and cottage cheese; and being slathered with dog food, allowing dogs backstage to feast on the free food. During the run of this series, Allen also introduced Albert Brooks and Steve Martin to a national audience for the first time.

A syndicated version of ''I've Got A Secret'' hosted by Allen and featuring panelists Pat Carroll and Richard Dawson was taped in Hollywood and aired during the 1972-73 season. In 1977, he produced ''Steve Allen's Laugh-Back'', a syndicated series combining vintage Allen film clips with new talk-show material reuniting his 1950s TV gang. From 1986 through 1988, Allen hosted a daily three-hour comedy show heard nationally on the NBC Radio Network that featured sketches and America's best-known comedians as regular guests. His cohost was radio personality Mark Simone, and they were joined frequently by comedy writers Larry Gelbart, Herb Sargent, and Bob Einstein.

Composer, actor, and author

Allen was an accomplished composer who wrote over 10,000 songs. He began his recording career in 1953 by signing with Decca Records's Brunswick Records sublabel. In one famous stunt, he made a bet with singer-songwriter Frankie Laine that he could write 50 songs a day for a week. Composing on public display in the window of a Hollywood music store, Allen met the quota, winning $1,000 from Laine. One of the songs, ''Let's Go to Church Next Sunday'', was recorded by both Perry Como and Margaret Whiting. Allen's best-known songs are "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" and "The Gravy Waltz," the latter having won a Grammy award in 1963 for Best Jazz Composition. He also wrote lyrics for the standards "Picnic" and "South Rampart Street Parade." Allen composed the score to the Paul Mantee imitation James Bond film ''A Man Called Dagger'' (1967), with the score orchestrated by Ronald Stein.

Allen was also an actor. He wrote and starred in his first film, the Mack Sennett comedy compilation ''Down Memory Lane'', in 1949. His most famous film appearance is in 1955's ''The Benny Goodman Story'', in the title role. The film, while an average biopic of its day, was heralded for its music, featuring many alumni of the Goodman band. Allen later recalled his one contribution to the film's music, used in the film's early scenes: the accomplished Benny Goodman could no longer produce the sound of a clarinet beginner, and that was the only sound Allen ''could'' make on a clarinet! In 1960, he appeared as the character "Dr. Ellison" in the episode "Play Acting" of CBS's anthology series ''The DuPont Show with June Allyson'' though his ''The Steve Allen Show'' had been in competition with the June Allyson program the preceding season.

Allen could play a trumpet—sort of. He wrote and recorded a tune called "Impossible," in which he tries to play it straight, but continues to burst out laughing. (The recording has been played on the Dr. Demento radio show.)

From 1977 to 1981, Allen was the producer of the award-winning PBS series, ''Meeting of Minds'', a "talk show" with actors playing the parts of notable historical figures and Steve Allen as the host. This series pitted the likes of Socrates, Marie Antoinette, Thomas Paine, Sir Thomas More, Attila the Hun, Karl Marx, Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and Galileo Galilei in dialogue and argument. This was the show Allen wanted to be remembered for, because he believed that the issues and characters were timeless and would survive long after his passing. This may be more an indictment of popular tastes—which Allen himself wrote about in his last book, "Vulgarians at the Gates"—than of any obtuseness on the show's part.

Allen was a comedy writer and author of more than 50 books, including ''Dumbth'', a commentary on the American educational system, and ''Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, and Morality''. Twenty of his books were concerned with his viewsa about religion. He also wrote book-length commentaries on show business personalities ("Funny People"; "More Funny People"). Perhaps influenced by his son's involvement with a religious cult, he became an outspoken critic of organized religion and an active member of such humanist and skeptical organizations as the Council for Media Integrity, a group that debunked pseudoscientific claims.

Allen and rock music

Allen was notoriously contemptuous of rock 'n' roll music, although he was showman enough to scoop Ed Sullivan by being one of the first to present Elvis Presley on network television (after Presley had appeared on the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey ''Stage Show'' and Milton Berle shows). "Allen found a way... to satisfy the Puritans. He assured viewers that he would not allow Presley 'to do anything that will offend anyone.' NBC announced that a 'revamped, purified and somewhat abridged Presley' had agreed to sing while standing reasonably still, dressed in black tie." In fact, on this occasion, Allen had Elvis wear a top hat and the white tie and tails of a "high class" musician while singing "Hound Dog" to an actual hound, who was similarly attired. According to Jake Austen, "the way Steve Allen treated Elvis Presley was his federal crime. Allen thought Presley was talentless and absurd, and so he decided to goof on him. Allen set things up so that Presley would show his contrition by appearing in a tuxedo and singing his new song 'Hound Dog' to an elderly basset hound..." Elaine Dundy says that Allen smirkingly presented Elvis "with a roll that looks exactly like a large roll of toilet paper with, says Allen, the 'signatures of eighteen thousand fans.' " Presley looked "at Steve as if to say, 'It's all right. I've been made a worse fool in my life,' and after he patted the basset hound he is about to sing ''Hound Dog'' to, he wiped his hands on his trousers as if to wipe away Steve Allen, the dog, and the whole show." Guitarist Scotty Moore later said that Elvis and the members of his band were "all angry about their treatment the previous night." "The next day, as Elvis entered the RCA studios to record 'Hound Dog,' fans greeted him with signs that declared, 'We Want the Real Elvis' and 'We Want the Gyrating Elvis.' In the press, critics were no kinder with the singer than they had ever been, this time pronouncing him a 'cowed kid' who had demonstrated, once again, that he 'couldn't sing or act a lick.' " In a column in ''Newsweek'', John Lardner wrote, "Like Huckleberry Finn, when the widow put him in a store suit and told him not to gap or scratch, [Elvis] had been 'fouled' by NBC's attempt to 'civilize him... for the good of mankind.'" Presley often referred to the Allen show as the most ridiculous performance of his career.

The singer "was later featured in a mediocre cowboy sketch with Allen, Andy Griffith, and Imogene Coca. As 'Tumbleweed Presley,' his big joke was, 'I'm warning you galoots, don't step on my blue suede boots.' " That apparent mockery was consistent with other situations in which Allen had singers in such comic scenarios on his show, in contrast to the simple "singing in front of a curtain" style of the Sullivan show. The house singers on the early ''Tonight'' show were subjected to many such stunts. In addition, Allen's skit with Presley actually was less a put-down of Presley and mainly a satire of country music stage shows like the Grand Ole Opry and the Louisiana Hayride, the Shreveport-based country music radio show (over KWKH) Presley performed on in 1954 and 1955. It's highly debatable, given Presley's spirited performance, whether unlike the top hat and tails performance, there was any put-down motivation on Allen's part with this particular skit, since he could have easily done it in any of his other programs.

In a 1996 interview Allen was asked about the show. Asked if NBC executives expressed any concerns about Elvis's planned appearance, Allen replied that he'd "read more nonsense about " it, and "a lot of wrong reports have gotten into the public -". "If there ever was, I never heard about it. And since it was my show, I think it would have brought to my attention. " Regarding Elvis's movements he stated "No! I took no objection to the movements I'd seen him make on the Dorsey Brothers show. I didn't see a problem. Of course, I had read about some of the controversy, much of it generated by Ed Sullivan, who was opposite of our show on CBS. It didn't matter to me. I was using good production sense in booking him."

In his book "Hi-Ho Steverino!" Allen wrote the following: "When I booked Elvis, I naturally had no interest in just presenting him vaudeville-style and letting him do his spot as he might in concert. Instead we worked him into the comedy fabric of our program." "We certainly didn't inhibit Elvis' then-notorious pelvic gyrations, but I think the fact that he had on formal evening attire made him, purely on his own, slightly alter his presentation."

Allen also appeared on the shows of entertainers, even the rock and roll program ''The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom on ABC.

Later career

In the late 1970s early 80s, Steve Allen recorded a solo piano Pianocorder album for the Pianocorder Contemporary Artists Series, joining other illustrious artists-pianists of the day such as Liberace, Floyd Cramer, Teddy Wilson, Roger Williams, and Johnny Guarnieri to name a few. His solo album was very popular. Pianocorder was founded by Joseph Tushinsky. The Pianocorder was the first modern mechanical player piano made for the public that used solenoids to power the keys. Later, it was bought out by Yamaha-Disklavier and discontinued and is known today as the Yamaha Disklavier. During the late 80s, Allen and his second wife Jayne Meadows made numerous appearances on the drama ''St. Elsewhere'', playing Victor Erlich's estranged parents.

The 1985 documentary film ''Kerouac, the Movie'' starts and ends with footage of Jack Kerouac reading from ''On the Road'' as Allen accompanies on soft jazz piano from ''The Steve Allen Plymouth Show'' in 1959. "Are you nervous?" Allen asks him; Kerouac answers nervously, "Noo," a take-off on the character usually played by Don Knotts.

Allen appeared in a PSA advocating for New Eyes for the Needy in the 1990s.

Personal life

Steve Allen was married to Dorothy Goodman in 1943 and they had three children, Steve Jr., Brian, and David. That marriage ended in divorce in 1952. Allen's second wife was actress Jayne Meadows, sister to actress Audrey Meadows. The marriage of Allen and Meadows produced one son, Bill Allen. They were married from 1954 until his death in 2000.

Allen received a traditional Irish Catholic upbringing. He later became a secular humanist and Humanist Laureate for the Academy of Humanism, a member of CSICOP and the Council for Secular Humanism. He received the Rose Elizabeth Bird Commitment to Justice Award from Death Penalty Focus in 1998. He was a student and supporter of general semantics, recommending it in ''Dumbth'' and giving the Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture in 1992. In spite of his liberal position on free speech, his later concerns about the lewdness he saw on radio and television, particularly the programs of Howard Stern, caused him to make proposals restricting the content of programs, allying himself with the Parents Television Council. His full-page ad on the subject appeared in newspapers a day or two before his unexpected death. Allen's views evolved in the last dozen years of his life, as he called himself an "involved Presbyterian". He had been married for decades to Jayne Meadows, who was the daughter of a Christian missonary.

Allen made a last appearance on ''The Tonight Show'' on September 27, 1994, for the show's 40th anniversary broadcast. Jay Leno was effusive in praise and actually knelt down and kissed his ring.

Death

On October 30, 2000, Allen was driving to his son's home in Encino, California, when his car was struck by another vehicle backing out of a driveway. Neither Allen nor the other driver believed he was injured and damage to both vehicles was minimal, so the two exchanged insurance information and Allen continued on.

Shortly after arriving at his son's home (after carving pumpkins with his grandchildren and taping a radio tribute to an old friend, satirist Paul Krassner), Allen did not feel right and decided to take a nap. While napping, he suffered a massive heart attack and was pronounced dead shortly after 8 p.m. Autopsy results concluded that the traffic accident earlier in the day had caused a blood vessel in his chest to rupture, causing blood to leak into the sac surrounding the heart (known as haemopericardium.) In addition, he suffered four broken ribs as a result of the accident.

Allen was two months shy of his 79th birthday at the time of his death. He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park-Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles.

Allen has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — a television star at 1720 Vine St. and a radio star at 1537 Vine St.

Shows

''Songs for Sale'' (1950–1952)

''What's My Line?'' (regular panelist, 1953–1954; frequent guest panelist 1954-1967)

''Jukebox Jury'' (1953)

''Talent Patrol'' (1953–1955)

''The Steve Allen Show'' (1956–61)

''The Tonight Show'' (1954–1957, NBC)

''The Steve Allen Westinghouse Show'' (1962–1968)

''I've Got a Secret'' (1964–1967, 1972–1973)

''The Steve Allen Show'' (Filmways production, 1968–1969)

''Match Game'' (panelist, 1974)

''Meeting of Minds'' (1977–1981, PBS)

''Steve Allen Comedy Hour'' (1980–1981)

''The Start of Something Big'' (1985–1986)

''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' (1997, one episode, Guest)

''Homicide: Life On The Street (1998): Steve and Jayne appeared as guests (January 16, 1998).

Songs

"Theme from ''Picnic''"

"This Could Be the Start of Something Big"

"Pretend You Don't See Her, My Heart"

"The Gravy Waltz"

"The Saturday Evening Post"

"Impossible"

"Cool Yule"

Comedic Discography

"Man in the street" (1963) (Signature 1004)

"Funny phone calls" (1963) (Dot 3472, re-issued as Casablanca 811-366-1-ML)

"More funny phone calls" (1963) (Dot 3517, re-issued as Casablanca 811-367-1-ML)

Musical Discography

''Soulful Brass'' with Oliver Nelson (Impulse!, 1968)

''Soulful Brass #2'' with Oliver Nelson (Flying Dutchman, 1969)

Books

{|class="wikitable" |- !Year!!Title!!Notes!!Identifiers |- | 1955 || ''Steve Allen's Bop Fables'' || illustrated by George Price || |- | 1955 || ''Fourteen for Tonight'' || short stories || |- | 1956 || ''The Funny Men'' || || |- | 1956 || ''Wry on the Rocks'' || poems || |- | 1958 || ''The Girls on the 10th Floor and Other Stories'' || short stories || ; ISBN 0-8369-3608-6 (1970 printing) |- | 1959 || ''The Question Man...'' || photographs by Gene Lester || |- | 1960 || ''Mark It and Strike It: An Autobiography'' || || |- | 1962 || ''Not All of Your Laughter, Not All of Your Tears'' || Steve's first novel || |- | 1964 || ''Dialogues in Americanism'' || transcript of three debates: Allen vs. William F. Buckley, Jr.; Robert M. Hutchins vs. L. Brent Bozell, and James MacGregor Burns vs. Willmoore Kendall || |- | 1965 || ''Letter to a Conservative'' || || |- | 1966 || ''The Ground is Our Table'' || photographs by Arthur Dubinsky || |- | 1967 || ''Bigger than a Breadbox'' || with commentary by Leonard Feather; illustrations by Rowland B. Wilson || |- | 1969 || ''A Flash of Swallows: New Poems'' || poems || ISBN 0837567343; |- | 1972 || ''The Wake'' || || ISBN 0-385-07608-8 |- | 1973 || ''Princess Snip-Snip and the Puppy-Kittens'' || illustrated by David Gantz || |- | 1973 || ''Curses! or... How Never to Be Foiled Again'' || illustrated by Marvin Rubin || ISBN 0-87477-008-4 |- | 1974 || ''What To Say When It Rains'' || || ISBN 0-8431-0357-4 |- | 1975 || ''Schmock-Schmock!'' || || ISBN 0-385-09664-X |- | 1978 || ''Meeting of Minds'' || || ISBN 0-517-53383-9; 1989 printing: ISBN 0-87975-550-4 |- | 1978 || ''Chopped-Up Chinese'' || || |- | 1979 || ''Ripoff: A Look at Corruption in America'' || with Roslyn Bernstein and Donald H. Dunn || ISBN 0-8184-0249-0 |- | 1979 || ''Meeting of Minds, Second Series'' || || ISBN 0-517-53894-6; 1989 printing: ISBN 0-87975-565-2 |- | 1980 || ''Explaining China'' || || ISBN 0-517-54062-2 |- | 1981 || ''Funny People'' || || ISBN 0-8128-2764-3 |- | 1982 || ''Beloved Son: A Story of the Jesus Cults'' || || ISBN 0-672-52678-6 |- | 1982 || ''More Funny People'' || || ISBN 0-8128-2884-4 |- | 1986 || ''How to Make a Speech'' || || ISBN 0-07-001164-8 |- | 1987 || ''How to Be Funny: Discovering the Comic You'' || with Jane Wollman || ISBN 0-07-001199-0; 1992 printing: ISBN 0-87975-792-2; 1998 revised edition: ISBN 1-57392-206-4 |- | 1989 || ''The Passionate Nonsmoker's Bill of Rights: The First Guide to Enacting Nonsmoking Legislation'' || with Bill Adler, Jr. || ISBN 0-688-06295-4 |- | 1989 || ''"Dumbth": And 81 Ways to Make Americans Smarter'' || || ISBN 0-87975-539-3; 1998 revised edition: ISBN 1-57392-237-4 |- | 1989 || ''Meeting of Minds, Vol. III'' || || ISBN 0-87975-566-0 |- | 1989 || ''Meeting of Minds, Vol. IV'' || || ISBN 0-87975-567-9 |- | 1990 || ''The Public Hating: A Collection of Short Stories'' || || ISBN 0-942637-22-4 |- | 1990 || ''Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion & Morality'' || || ISBN 0-87975-638-1 |- | 1992 || ''Hi-Ho, Steverino: The Story of My Adventures in the Wonderful Wacky World of Television'' || || ISBN 0-942637-55-0; large-print edition: ISBN 1-56054-521-6 |- | 1993 || ''More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion & Morality'' || || ISBN 0-87975-736-1 |- | 1993 || ''Make 'em Laugh'' || || ISBN 0-87975-837-6 |- | 1994 || ''Reflections'' || || ISBN 0-87975-904-6 |- | 1995 || ''The Man Who Turned Back the Clock, and Other Short Stories'' || || ISBN 1-57392-002-9 |- | 1995 || ''The Bug and the Slug in the Rug'' || || ISBN 1-880851-17-2 |- | 1996 || ''But Seriously...: Steve Allen Speaks His Mind'' || || ISBN 1-57392-090-8 |- | 1999 || ''Steve Allen's Songs: 100 Lyrics with Commentary'' || || ISBN 0-7864-0736-0 |- | 2000 || ''Steve Allen's Private Joke File'' || || ISBN 0-609-80672-6 |- | 2001 || ''Vulgarians at the Gate: Trash TV and Raunch Radio—Raising the Standards of Popular Culture'' || || ISBN 1-57392-874-7 |}

Allen's series of mystery novels "starring" himself and wife Jayne Meadows were in part ghostwritten by Walter J. Sheldon, and later Robert Westbrook.

''The Talk Show Murders'' (1982), ISBN 0-440-08471-7

''Murder on the Glitter Box'' (1989), ISBN 0-8217-2752-4

''Murder in Manhattan'' (1990), ISBN 0-8217-3033-9

''Murder in Vegas'' (1991), ISBN 0-8217-3462-8

''The Murder Game'' (1993), ISBN 0-8217-4115-2

''Murder on the Atlantic'' (1995), ISBN 0-8217-4647-2

''Wake Up to Murder'' (1996), ISBN 1-57566-090-3

''Die Laughing'' (1998), ISBN 1-57566-241-8

''Murder in Hawaii'' (1999), ISBN 1-57566-375-9

References

External links

Entertainer Steve Allen dead at 78

Steve Allen tribute (Skeptical Inquirer January 2001)

Steve Allen Interview at Archive of American Television

http://www.box.net/shared/a7kkghvxti Steve Allen Pianocorder/LX Piano Solo "The Shadow of Your Smile"

http://www.box.net/shared/gmr3y5scmj Steve Allen Pianocorder/LX Piano Solo

Steve Allen interview by Mike Wallace on ''The Mike Wallace Interview'' July 7, 1957

http://www.tedstrong.com/steveallen.shtml

FBI file on Steve Allen

Category:1921 births Category:2000 deaths Category:American comedians Category:American comedy musicians Category:American game show hosts Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American skeptics Category:American television talk show hosts Category:Arizona State University alumni Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in California Category:Dot Records artists Category:Drake University alumni Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:People from New York City Category:Westinghouse Broadcasting Category:People from Tempe, Arizona Category:American writers

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