Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-6 of 6
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Imogene Coca is best remembered for playing opposite Sid Caesar in the live 90-minute Your Show of Shows (1950), which ran every Saturday night in regular season on NBC from February 1950 to June 1954. Their repertoire of comedy acts included the very memorable, hilarious, timeless and irreconcilable married couple Charlie and Doris Hickenlooper. Coca, however, did not begin her career in comedy. Her father, who was the conductor at a small Philadelphia opera house, and her mother, who performed in vaudeville, certainly instilled in her a desire to perform, but nurtured that desire with piano lessons, vocal training and dance. "I began as one of those horrible little children who sing with no voice," Coca said of her early training. By the time she was 13, she found herself tap dancing, somersaulting (along with various other acrobatics), dancing ballet and otherwise committed full-time as a serious vaudeville trouper. She left Philadelphia at 15 for New York, where she plied her trade as a dancer. She debuted in the chorus of "When You Smile." For the next 30 years music and dance were her staple. She could be found in the troupes of musical revues and doing her own acts in Manhattan clubs, such as the Rainbow Room, the Silver Slipper and Cafe Society Uptown. Her first husband, Robert Burton (who died in 1955), arranged music for many of her performances. Comedy and pantomime filtered into her routines quite by accident. In the production of "New Faces of 1934" Leonard Sillman, the choreographer for the show, loaned her his coat to keep her warm in what was a very cold theater. To augment what warmth she was getting from the oversized coat, Coca, along with three male dancers in the chorus began jumping up and down and improvising dance steps. Stillman noticed them and immediately recognized the comedic affect. He encouraged them to repeat the routine in the show, coat and all, which they did. Although coolly received by the audience at first, eventually the bit had the audience in stitches. Even the critics laughed, crediting Coca with great comedic talent. To hone her skills in what would become her forte in show business, Coca did the next four summers in the Poconos working with Danny Kaye, Carol Channing and the like.
It wasn't until near the end of WWII that she found much work in her new field and it wasn't until January 1949 that she was paired with Caesar in NBC's The Admiral Broadway Revue (1949), a show that aired only until that summer. In the fall of 1950 "Your Show of Shows" was launched on NBC. Coca won an Emmy the following year for her contributions to the program. She and Ceasar left the show in 1954 to pursue individual routes. They did not, however, match the success they enjoyed in "Your Show of Shows." Coca attempted a solo with The Imogene Coca Show (1954), but it lasted only one season. In 1958 Caesar and she paired again on Sid Caesar Invites You (1958); still, it was not the same. Only in 1967 did some of that same magic again occur when the original cast from "Your Show of Shows" reunited on CBS in _The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special (1967) (TV)_; it won an Emmy for outstanding variety special.
Coca starred in two single-season sitcoms in the 1960s: NBC's 1963-64 Grindl (1963) and CBS' 1966-67 It's About Time (1966). In the 1970s she could be found visiting on Dick Cavett's talk show and making guest appearances on The Carol Burnett Show (1967). Thereafter, she appeared only sporadically on TV and in the movies--her most notable appearance was as Aunt Edna in Vacation (1983) with Chevy Chase. Coca and Caesar re-visited some of their old sketches and put together the 1991 show "Together Again", which they toured throughout the country on stage. In her later years Coca and her second husband, actor King Donovan (who died in 1987), lived in Connecticut and Manhattan, staying close to her roots in vaudeville, theatre and "Your Show of Shows."- Born Rita Hernandez in Manila, Philippines, Pilar Seurat moved to Los Angeles in her childhood and started out as a dancer in Ken Murray's "Blackouts" troupe. In the late 1950s she started her acting career in several guest TV appearances, and was often considered at the top of the list whenever a part for an Asian woman needed to be filled. Off screen she used the name Pilar Cerveris after marrying her second husband, Don Cerveris. She died June 2, 2001, in Los Angeles due to lung cancer, at the age of 62.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Jean Michaud was born on 13 July 1921 in Tunis, French Protectorate of Tunisia [now Tunisia]. He was an actor and writer, known for I Love You, I Love You (1968), Aux frontières du possible (1971) and Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (1967). He died on 2 June 2001 in Paris, France.- Joey Maxim was a handsome and popular boxing champion in the Golden Age of boxing in the 1950s. Maxim was only knocked out once in over 100 fights. The only man to stop the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson. Out-boxed "Irish" Bob Murphy who was 60-5 with 55 knockouts. Lost in bids to capture the Heavyweight crown from Ezzard Charles and to recapture his lost title from Archie Moore. The first fighter to defeat Floyd Patterson.
- Gene Woodling was born on 16 August 1922 in Akron, Ohio, USA. He was married to Betty Nicely. He died on 2 June 2001 in Barberton, Ohio, USA.
- Max Gierke was born on 4 February 1917 in Danzig, Pomerania, Germany. Max was a producer, known for The Woman from Sarajevo (1980), Kommissar Brahm (1967) and Bitte keine Polizei (1975). Max died on 2 June 2001 in Feldafing, Bavaria, Germany.