Bernie Little (born in McComb, Ohio, USA circa 1926 - died April 25, 2003) was the most successful owner in Unlimited Hydroplane racing history. His Miss Budweiser team won 134 of the 354 hydroplane races they entered. They won the high points championship 22 years in 40 years of competition, and the Gold Cup 14 times. His first victory came on the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington in 1966 for the Columbia Cup. The winning driver, Bill Brow, won in the Miss Budweiser with a winning speed greater than 98 mph.

Little's team is also known for making an enclosed driver's seat to improve driver safety, after driver Dean Chenoweth was killed in a crash in Kennewick, Washington during qualification for a race in 1982.

His team employed some of the biggest names in their field, including designer Ron Jones, and driver Chip Hanauer who won more Gold Cup races than any other driver, and is second only to Bill Muncey, and Dave Villwock, in total races won.

Little has been inducted into the Unlimited Hydroplane Hall of Fame, the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Chenoweth, Hanauer, and another driver for Little, Tom D'Eath, are also in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

References[link]

• Bernie Little obituary from the American Boat Racing Association website
• Bernie Little - King of Boats by Fred Farley - APBA Unlimited Historian

Bernie Mac
Bernie Mac on the set of Soul Men in 2008 in Memphis, Tennessee
Birth name	Bernard Jeffrey McCullough
Born	(1957-10-05)October 5, 1957 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	August 9, 2008(2008-08-09) (aged 50) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, film, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1977–2008
Genres	Observational comedy, Satire, Black comedy, Insult comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday life, marriage, parenting, family, race relations, racism
Influences	Nipsey Russell, Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor
Spouse	Rhonda McCullough (m. 1977–2008) «start: (1977)–end+1: (2009)»"Marriage: Rhonda McCullough to Bernie Mac" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Bernie_Mac)(his death,1 child)
Notable works and roles	Pastor Clever in Friday The Original Kings of Comedy Frank Catton in Ocean's Eleven Stan Ross in Mr. 3000 Bernie McCullough on The Bernie Mac Show Floyd Henderson in Soul Men

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name, Bernie Mac, was an American actor and comedian. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. Hughley as The Original Kings of Comedy.

After briefly hosting the HBO show Midnight Mac, Mac appeared in several films in smaller roles. His most noted film role was as Frank Catton in the remake Ocean's Eleven and the titular character of Mr. 3000. He was the star of The Bernie Mac Show, which ran from 2001 through 2006, earning him two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. His other films included starring roles in Booty Call, Friday, The Players Club, Head of State, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Bad Santa, Guess Who, Pride, Soul Men, Transformers and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, a disease in which abnormal collections of chronic inflammatory cells (granulomas) form as nodules in multiple organs, particularly the lungs and lymph nodes. Lung scarring or infection may lead to respiratory failure and death. Mac had said the condition was in remission in 2005. His death on August 9, 2008 was caused by complications from pneumonia.

Early life[link]

Bernie Mac was born and raised in southern Chicago, Illinois by his single mother, Mary, who died of cancer when he was 16.

He put on shows for neighborhood kids on the city's South Side. He attended Chicago Vocational Career Academy. Later, he moved to Tampa, Florida.^[1] During his 20s, he worked in a variety of jobs, including furniture mover and a UPS agent.^[1]

Career[link]

Bernie Mac's influences were from The Three Stooges and listening to stand-up comedians Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx. Mac started as a stand-up comedian in Chicago's Cotton Club. After he won the Miller Lite Comedy Search at the age of 32, his popularity as a comedian began to grow. A performance on HBO's Def Comedy Jam thrust him into the spotlight. He opened for Dionne Warwick, Redd Foxx and Natalie Cole. He played a small role in 1994's House Party 3 as Uncle Vester. He also had a short-lived talk show on HBO titled Midnight Mac. Later, Mac also acted in minor roles and got his big break as "Pastor Clever" in Ice Cube's 1994 film Friday. Following that role, Mac had his first starring role as "Dollar Bill", a silly, slick-talking club owner in The Players Club. Mac was able to break from the traditional "black comedy" genre, having roles in the 2001 remake of Ocean's Eleven and becoming the new Bosley for the Charlie's Angels sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. In 2001, he gave an impressive performance in a supporting role as the villain "Gin Slagel, The Store Dick" in Bad Santa. He also starred in Guess Who?, a comedic remake of the film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and made an appearance in the 2007 film Transformers as the car salesman "Bobby Bolivia". In his later years, he hosted the reality television talent show Last Comic Standing. He also served as the voice of Zuba, Alex the Lion's long lost father in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He co-starred with Samuel L. Jackson in the 2008 musical comedy Soul Men as "Floyd Henderson". His final film role was as "Jimmy Lunchbox", a flamboyant children's entertainer in the 2009 Disney film Old Dogs which was released a year after his death. He starred alongside John Travolta and Robin Williams in that particular film.

Bernie Mac at the Transformers premiere in 2007

In 2001, the Fox network gave Mac his own semi-autobiographical sitcom called The Bernie Mac Show portraying a fictional version of himself. In the show, he suddenly becomes custodian of his sister's three children after she enters rehab. It was a success, in part because it allowed Mac to stay true to his stand-up comedy roots, breaking the fourth wall to communicate his thoughts to the audience. The show contained many parodies of events in Bernie's actual life. It was not renewed after the 2005–2006 season. The series finale aired on April 14, 2006. However, the finale barely left a conclusion for the series, and no ending to the storyline of Bernie and Wanda trying to have a baby which had been abandoned a few episodes earlier. Among other awards, the show won an Emmy^[2] for "Outstanding Writing", the Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, and the Humanitas Prize for television writing that promotes human dignity.^[3] His character on The Bernie Mac Show was ranked #47 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time".^[4]

In 2002, Bernie Mac starred as a retired baseball player in the film Mr. 3000. In the 2003 National League Championship Series, Mac sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field with the Chicago Cubs leading the Florida Marlins in the series 3 games to 2 and in Game 6 by a 2–0 score at the time (it would soon be 3–0 in the bottom of the 7th). Instead of saying "root, root, root for the Cubbies" Mac said, "root, root, root for the champions!" The Cubs lost the game and the series, with some fans claiming that Mac helped jinx the Cubs. Mac later admitted that he had hated the North Side's Cubs his whole life, being a die-hard fan of the South Side's White Sox, and was seen during the White Sox' 2005 World Series victory at U.S. Cellular Field.

Mac was number 72 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time. On March 19, 2007, Mac told David Letterman on the CBS Late Show that he would retire from his 30-year career after he finished shooting the comedy film, The Whole Truth, Nothing but the Truth, So Help Me Mac. "I'm going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit," Mac told Letterman. "I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977. ...I was on the road 47 weeks out of the year."^[5]

Illness and death[link]

In August 2008, Mac was admitted to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. After a week of unsuccessful medical treatment, Mac died in the early morning hours of August 9 from sarcoidosis complicated by pneumonia. In the final three years of his life, Mac publicly disclosed that he suffered from sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in tissue, most often in his lungs.^[6] Mac's public funeral was held a week later on August 16 at the House of Hope Church with over 9,000 people in attendance. Notable mourners were Chris Rock, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Samuel L. Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, Don Cheadle, the cast members from his series and his Kings of Comedy fellows D. L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey. Mac's ashes were interred at the Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery in Homewood, Illinois.

Tributes[link]

The first two of Mac's posthumous films, Soul Men and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, were released three months following his death. Mac's third and final posthumous film, Old Dogs, was released a year later. The 2008 Bud Billiken Parade, which was held in Chicago by the time of his death, was also dedicated to his memory.^[6] On the day of Mac's public funeral, his hometown's local television station WCIU-TV aired an exclusive television special, A Tribute to Bernie Mac, and had interviews with his former colleagues including Camille Winbush, Chris Rock, Joe Torry and some of his family members and close friends. Mac was also honored during "In Memoriam" montages at various award ceremonies following his death.

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bernie Mac

Wikinews has related news: American comedian Bernie Mac has pneumonia American actor and comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 50

• Bernie Mac at the Internet Movie Database
• Bernie Mac at AllRovi
• Bernie Mac at Find a Grave
• Works by or about Bernie Mac in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Bernie Mac at Emmys.com

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

Ben Bernie
Ben Bernie as seen on early 1930s sheet music.
Born	May 30, 1891 Bayonne, New Jersey
Died	October 23, 1943(1943-10-23) (aged 52)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Jazz violinist, Radio personality

Ben Bernie (May 30, 1891 – October 23, 1943), born Bernard Anzelevitz, was an American jazz violinist and radio personality, often introduced as The Old Maestro. He was noted for his showmanship and memorable bits of snappy dialogue.

Bernie was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. By the age of 15 he was teaching violin, but this experience apparently diminished his interest in the violin for a time. He returned to music doing vaudeville, appearing with Phil Baker as Baker and Bernie, but he met with little success until 1922 when he joined his first orchestra. Later, he had his own band, "The Lads," seen in the early DeForest Phonofilm sound short, Ben Bernie and All the Lads (1924–1925), featuring pianist Oscar Levant. He toured with Maurice Chevalier and also toured in Europe.

Bernie's orchestra recorded throughout the 1920s and 1930s; Vocalion (1922–1925), Brunswick (1925–1933), Columbia (1933), Decca (1936), and ARC (Vocalion and OKeh) (1939–1940). In 1925 Ben Bernie and his orchestra did the first recording of Sweet Georgia Brown. Bernie was the co-composer of this jazz standard, which became the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters. (His Vocalion and Brunswick records were always listed as Ben Bernie and His Orchestra; only his Columbia records used the moniker "Ben Bernie and All The Lads".)

Radio[link]

His musical variety radio shows through the 1930s, usually titled, Ben Bernie, The Old Maestro, were hugely successful, with ratings placing him among radio's top ten programs. He was heard on radio as early as 1923, broadcasting on WJZ and the NBC Blue Network in 1930-31, sponsored by Mennen. After a 1931-32 run on CBS, sponsored by Pabst Beer (during Prohibition, they sold malt syrup, the primary ingredient in brewing "homemade beer"), he was heard Tuesdays on NBC from 1932 to 1935, also with Pabst. His announcer during this period was Jimmy Wallington.

On the Blue Network from 1935 to 1937, Bernie's sponsor was the American Can Company. He returned to CBS in 1938, sponsored by U.S. Rubber. With Half-&-Half Tobacco as a sponsor, he did a musical quiz program of CBS from 1938 to 1940. From 1940-41, Bromo-Seltzer was his sponsor on the Blue Network. Wrigley's Gum sponsored The Ben Bernie War Workers' Program (1941–43). He also made guest appearances on other radio shows.

His theme was "It's a Lonesome Old Town" and his signature trademark, "yowsah, yowsah, yowsah" (also spelled "yowsa" or "yowza"), became a national catchphrase.^[1] The term was memorably used by a character in the 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, and revived by the band Chic in 1977 with their hit "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)".^[2]

Announcers for Bernie's programs included Harlow Wilcox, Harry von Zell and Bob Brown. With comedy from Lew Lehr and Fuzzy Knight, the line-up of vocalists included Buddy Clark, Little Jackie Heller, Scrappy Lambert, Pat Kennedy, Jane Pickens, Dinah Shore and Mary Small.

To boost ratings, Walter Winchell and Bernie, who were good friends, staged a fake rivalry similar to the comedic conflict between Jack Benny and Fred Allen. This mutually beneficial "feud" was a running gag on their radio appearances and continued in two films in which they portrayed themselves: Wake Up and Live (1937) and Love and Hisses (1937). They are also caricatured in the Warner Bros. cartoons The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (1937) as "Ben Birdie" and "Walter Finchell" and The Coo-Coo Nut Grove (1936) as "Ben Birdie" and "Walter Windpipe".

Bernie was a freemason, member of Keystone Lodge n.º 235, New York City.

Selected discography[link]

References[link]

• Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ben Bernie

• Ben Bernie at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben Bernie at AllRovi
• Ben Bernie at Find a Grave
• Biography
• Ben Bernie and All the Lads (1924-25) made in Phonofilm by Lee DeForest

Arthur Fields

Arthur Fields (August 6, 1888 – March 29, 1953) was a United States singer (baritone) and songwriter.

"Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning, sung by Arthur Fields in 1919. Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Grey Gull record from late 1921 featuring Arthur Fields singing Weep No More, My Mammy.

He was born Abraham ("Abe") Finkelstein in Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, but grew up mainly in Utica, New York. He became a professional singer as a youngster. Around 1908 he toured with Guy Brother's Minstrel Show, and helped form a vaudeville act "Weston, Fields and Carroll".

His first hit as a songwriter was On The Mississippi (1912) which he wrote the music for with Harry Carroll and Ballard MacDonald supplied the lyrics. In 1914 he wrote the lyrics to Aba Daba Honeymoon, which was revived for the 1950 M.G.M. film Two Weeks With Love and thus got a renewed popularity which brought Fields large royalty incomes during his last two years.

From 1914 onward he recorded with many bands and for many labels and had a varied career in the recording industry. His 1919 recordings with bandleader Ford Dabney may be the very first recordings of a white singer backed by a black band. For a period Fields also formed a vocal trio with brothers Jack and Irving Kaufman, billing themselves as "The Three Kaufields". Fields also often appeared on records under pseudonyms, for example as "Mr X." on Grey Gull Records and related labels. His last records were made in the early 1940s.

Among Field's most prolific partnerships was the one with band leader and pianist Fred Hall, with whom Fields made plenty of records and co-wrote several songs, often with comic titles like The Shoes We Have Left Are All Right and I Can't Sleep In The Movies Anymore. Hall and Fields also broadcasted together as Rex Cole's Mountaineers.

Retiring to Florida in 1946 he also worked in radio on WKAT Miami. He suffered a stroke early in 1953 and was killed in a fire at Littlefield Nursing Home in Largo a little later the same year.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arthur Fields

• Arthur Fields at the Internet Movie Database
• Arthur Fields online biography by Tim Gracyk
• Arthur Fields's death certificate
• Song Any Old Place the Gang from archive.org
• Arthur Fields cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

Pat O'Day (born 1934 as Paul W. Berg) is a Pacific Northwest broadcaster and promoter. He is probably best known as the afternoon drive personality at Seattle's KJR 950 in the 1960s,^[1] he would eventually become program director and general manager. He owned KYYX - FM 96.5 Radio in Seattle ^[2] in the mid seventies and early 80s. This frequency is now occupied by KJAQ. The current KYYX station in another city has no connection. O'Day also served as the radio "voice of the Hydros" during Seattle's annual Seafair Hydroplane Race.^[3]

According to historylink.org, he is responsible for bringing the Seattle music scene to national prominence.^[4] O'Day currently lives in the San Juan Islands where he sells real estate.^[5] O'Day wrote "It Was All Just Rock And Roll", detailing his work in radio and concert promotion.^[6] He has three sons and one daughter, Garry, Jerry, and Jeff, and daughter Kelsey. Although a reputation for excessive drinking hurt his image early in his career, he entered Schick Shadel Hospital in 1986 for treatment.^[7] He is now Schick Shadel's spokesman in both radio and television advertisements.

In 2007 Pat O'Day joined more than two dozen other radio and music industry leaders as a member of the nominating committee of the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

References[link]

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=3130 (Correct URL)