- published: 30 Jun 2016
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Harry von Zell (July 11, 1906 – November 21, 1981), born in Indianapolis, Indiana, made his mark as an announcer of radio programs and an actor in films and television shows. He is best remembered for his work on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.
After living in Indianapolis, where his father was a sports reporter, Harry von Zell and his family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, where he graduated from high school. Later, the family moved to California, where Zell studied music and drama at the University of California, Los Angeles and worked at a variety of jobs. After friends tricked him into singing on a radio program, he received offers from radio stations, and his radio career began.
Zell broke into show business as a singer and announcer at radio station KMIC in Inglewood, California in the mid-1920s. Later, auditioning for Paul Whiteman's radio show in 1929, he was chosen from a field of 250 announcers. When that series came to an end in 1930, he headed for New York and became a CBS staff announcer, working with Fred Allen, Phil Baker, Eddy Duchin and Ed Wynn. He also announced for The Aldrich Family, The Amazing Mr. Smith, and The March of Time. An obituary noted, "At times during the 1920s and 1930s Zell was announcer on as many as twenty shows a week." His longest running radio partnership was his nine seasons with veteran comedian Eddie Cantor. From October 1940 to June 1949 Zell served as Cantor's commercial spokesperson and straight man. As Cantor cast member Dinah Shore's solo career began to blossom, she brought Zell in as announcer on her Birds Eye Open House program.
Actors: Emil Sitka (actor), Elwood Ullman (writer), Edward Bernds (director), Dick Wessel (actor), Christine McIntyre (actress), Minerva Urecal (actress), Jean Willes (actress), Hugh McCollum (producer), Harry von Zell (actor), Henry DeMond (editor),
Plot: Harry Von Zell, popular radio announcer, has to go out of town to open a new radio station but his wife, egged on by her mother, thinks he is just going there to meet another woman which, of course, he accidentally does, and up shows his new bride and his hatchet-faced mother-in-law. Neither of which are inclined to believe Harry's side of the story.
Keywords: 1940s, actor-shares-first-name-with-character, actor-shares-last-name-with-character, alibi, boss, business-trip, california, chase, false-accusation, hollywood-californiaActors: Edward Bernds (director), Dudley Dickerson (actor), Emil Sitka (actor), Harry Tyler (actor), Jimmy Aubrey (actor), Christine McIntyre (actress), Hugh McCollum (producer), Jules White (producer), Edward Bernds (writer), Edward Bernds (writer), Harry von Zell (actor),
Plot: His radio-station co-workers are so annoyed at being the victims of announcer Harry Von Zell's endless practical joking, and they decide to get even by selling the sponsor on having Von Zell do a broadcast from a haunted house. They then sneak in to scare him with a gorilla-costume worn by one of them, only to find that an escaped-gorilla and his eccentric keeper are already there.
Keywords: 1940s, actor-shares-first-name-with-character, actor-shares-last-name-with-character, actress, announcer, archive-footage, blonde, chase, co-worker, costumeActors: Edward Bernds (director), Eddie Cantor (actor), Vernon Dent (actor), Dudley Dickerson (actor), Ralf Harolde (actor), Fred Kelsey (actor), Victor Potel (actor), Emil Sitka (actor), Phil Arnold (actor), Charles C. Wilson (actor), Symona Boniface (actress), Christine McIntyre (actress), Hugh McCollum (producer), Edward Bernds (writer), Harry von Zell (actor),
Plot: Radio announcer Harry Von Zell is a practical joker. One day, a turban-wearing visitor shows up at the radio station and tells Harry that he is there to take Harry's head back to his Asian tribe to replace that of their dead-leader, and since Harry's head is a dead-ringer for the dead leader's head, Harry must make the sacrifice. Hasim does not explain why their dead leader has no head. A wild chase follows from studio to studio, breaking up several shows in progress and irking a prospective sponsor, until both are caught and brought before Judge Vernon Dent. Harry's wife explains that she had hired the fake swami in the hopes the joke would cause Harry to give up his practical-joke playing. The judge dismisses the case with a warning to Harry to cease and desist and offers to shake hands with Harry. Harry then learns that the judge is something of a practical joker himself.
Keywords: 1940s, actor-shares-first-name-with-character, actor-shares-last-name-with-character, advertising, announcer, arrest, asia, asian, audience, bossActors: Edwin H. Bryant (editor), Heinie Conklin (actor), Lew Davis (actor), Dudley Dickerson (actor), Kenneth MacDonald (actor), Emil Sitka (actor), Phil Arnold (actor), Symona Boniface (actress), Christine McIntyre (actress), Jules White (producer), Clyde Bruckman (writer), Jules White (writer), Jules White (director), Harry von Zell (actor),
Genres: Comedy, Short,Actors: Jim Bannon (actor), Lew Davis (actor), Tom Kennedy (actor), Joe Palma (actor), Emil Sitka (actor), Jules White (director), Edwin H. Bryant (editor), Dick Wessel (actor), Jules White (producer), Zion Myers (writer), Zion Myers (writer), Harry von Zell (actor), Harry von Zell (actor),
Plot: Radio announcer and performer Harry Von Zell, plays a gangster named Hoodlum Harry on a radio program, and is so convincing that some local gangsters decide he will make a swell addition to their ranks. Harry, thinking they are offering him an acting job, readily accepts...and then has to face the consequences.
Keywords: 1940s, actor, actor-shares-first-name-with-character, actor-shares-full-name-with-character, actor-shares-last-name-with-character, announcer, antenna, archive-footage, california, chase