- WAS ALLEN LANE A GAMESHOW HOST PROFESSIONAL
- WAS ALLEN LANE A GAMESHOW HOST SERIES
- WAS ALLEN LANE A GAMESHOW HOST TV
WAS ALLEN LANE A GAMESHOW HOST TV
Leaving CBS, he created a late-night, New York variety TV program in 1953 for what is now WNBC-TV.
WAS ALLEN LANE A GAMESHOW HOST SERIES
He was a regular panelists on the popular panel show What's My Line? (where he coined the popular catchphrase "Is it Bigger than a breadbox?") from 1953 until 1954 and returned frequently as a panelists after Fred Allen died in March 1956, until the series ended in 1967. With the audience (including Godfrey, watching from Miami) uproariously and thoroughly entertained, Allen gained major recognition as a comedian and host. 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. The show was only a modest ratings success and was cancelled in 1952, after which CBS tried several shows to showcase Allen's talent.Īllen achieved national attention when he was pressed into service at the last minute to host Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scout because Godfrey was unable to appear. This new show required him to uproot his family and move from LA to New York, since at the time a coast-to-coast program could not originate from LA. The Steve Allen Show premiered at 11 am on Christmas Day, 1950, and was later moved into thirty-minute, early evening slot. When he got the job, he created names for man of the holds, some of which are still used today.Īfter 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. so he watched some shows and discovered that the announcers did not have well-fared names for the holds.
WAS ALLEN LANE A GAMESHOW HOST PROFESSIONAL
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 timeĪllen's first television experience had come in 1949 when he answered an ad for a TV announcer for professional wrestling. 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. After Allen moved to CBS Radio's KNX in Los Angeles, his music-and-talk-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.
Allen returned to Pheonix before deciding to move back to California.Īllen 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). He spent his service time at Camp Roberts, California, and did not serve overseas. Army during World War II and was trained as an infantryman. Milton Berle once called Allen's mother "the funniest woman in vaudeville".Īllen's first radio job was on station KOY in Pheonix, Arizona, after he left Arizona State Teachers College (now Arizona State University) in Tempe, While still a sophomore. Allen was raised on the South Side of Chicago by his mother's Irish Catholic family. Allen wrote more than 50 books, has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Hollywood theatre named in his honor.Īllen was born in New York City, the son of Billy and Isabelle Allen (nee Donahue) a vaudeville comedienne, who performed under the stage name Belle Monstrose.
Allen won a Grammy award in 1963 for best jazz composer with his song The Gravy Waltz. 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 What's My Line?.Īllen was a credible 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. He graduated to become the first host of The Tonight Show, where he was instrumental in innovating the concept if the television talk show. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best-known for his television career. Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen (born December 26, 1921-October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian and writer. Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" AllenĪctor, comedian, television personality, musician, writer
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