#Happy Birthday Mr Alda

[movietonight]

Alan Alda in Purlie Victorious/Gone Are The Days! (1963)

[coffeeandacig]

Happy Birthday to one of the greatest, most amazing human beings to ever grace our tele's & our hearts, the man, the legend, Mr. Alan Alda!

[boeing747]

Trapper john really accusing Hawkeye of acting funny in the men's shower 😂😂😂 girl what were you doing in the men's shower

[lgbt4077]

Finally watching clear and vivid with the m*a*s*h cast and they’re all angels but I’m a big fan of Loretta and mike saying fuck the republicans in front of Jamie who’s donated multiple times to the Republican Party

[papermoonloveslucy]

TONY RANDALL

February 26, 1920

Anthony "Tony” Randall was born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is best known for his role as Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play The Odd Couple by Neil Simon. In a career spanning about six decades, Randall received six Golden Globe Award nominations and six Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning one.

Randall attended Northwestern University before going to New York City to study acting. Randall worked as a radio announcer and served four years with the US Army during World War II.  

Randall appeared on Broadway in Katharine Cornell's production of Antony and Cleopatra (1947–48) alongside Cornell and Charlton Heston and Maureen Stapleton. 

This began a love of theatre that spanned more than fifty years and won him a 1958 Tony nomination for Oh Captain!  

Randall's first major role in a Broadway hit was in Inherit the Wind (1955–57) portraying Newspaperman E. K. Hornbeck (based on real-life cynic H. L. Mencken), alongside Ed Begley and Paul Muni. In the 1960 film his role was played by Gene Kelly. 

His first screen appearance was a brief appearance (uncredited) as a camera man in Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur (1942).

Busy with theatre, his next screen appearance was also his television debut: a recurring character on “One Man’s Family” (1950-51) with Eva Marie Saint (above). 

He played the title role in a February 1959 episode of “The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” titled “Martin’s Folly”. The episode also featured now-iconic television performers Jay North, Bart Braverman, Frank Cady, George O’Hanlon, Phil Ober, and Carl Reiner.  The show was hosted by Desi Arnaz. 

In September 1970 he began playing the role that would make him a household name, Felix in “The Odd Couple” appearing in all 114 episodes of the series alongside the other half of the ‘couple’, Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. 

During his second year of “The Odd Couple” he took time to appear on “Here’s Lucy” in “Lucy and the Mountain Climber” (HL S4;E2) on September 20, 1971. 

From 1978 to 1981 he had his own show, “The Tony Randall Show” playing a Judge for 2 seasons on CBS. From 1981 to 1983 he had another show titled “Love, Sidney” playing a middle-aged gay artist sharing his New York apartment with a single mother and her little girl. 

Randall appeared on several awards shows and specials that also featured Lucille Ball: 

“CBS On The Air” (1978) ~ Randall represented Saturday nights on the five-night celebration, a night also led by Carol Burnett, Audrey Meadows, Betty White, Fred MacMurray, and Mike Connors. 

“Dean Martin Celebrity Roast for Jimmy Stewart” (1978) ~ Randall and Ball are both on the dais. 

“Night of 100 Stars II” (1985) ~ held at Radio City Music Hall. 

“Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC” (1988)

Randall shares a birthdate with other “Lucy” guest stars Jackie Gleason and Robert Alda. When “Goodbye, Mrs. Hips” (HL S5;E23) first aired on their birthdays in 1973, Randall turned 53, Gleason was 57, and Alda was 59. 

In “Lucy’s Replacement” (HL S4;E19) in January 1972, Kim calls Harry and EXMO (computer) “the odd couple”. While it might be taken as a general reference (and Randall’s name or character is not mentioned), the sitcom was proving immensely popular with viewers at the time of filming.

Randall was married to his high school sweetheart Florence Gibbs from 1938 until her death in 1992. He remarried in 1995 to Heather Harlan, 50 years his junior. The couple had two children and remained married until his death in May 17, 2004 of pneumonia contracted following coronary bypass surgery.

Randall was an advocate for the arts founding the short-lived National Actors Theatre. He was also an anti-smoking advocate and did charity work to fight AIDS.  

"The public knows only one thing about me: I don't smoke." ~ Tony Randall

[onekisstotakewithme]

Happy Birthday Alan ♥

Happy “you’ve been giving other people reason to smile for 83 years” day to a living legend.

Thank you for being such a role model, such an icon, and such a wonderful human (and hey thanks for being Hawkeye Pierce too).

Here’s to more adventures, Mr. Alda.

[vanity6ix]

Happy 83rd Birthday to actresses Diana Sands was born on August 22, 1934. Diana Sands was born in New York City to Rudolph Thomas, a carpenter, and Shirley Sands, a milliner. Sands made her first stage debut in George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara at New York City's High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan. After graduating from high school, Sands performed as a dancer while seeking work on Broadway. In 1959, she debuted on Broadway as the character Beneatha Younger, a dignified, aspiring doctor in "A Raisin in the Sun." Her stage performance earned her the 1959 Outer Circle Critics' Award and her first film appearance as the same character in the 1961 film version opposite Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Ivan Dixon, and Sidney Poitier. After "Raisin in the Sun", Sands was then offered subsequent film roles, but her refusal to be typecast subjected her to less prestigious parts. Determined to bypass the industry's segregated climate, Sands sought to elevate her profession as an actress by performing abroad where she appeared in plays such as "Caesar and Cleopatra," "Anthony and Cleopatra," and "Phaedra." She continued to perform in the United States as well and in 1964 she received a Tony nomination for her role in James Baldwin's "Blues for Mr. Charlie." Sands's last significant Broadway performance was in the 1969 production of "The Owl and the Pussycat" opposite Alan Alda. She went on to appear in 13 episodes of the short-lived television series "Julia" (opposite Diahann Carroll) as Julia's cousin. Determined to continue her career in film, Sands, along with Ossie Davis, Brock Peters, and other notable performers and investors, founded the Third World Cinema, a company developed to train black performers for every aspect of film production, in the early 1970s. Third World Cinema produced her cinematic star vehicle "Georgia, Georgia," written by Maya Angelou. Sands portrayed Georgia, a confused black woman who becomes disconnected from herself, her people, and the world in her pursuit to find fulfillment as a performing artist. After its release, "Georgia, Georgia" was considered one of the most controversial films in the black community since Melvin Van Pee

[papermoonloveslucy]

JACKIE GLEASON

February 26, 1916

Jackie Gleason was born as Herbert Walton Gleason Jr. but baptized as John Herbert Gleason. He was born at 364 Chauncey Street in Brooklyn, an address he later used for Ralph and Alice Kramden on his iconic series “The Honeymooners.”

For most of the 1940s Gleason appeared on Broadway, featured in Keep Off The Grass, Artists and Models, Follow the Girls, and Along Fifth Avenue. His greatest success on the Great White Way came after his television success, in 1959′s Take Me Along, which won him a Tony Award. 

He made his screen debut in 1941 with Navy Blues starring Ann Sheridan and Jackie Oakie.  

He entered the new medium of television transferring “The Life of Riley” from radio to television in 1949. It became the first sitcom to win an Emmy Award. Curiously, the TV pilot starred Lon Chaney Jr.  William Bendix was originally supposed to play Chester Riley, reprising his role from the radio series. But because Bendix was committed to the film The Life of Riley (1949) he was unable to star in the series but he later starred in the revived series “The Life of Riley” in 1953.

“The Honeymooners” sketches aired originally on the “Cavalcade of Stars”, which Gleason hosted, and subsequently on “The Jackie Gleason Show.” The popularity of the characters led Gleason to rework “The Honeymooners” as a filmed half-hour series which debuted on October 1, 1955. Production ended after 39 episodes (now referred to as the ‘Classic 39'). Gleason sporadically revived the characters until 1978.  The characters were so popular, references to them turned up on several “Lucy” sitcoms. 

In the second episode of “Here’s Lucy” “Lucy Visits Jack Benny” (HL S1;E2 on September 30, 1968), Gleason makes a totally unexpected and wordless cameo as “Honeymooners” bus driver Ralph Kramden.  Having these three comedy icons on screen in one shot was rare. 

Gleason joined Lucy and Desi to with Ed Sullivan a happy eighth anniversary on June 24, 1956, although they shared no screen time.

In 1957, Lucy and Desi appeared on “The Jackie Gleason Show” to mark the 65th Birthday of Eddie Cantor, who Lucille worked with when she first got to Hollywood in the early 1930s. Coincidentally, Lucille is on the cover of TV Guide that week to celebrate TV’s tenth year!  

Lucy turned up on “Jackie Gleason’s 51st Birthday Celebration” in February 1967.

On December 4, 1973, the Friars Club celebrated Milton Berle’s 60 years in show business. Sammy Davis Jr. hosts with guests Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas, Red Foxx, and Carol O’Connor.  

Although he made a wordless walk-on cameo in the second-aired “Here’s Lucy”, “Three for Two” (aired on December 3, 1975) was the first time Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason actually acted together on screen. The special was comprised of three separate stories, all focused on characters played by Gleason and Ball.  

Herb and Sally, a middle-aged couple from Cleveland with grown children who are on a month-long vacation in Italy after 24 years of marriage.

Fred and Rita, a couple carrying on a discrete affair and trying to decide whether they should tell their spouses. They meet at a dimly lit nightclub.

Mike and Pauline, domineering parents involved in a New Year’s Eve family crisis forced to recognize their college-aged children’s declaration of independence.  This was Gleason’s final collaboration with Lucille Ball. 

A passion project of Lucille Ball’s was to play Lillian Russell with Jackie Gleason as Diamond Jim Brady. For various reasons, this project never got off the ground, despite a finished script (tentatively titled “Diamond Jill & Lil”) and even a production budget (above). 

His final screen appearance was in the feature film Nothing in Common (1986) opposite Tom Hanks. 

Jackie Gleason died of colon and liver cancer on June 24, 1987, two years before Lucille Ball. He was 71 years old. 

GLEASON ON THEIR LIPS!  

Although he may have not been actually in the episodes, Jackie Gleason’s name was always good for a laugh on Lucycoms!

When “Lucy Meets Danny Kaye” (TLS S3;E15) in 1964, she begs him for tickets to his TV show.  Kaye gets on the phone with the network president to call in a favor, but the best Paley can do is two tickets for “The Jackie Gleason Show” next April!

In “Lucy Helps Danny Thomas” (TLS S4;E7) she mistakenly attributes the catch phrase “And away we go!” to Thomas when it was actually Jackie Gleason’s.  

When Mary Jane first suspects Milton Berle as someone famous in “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (TLS S4;E13) in 1965, Lucy thinks he may be Jackie Gleason. 

In “Lucy and the Efficiency Expert” (TLS S5;E13) in 1966, Lucy repeats a joke she heard on “The Jackie Gleason Show” which aired on Saturday nights on CBS. On her way out of the office after mentioning the show, Lucy does Gleason’s famous “away we go” exit.  

Striving to stay thin to resemble Sid Caesar, Frankie the Forger (also played by Caesar) wishes he looked like Jackie Gleason instead in “Lucy and Sid Caesar” (TLS S6;E23) on March 4, 1968.

In “Lucy and Liberace” (HL S2;E16) in 1970, Kim answers the front door saying “It’s probably Craig with his arms loaded down with that something he had to get from a big star.” Lucy replies: “Maybe he’s got his arms full of Jackie Gleason.”  Turns out he had his hands full of Liberace’s trademark candelabra! 

When Lucille Ball guest-starred on “Make Room For Granddaddy” in 1971, Lucy’s taxi driver (Joseph Mell) says Danny is one of his favorite comedians, although he thinks he is Jack Benny. Danny corrects him and says he is Jackie Gleason!

Gleason shares a birthdate with other “Lucy” guest stars Tony Randall and Robert Alda. When “Goodbye, Mrs. Hips” (HL S5;E23) first aired on their birthdays in 1973, Gleason was 57, Randall turned 53, and Alda was 59.