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A couple of days ago I presented my editor with the brilliant idea of ranking Elvis Presley‘s songs to honor his birthday on January 8. Being a Mississippi girl, and having spent almost 30 years of that time living in the town of his birth, I am aware of his huge catalogue of hits, but picking just 25 out of such a variety proved to be more challenging than I anticipated. It has also been a reminder of the enormous impact that this boy from a small town made across three entertainment mediums and across several genres of music.

Born January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Ms, Presley spent his first 13 years there, with his interest in music sparking from a guitar gifted to him, church hymns and local hillbilly singer Mississippi Slim. After the family moved to Memphis, Tn, in 1948, Presley was surrounded by many different styles of music, including country, hillbilly, gospel and blues,...

As Forrest Gump explores the life of Tom Hanks' character, Forrest finds himself in the midst of some of the biggest historical events of the 1960s and '70s. However, the Forrest Gump true story is anything but, and this deliberate disregard for historical accuracy is where the movie gets its charm. Forrest Gump premiered in 1994 to critical acclaim, eventually winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. Forrest Gump has polarized audiences ever since, with some viewing it as a hollow glorification of the 20th century, while others see it as a compelling tale of division and passion in American history.

Forrest Gump grossed around $678 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $55 million, the second-highest-grossing movie of 1994, only trailing behind The Lion King's $978.8 million earnings.

Hanks' character is essentially a tour guide through the second half of the 20th century, involved in some of the most...

In 1956, Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. Millions of people tuned in to watch his performance, and Elvis would go on to appear on the show several more times. Despite the success of his appearance, Sullivan initially did not want Elvis on his show. When asked if he would allow the young musician on, Sullivan responded with a resounding no.

Ed Sullivan did not initially want Elvis on his show

In 1956, Elvis was on an atmospheric rise to success. He had begun recording with RCA Victor, a deal that brought him new wealth and opportunities. Songs like “Heartbreak Hotel” were massive hits and he began making television appearances. Still, his career was not without controversy.

Many felt that his hip-shaking dance moves were lewd and should be censored. After his dancing on The Milton Berle Show shocked audiences, critics rushed to condemn him. Sullivan was among them,...

The moment Elvis Presley stepped in front of the camera for his second appearance on "The Milton Berle Show" in 1956, there was no doubt that this young man was destined for more than pop music superstardom. Much more.

Conversationally, he was downright adorable with his boyish good looks and aw-shucks Southern shyness, but once the music kicked in he was transformed into a hunk of burning lust. That gyrating pelvis and run-riot voice spurred sexual awakenings in living rooms across the country (in full view of outraged parents). To teenagers, Elvis belted out a call to rebellion. To parents, he was a pompadoured incubus. To Hollywood, he was singing, swaggering box-office gold.

Between 1956 and 1972, Elvis starred in 31 features and two concert films. There were lulls (particularly when his popularity faded prior to his 1968 comeback special), but for the most part Elvis reliably packed 'em in. According to producer Hal B. Wallis...

Elvis Presley’s dance moves were incredibly controversial in the 1950s. Critics slammed his hip-shaking as vulgar and cautioned people against watching him. According to Elvis’ friend, though, the dance moves were just Elvis’ way of hiding his stage fright. If he wasn’t dancing, the audience would be able to see the musician trembling with fear.

Elvis Presley’s dance moves were a way to hide his fear from the audience

Some of Elvis’ earliest musical influences were connected to the church. He said that he shaped his performing style after the pastors he watched as a child.

“I remember sometimes in church, you would listen to the choir and all of them would have great voices,” Elvis said, per the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “But it was often the preacher, who might not have had as good a voice, who was jumping around and getting them all worked up,...

Longtime TV director and producer Stan Harris, who directed TV specials for Jack Benny, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and John Wayne, among many others, died of natural causes Monday while surrounded by family in Toronto, his son Danny Harris tells Deadline. He was 92.

Harris’ prolific live music and comedy directing career began at the CBC in Toronto working with peers Norman Jewison, Arthur Hiller and Eric Till. Among the highlights of his career up north were jobs directing Canada’s Hit Parade and a Nat King Cole special, Wild Is Love.

In the early ’60s, he and his family moved to NY, where Harris began his DGA career on series such as The Bing Crosby Show, The Steve Lawrence Show and The Milton Berle Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

In late ’60s , Harris relocated to L.A. for a steady gig directing the massively popular Smothers Brothers show.

When you look closely at a set of lyrics, it’s astounding how much a classic rock song can get misinterpreted. For example, the original version of Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” was about a gigolo. However, a band changed the lyrics to be about an actual dog and the rest is history. In addition, a famous television appearance might’ve made audiences think “Hound Dog” is about a canine.

The original version of Elvis Presley’s ‘Hound Dog’ was about a freeloader

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller co-wrote “Hound Dog,” which was first recorded by Big Mama Thornton. During a 2020 interview with Elvis Australia, Stoller discussed the evolution of the song’s lyrics. “Elvis knew Big Mama’s record, but Big Mama’s version of ‘Hound Dog’ was written for a woman,” he said. “And so Elvis couldn’t perform it that way.

“There was a group, Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys,...

In 1956, Elvis Presley appeared on The Steve Allen Show and sang to a basset hound. Allen was visibly delighted by the situation, but Elvis didn’t seem as keen. He was stiff and uncomfortable, but, as a people pleaser, he agreed to the spectacle. He would later go on to describe it as the most embarrassing moment of his career.

Elvis Presley sang to a dog on ‘The Steve Allen Show’

Ahead of Elvis’ performance on The Steve Allen Show, Elvis met Sherlock, a basset hound wearing a bow tie and top hat. In a rehearsal, Sherlock ignored him entirely, and Allen encouraged him to “get to know” her.

Elvis Presley and Sherlock | NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

During the actual performance, Elvis took the stage in a suit and began to sing, likely to no one’s surprise, “Hound Dog” to Sherlock. According to Graceland,...

Actor, producer, and writer Mel Brooks discussed his first date with his late wife, Anne Bancroft. Brooks says he faced significant financial difficulty early in his career. He reveals he had to tell Bancroft he was “broke” during their first date.

Mel Brooks says he was ‘broke’ Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft | Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

During an interview with ABC News, Brooks spoke about his first date with Bancroft. He admits she gave him $20 under the table because he couldn’t afford to pay for the meal.

“I didn’t have any money, and I was dating Anne Bancroft,” Brooks tells interviewer George Stephanopoulos. “She was on Broadway and The Miracle Worker. We were at a Chinese restaurant one night, and I said, ‘I’m broke.’ She slipped me a $20 bill under the table. And the bill came up to $14 or $15. It wasn’t that expensive.

Actor, producer, and writer Mel Brooks discussed life after winning an Oscar for his film The Producers. The entertainer says he faced financial hardship even after receiving the prestigious award.

Mel Brooks says he wasn’t making money Mel Brooks | Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for TCM

In 1969, Brooks won an Oscar for The Producers for best original screenplay. Roughly 30 years later, the film was transformed into a Broadway musical, starring actors Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. The production won 12 Tony Awards.

Despite the success of the 1967 film, Brooks reveals he had a tough time with his finances. Receiving an award didn’t translate into financial security.

“Up until Blazing Saddles, I was hanging on to show business with the skin of my teeth, not making any money,” says Brooks during an interview with Ruth Rogers on Ruthie’s Table 4 (presented by iHeartPodcasts). “The first movie I made was The Producers.

It was 32 years ago today that not one but two classic horror comedies opened in theaters. Yes, Ghostbusters was released on the same day as Gremlins. It’s hard to believe that these two movies opened against each other, but 1984 was a different time, when opening weekend numbers weren’t given the same weight as they are now and films stayed in theaters much longer. Ghostbusters that dominated the U.S. box office that opening weekend but not by much — it earned $13.6 million then, while Gremlins grossed $12.5 million. The Bill Murray movie became the clear winner of the box office over the summer, though, holding the No. 1 spot for seven consecutive weeks. Ghostbusters, of course, has a very buzzy and headline-grabbing (for better or worse or mass hysteria) follow-up film on the way this summer, a reboot of the original. There’s reportedly a new Gremlins on the way too:...

Jack Carter, a veteran comedic performer and director, died Sunday of respiratory failure at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 93. The Brooklyn native worked in a variety of media over his decades-long career, from radio and Broadway to TV and film. He got his first break when appearing on Milton Berle’s “Texaco Star Theatre” in the late 1940s, then hosted NBC’s “Cavalcade of Stars” and the eponymous “The Jack Carter Show” for three years. Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2015 (Photos) Carter received an Emmy nomination in 1975 for the daytime movie special “The Girl Who Couldn’t Lose.

Jack Carter, a comedian whose nearly seventy-year career encompassed fare as diverse as Cavalcade of Stars and iCarly, is dead at the age of 93.

Carter died of respiratory failure on Sunday, June 28, at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif., our sister site Variety reports.

The actor — who also worked as a singer, director and emcee — got his TV break in Milton Berle’s Texaco Star Theatre in 1948, from which he built a long career as a character actor who appeared in TV fare as varied as I Dream of Jeannie, Fantasy Island and Desperate Housewives.

A contemporary of Jimmy Durante,...

A true television legend has died. Sid Caesar, who influenced generations of comedy writers and performers, passed away earlier today in Los Angeles. He was 91 years old.

Born to immigrant parents in 1922, Caesar made his first television appearance on Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater in the late 40's. He soon met NBC president Pat Weaver and landed his first TV series, The Admiral Broadway Revue, with Imogene Coca.

In 1950, he appeared on the first episode of Your Show of Shows, a 90-minute variety show. The series featured comedy sketches, satires, monologues, musical guests and production numbers -- an early predecessor to Saturday Night Live (which Caesar guest-hosted in 1983). On-screen talent included Caesar, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, and Imogene Coca. Backstage, the show's legendary writing staff included Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Mel Tolkin and Danny Simon.

Your Show of...

TV pioneer Sid Caesar has died at the age of 91 in Los Angeles. The Yonkers, NY-born comedian made his first appearance on TV in 1949 on Milton Berle’s Texaco Star Theater. On February 25, 1950, Caesar was among the ensemble cast on the premiere of Your Show Of Shows. With Caesar, Imogene Coca and Carl Reiner in front of the camera and Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Mel Tolkin and Danny Simon among the writers, the 90-minute weekly NBC show became one of early TV’s biggest hits, running until June 1954, and served as a launching pad for future TV comedy talent — with proteges spawning protoges through the years. Ceasar moved on to topline several shows: the one-hour satirical Caesar’s Hour debuted just a few months later and ran until 1957, followed by 1958’s The Sid Caesar Show, which had Woody Allen as a writer. He starred in a series of...

The Wasteland:

Television is a gold goose that lays scrambled eggs;

and it is futile and probably fatal to beat it for not laying caviar.

Lee Loevinger

When people argue over the quality of television programming, both sides — it’s addictive crap v. underappreciated populist art — seem to forget one of the essentials about commercial TV. By definition, it is not a public service. It is not commercial TV’s job to enlighten, inform, educate, elevate, inspire, or offer insight. Frankly, it’s not even commercial TV’s job to entertain. Bottom line: its purpose is simply to deliver as many sets of eyes to advertisers as possible. As it happens, it tends to do this by offering various forms of entertainment, and occasionally by offering content that does enlighten, inform, etc., but a cynic would make the point that if TV could do the same job televising fish aimlessly swimming around an aquarium,...

Four filing cabinets filled with index cards holding the late Milton Berle’s jokes are going up for auction next week. Each cabinet contains jokes typewritten onto 3x5 index cards then divided into subjects (kind of like what Joan Rivers showed off in A Piece Of Work). According to the auction house, Berle “meticulously maintained” the joke file over his whole career, and he considered it “to be the most valuable resource in his office.” Some of the cards, for example, feature potential monologue bits from The Milton Berle Show’s 1966-67 run on ABC. Those cards have little notes ...

Jimmy Fallon took center stage at the 2011 PaleyFest Friday night (March 11), and this time he was the interviewee, not the interviewer.

Fallon was the sole guest at the festival, submitting to an easygoing, funny and clip-filled interview with his friend, comedian and "Web Soup" host Chris Hardwick. He talked a lot about how he puts together "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," the type of people he likes to work with (he hired his writers "based on their talent, not their resumes") and about his career leading up to "Late Night," including his time on "Saturday Night Live."

He also shared a few things we didn't previously know. Depending on your level of Fallon fanaticism, some of these things might be familiar to you. But we thought found the following six tidbits pretty interesting.

1. He didn't pass his first "Saturday Night Live" audition. Producers liked his audition bit -- as part of his early stand-up act,...

Bidders from around the world bought up Michael Jackson memorabilia worth nearly $1 million at an auction on the anniversary of his death, including $190,000 for the Swarovski-crystal-studded glove he wore on his 1984 Victory Tour.The bidding that began Friday on more than 200 items was "unlike anything we've ever experienced," said Darren Julien of Julien's Auctions, which ran the auction at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.Some items, like the glove, brought 10 times more than their estimated value, he said."It just shows you Michael Jackson is the most sought after and most collectible celebrity of all time. It was just phenomenal," Julien told the Las Vegas Review-Journal."People flew in from Asia, Russia, all over. Now that he's gone, we now realize the true legend we lost," said Julien, who has not had a similar auction in his 15 years in the business. He predicted the...

Adam Carolla is a master builder who created this glass office. His next project? Building his podcast network to profitability. | Photographs by Jeff Minton

Carolla, midrant, at his warehouse/studio, in Glendale, California | Photographs by Jeff Minton

Radio-and-tv personality Adam Carolla stumbled into podcasting and immediately became its No. 1 star. Now he's launching his own broadcasting network. Inside the messy birth of a new medium.

Adam Carolla has done the math. The comedian, actor, and multimedia ranter is studying what appears to be a trap door in the ceiling of the garage he personally helped build for his West Hollywood home. He's scowling.

Somewhere above the opening is his office, a glass box he added to the 1929 Spanish-style mansion he assiduously restored from near-wreck conditions. The office, a modernistic anomaly when compared with the rest of the house, was designed to do one thing: showcase one of Carolla's many expensive vintage cars,...

When I was a kid, I loved the cartoon Top Cat. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the cool music or the fact it was set in New York City. I also really loved Top Cat's voice.

Arnold Stang, the voice of the clever feline, died earlier this week at the age of 91. Stang was in 75 gazillion TV shows and movies over the years (you'd know the face and/or the voice even if you couldn't place the name), including The Jonathan Winters Show, Broadside, Batman, Bonanza, The Red Skelton Show, December Bride, The Steve Allen Show, The Milton Berle Show, Emergency, and Mathnet.

He was also in several movies, including Hercules in New York, Dennis The Menace, and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. He was also the original voice of Buzz Bee in Honey-Nut Cheerios commercials.

After the jump, an episode of Top Cat.

Continue reading Arnold Stang,...

A hot young singer's television performance causes a scandal with its in-your-face sexuality never before seen on prime time TV. Television critics and viewers across the country slam the performance for its "appalling lack of musicality," for its "vulgarity" and "animalism." The Catholic Church takes up the criticism in its weekly publication. Concerns about juvenile delinquency and the changing moral values of the young find a new target in the red-hot singer, whose talent is undeniable despite his scandalous stagecraft. I'm talking, of course, about Elvis Presley, whose pelvis-shaking 1956 performance of "Hound Dog" on The Milton Berle Show, of all things, got this very reaction. Adam Lambert should find comfort in this. His wildly controversial performance on the American Music Awards was called everything from "ultra lewd," "disgusting," and "pornographic" to "a delight" and "one of the most awesomely...

From the first gyration of Elvis Presley's hips on "The Milton Berle Show" (way back in the summer of 1955) to the last grab of the crotch during Adam Lambert's Sunday (November 22) night performance at the American Music Awards, musicians and live television have shared a rather contentious relationship.

Throughout the years, in attempts to shock audiences, promote albums or share their political views (or, you know, just because they were inebriated), artists have given censors fits with performances that pushed the boundaries of good taste — everything from bare butts to obscenity and potshots at the Pope. Things like that are the reason they invented the seven-second delay, after all.

So now, with Lambert already feeling the heat following his racy Ama performance, we decided it was a good time to re-visit some of the most shocking musical moments from in TV history — the ones that earned public condemnations and half-hearted apologies.

With so many companies in the past few years talking about producing online video and other forms of "branded entertainment," I'm amazed by how people often talk about these trends as if they are new. Radio and early television was full of "product placement" and shows produced directly through the subsidy of major brands, such as The Philco Playhouse and Texaco Star Theater. Nowhere has this trend taken greater hold than the soap opera, where the blend of art and commerce is clear from the very title given to the shows. From their early 1930s radio debut and through the "golden era" of broadcast television, soap operas were the consistent daytime juggernaut that fueled experimentation in primetime.

Today, only one soap company remains in the "soap opera" game in that sense, as Procter & Gamble still funds the production of CBS' As the World Turns. However, brands are launching new Web...

With so many companies in the past few years talking about producing online video and other forms of "branded entertainment," I'm amazed by how people often talk about these trends as if they are new. Radio and early television was full of "product placement" and shows produced directly through the subsidy of major brands, such as The Philco Playhouse and Texaco Star Theater. Nowhere has this trend taken greater hold than the soap opera, where the blend of art and commerce is clear from the very title given to the shows. From their early 1930s radio debut and through the "golden era" of broadcast television, soap operas were the consistent daytime juggernaut that fueled experimentation in primetime.

Today, only one soap company remains in the "soap opera" game in that sense, as Procter & Gamble still funds the production of CBS' As the World Turns. However, brands are launching new Web...

The Post Office unveiled some very special stamps yesterday morning in Southern California; a set devoted to classic television.

The "Early TV Memories" set of commemorative stamps were launched at a special event at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood. The 20 shows that are honored on the stamps are The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; The Burns and Allen Show; The Dinah Shore Show; Dragnet; The Ed Sullivan Show; The Honeymooners; Hopalong Cassidy; Howdy Doody; I Love Lucy; Kukla, Fran and Ollie; Lassie; The Lone Ranger; Perry Mason; The Phil Silvers Show; The Red Skelton Show; Texaco Star Theater; The Tonight Show; The Twilight Zone; and You Bet Your Life.

All of the performers pictured on the stamps are no longer with us. Stars like Sid Caesar would likely also have been honored but Post...

The Post Office unveiled some very special stamps yesterday morning in Southern California; a set devoted to classic television.

The "Early TV Memories" set of commemorative stamps were launched at a special event at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood. The 20 shows that are honored on the stamps are The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; The Burns and Allen Show; The Dinah Shore Show; Dragnet; The Ed Sullivan Show; The Honeymooners; Hopalong Cassidy; Howdy Doody; I Love Lucy; Kukla, Fran and Ollie; Lassie; The Lone Ranger; Perry Mason; The Phil Silvers Show; The Red Skelton Show; Texaco Star Theater; The Tonight Show; The Twilight Zone; and You Bet Your Life.

All of the performers pictured on the stamps are no longer with us. Stars like Sid Caesar would likely also have been honored but Post Office rules stipulate that a living person can't appear on a stamp.

Stamp collecting is something I just never got into (don't worry, I have plenty of other obsessions), but this might be the first time I actually go to my local post office and get a sheet.

Yesterday, 20 new classic TV stamps were unveiled: I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Honeymooners, Texaco Star Theater, Perry Mason, The Lone Ranger, Burns and Allen, Ozzie and Harriet, Hopalong Cassidy, Lassie, Dragnet, You Bet Your Life, The Dinah Shore Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Phil Silvers Show, Howdy Doody, The Red Skelton Show, and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, Continue reading Classic TV stamps unveiled

 

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Turning back the hands of time, our friend and comrade in the cause of truth, justice, and beauty, Margo Jefferson, publishes a fond momento in the latest Bookforum irresistibly titled "TV Time in Negroland," wherein she recounts sitting down with her family in the fifties to watch the greatest black entertainers of the era do guest spots on the top variety shows. Idle diversion this wasn't. Under the microscope each performer went. It’s weekend-television time. Sammy Davis Jr. is going to be on The Milton Berle Show. Dorothy Dandridge is going to be on The Jerry Lewis Colgate Comedy Hour. Lena Horne is going to be on The Frank Sinatra Timex Show. These are seminal moments in the viewing mores of the whole nation. After dinner, the four of us gather in the TV room. Our parents are on the couch; Denise and I push the hassocks as near...

Cyd Charisse, the long-legged Texas beauty who danced with the Ballet Russe as a teenager and starred in MGM musicals with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, died Tuesday. She was 86.

Charisse was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Monday after suffering an apparent heart attack, said her publicist, Gene Schwam.

It was her uncredited turn opposite Astaire in "Ziegfeld Follies" in 1946 that won her a seven-year contract with MGM. Her moves with Astaire in Vincent Minnelli's "Band Wagon" were often described as "heavenly."

One of the greatest female dancers in the heyday of the Hollywood musical, she starred in such big-screen extravaganzas as "Brigadoon" (1954) and as a young Vicki Carr in "The Silencers" (1966). While she strutted her considerable stuff on the screen, her singing was invariably dubbed.

Though she didn't often spend much time on the screen, her scenes made dramatic impact. Outfitted in the most splendid costumes, she wowed...

Dagmar, the buxom blonde actress who became one of American television's first sex symbols on the pioneering NBC late-night show Broadway Open House, has died at the age of 79. Dagmar, who had been ill in recent years, died on October 9 at her home in West Virginia. Born Virginia Ruth Egnor, she became an overnight sensation as the sexy dumb blonde who appeared with comedians Jerry Lester and Morey Amsterdam on vaudeville-style Broadway Open House, an early 1950s forerunner to The Tonight Show. She also played a nurse on Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater, briefly hosted her own TV show, Dagmar's Canteen, and was a regular panelist on ABC's Masquerade Party. Dagmar married three times, but outlived all three of her husbands, including actor Danny Dayton and bandleader Dick Hinds. She is survived by three sisters, three brothers, an aunt and numerous nieces and nephews.