Clarityfiend: /* top */ grammar fix no. 2
[[File:It Pays to Be Ignorant CBS Radio.jpg|230px|thumb|Tom Howard (standing) and the rest of the cast of ''It Pays to Be Ignorant'': (left to right) Harry McNaughton, [[Lulu McConnell]] and George Shelton.]]
'''Tom Howard''' (June 16, 1885 – February 27, 1955) was an Irish-born American comedian in burlesque, vaudeville, radio, film and television.<ref name=Time></ref> He performed in a number of [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] plays. He also co-wrote and starred in the radio comedy show ''[[It Pays to Be Ignorant]]''.<ref name=TimeObit></ref>
He was born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Black in [[County Tyrone]], Ireland.<ref name=RC>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The family emigrated to the United States when he was 11 months old.<ref name=RC/>
In 1905, he embarked on his show business career, taking the stage name Tom Howard. After decades of working in [[medicine show]]s, [[burlesque]], [[vaudeville]], and a few Broadway plays, he made his breakthrough in two Broadway musicals, ''Rain or Shine'' (1928) and [[Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.|Flo Ziegfeld]]'s ''Smiles'' (1930), the latter at a salary of $1100 a week.<ref name=Time/><ref></ref> He and longtime burlesque and vaudeville comedy partner George Shelton also made a large number of shorts in Hollywood from 1929 on.
Howard owned, co-wrote and starred in the radio comedy show ''It Pays to Be Ignorant'', which aired from 1942 to 1951, first on the [[Mutual Broadcasting System]], then [[CBS]] and finally [[NBC]]. And pay it did: a July 1949 [[Royal Bank of Canada]] Monthly Letter stated his salary was a staggering $219,000.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Purporting to be a quiz show, the program had Howard posing topical questions, to which his panel of "experts", Harry McNaughton, [[Lulu McConnell]] and George Shelton, supplied humorous responses (not answers). Howard's daughter Ruth wrote many of the show's jokes and scripts.<ref name=RC/> The same cast brought the show to television, where it was broadcast on CBS from June 6 to September 19, 1949, and on NBC from July 5 to September 27, 1951.
Howard died of a "heart ailment" at the age of 69 in [[Long Branch, New Jersey]].<ref name=TimeObit/>
==References==
==External links==
*
* [https://ift.tt/3eZCoJV Complete July 5, 1951, TV episode of ''It Pays to Be Ignorant''] (including ads) at the [[Internet Archive]]
* [https://ift.tt/3f6y63x Audio and transcript of Howard and Shelton reading newspaper comic strips during a New York City newspaper deliverymen's strike]
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:American Burlesque performers]]
[[Category:American male comedians]]
[[Category:American male film actors]]
[[Category:American radio hosts]]
[[Category:Vaudeville performers]]
'''Tom Howard''' (June 16, 1885 – February 27, 1955) was an Irish-born American comedian in burlesque, vaudeville, radio, film and television.<ref name=Time></ref> He performed in a number of [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] plays. He also co-wrote and starred in the radio comedy show ''[[It Pays to Be Ignorant]]''.<ref name=TimeObit></ref>
He was born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Black in [[County Tyrone]], Ireland.<ref name=RC>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The family emigrated to the United States when he was 11 months old.<ref name=RC/>
In 1905, he embarked on his show business career, taking the stage name Tom Howard. After decades of working in [[medicine show]]s, [[burlesque]], [[vaudeville]], and a few Broadway plays, he made his breakthrough in two Broadway musicals, ''Rain or Shine'' (1928) and [[Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.|Flo Ziegfeld]]'s ''Smiles'' (1930), the latter at a salary of $1100 a week.<ref name=Time/><ref></ref> He and longtime burlesque and vaudeville comedy partner George Shelton also made a large number of shorts in Hollywood from 1929 on.
Howard owned, co-wrote and starred in the radio comedy show ''It Pays to Be Ignorant'', which aired from 1942 to 1951, first on the [[Mutual Broadcasting System]], then [[CBS]] and finally [[NBC]]. And pay it did: a July 1949 [[Royal Bank of Canada]] Monthly Letter stated his salary was a staggering $219,000.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Purporting to be a quiz show, the program had Howard posing topical questions, to which his panel of "experts", Harry McNaughton, [[Lulu McConnell]] and George Shelton, supplied humorous responses (not answers). Howard's daughter Ruth wrote many of the show's jokes and scripts.<ref name=RC/> The same cast brought the show to television, where it was broadcast on CBS from June 6 to September 19, 1949, and on NBC from July 5 to September 27, 1951.
Howard died of a "heart ailment" at the age of 69 in [[Long Branch, New Jersey]].<ref name=TimeObit/>
==References==
==External links==
*
* [https://ift.tt/3eZCoJV Complete July 5, 1951, TV episode of ''It Pays to Be Ignorant''] (including ads) at the [[Internet Archive]]
* [https://ift.tt/3f6y63x Audio and transcript of Howard and Shelton reading newspaper comic strips during a New York City newspaper deliverymen's strike]
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:American Burlesque performers]]
[[Category:American male comedians]]
[[Category:American male film actors]]
[[Category:American radio hosts]]
[[Category:Vaudeville performers]]
from Wikipedia - New pages [en] https://ift.tt/390jcrW
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment