Outtake: Martha Raye

I don't quite remember why this photo didn't make it into the print edition of Martha Raye: Film and Television Clown, but I love it anyway. It shows Martha in the thick of things on her picture Waikiki Wedding (1937). Bing Crosby and Bob Burns were the male leads in the film, but if you look quick you can spot young Anthony Quinn as a native named "Kimo." 

Check it out if you're in the mood for some lightweight fun and music.

"A Terrific Writer"

I'm honored that Classic Images and reviewer Laura Wagner have named my book on Martha Raye to their "Best Books of the Year" list. Congratulations to the other authors with whom I share this accolade -- Candace Hilligoss, Michael Gregg Michaud, Scott O'Brien, and Tom Weaver. My friend Derek Sculthorpe also received some much-deserved praise for his excellent book on Brian Donlevy.

Here's hoping for more good reading in 2018!

Happy Birthday, Martha!

Remembering a great lady, born 100 years ago today. There will never be another like her.

Joe and Martha

Comic co-stars in $1,000 a Touchdown.

Happy birthday (in memoriam) to comedian Joe E. Brown (1891-1973), born July 28. He was Martha Raye's co-star in two films, but before they even met, they were compared to one another. One similarity was immediately apparent -- both were "big mouths," finding comedy fodder in their plus-sized kissers and mobile faces. Off-screen, both would devote considerable effort to supporting America's military men and women during wartime.

In 1939, they teamed up for $1,000 a Touchdown. Produced on a modest budget, the sports-accented comedy wasn't the top-notch production they deserved, but Joe and Martha made it fun nonetheless. Five years later, they joined forces to provide comic support to Betty Grable in Pin-Up Girl.

A couple of years ago, I had a mini-film festival of Joe E. Brown comedies, inspired by my reading of film historian Wes D. Gehring's Joe E. Brown: Film Comedian and Baseball Buffoon. That book not only gave me a better appreciation of Brown's comedic skills, but also paid tribute to someone who seems to have been a fine, admirable human being off-camera.

Happy birthday, Mr. Brown. You're remembered with fondness and admiration.

Friday Fun with Martha

As I said in the preface to my new book on Martha Raye, I chose to focus primarily on her career as a comedienne in film and television, as opposed to her private life. Still, it's fair to say that marriage came up pretty often in the book, given her seven trips to the altar.

Just for the fun of it, see if you can guess which of those lucky gentlemen is pictured in the vintage photo at right. We'll even make it a multiple choice question. Which groom is pictured here?

a. Edward Begley
b. Nick Condos
c. Mark Harris
d. Neal Lang
e. Robert O'Shea
f. David Rose
g. Bud Westmore

Correct answer on Monday, unless someone posts it in the comments first. Have a great weekend!

Eager for Seegar

Born July 1, 1914, Sara Seegar has a face that will be familiar to many classic TV fans. She may be best-known for playing the second Mrs. Wilson (wife to Gale Gordon's character) in the final season of Dennis the Menace. She also turned up fairly often, usually as a client or client's wife, on Bewitched. In researching my book on Martha Raye, I learned that she supported Miss Raye in several of her 1950s variety shows, whether on All Star Revue or The Martha Raye Show. Miss Seegar was a gifted character actress with a finely developed instinct for finding the funny moments in a script.

In private life, she was the wife of Ezra Stone, who went from playing Henry Aldrich onstage and in radio to a successful career as a producer and director. In a 1969 interview, Stone said that he and Sara met in 1940, when they shared the stage in an unsuccessful Broadway play. "In comparison to the show," he joked, "we looked good to each other, and got married."

Sara Seegar died in 1990, a few weeks past her 76th birthday; her widower passed away in 1994. Both made significant contributions to the world of show business, and deserve to be remembered, as we do in this small way today.

Oh, Boy!

Spread the word! My newest book, Martha Raye: Film and Television Clown, is only days away from publication. It's available for pre-order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or directly from the publisher. I hope you'll enjoy exploring the life and career of this timelessly funny lady, as much as I did researching and writing it. And with the centennial of her birth only a few weeks away, what better time to pay her tribute?

New Stuff to Read

This just-released catalog from my publisher features nearly 200 books to be published this spring and summer, including several tantalizing items in the Pop Culture section. Take a look!

Heeeeere' s Martha!

I'm thrilled to offer a first look at the cover for my book on marvelous Martha Raye, due from McFarland next spring. It's being published in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of her birth. I hope you'll give it a look.

Chaplin's Odd Couple

Not a match made in heaven, you'd say? Indeed, Monsieur Verdoux (Charles Chaplin) may have bitten off more than he can chew when he ties the knot with brassy, less-than-classy Annabella Bonheur (Martha Raye). Much as he admires her healthy bank balance, Annabella's husband will soon learn that getting his hands on it is tougher than he expected.

But off-screen this was a true mutual admiration society. Chaplin thought Raye's facility for slapstick comedy in keeping with the great traditions of silent film days, while she regarded him, her co-star and director, as nothing less than a genius.

Audiences may not have quite been ready for the dark humor and pointed social commentary of Verdoux when it was released in 1947. Decades later, though, it's easy to admire Chaplin's skill as a filmmaker - and the comic gifts he spotlighted in one of Martha's best films.

Find out more in Martha Raye: Film and Television Clown.

Raye Day

Martha Raye (1916-1994) was born 99 years ago today. What better way to spend the day than putting the finishing touches on my book about her life and career?

It's been a privilege to learn about her storied life and career, and I'm looking forward to sharing the results with readers in 2016. Now, back to the manuscript!

Revise, Review, Rewrite

Ah, the joys of revision - how I hate them! I am on my (approximately) 93rd review of the manuscript for my Martha Raye book, due out next year. It used to be that I'd kill at least a couple of trees per book, printing out pages, making edits and corrections, rinse and repeat. Now I send those drafts to my Kindle, where I spend time looking for typos, missing data, and anything else that falls short of the perfection I hope to achieve. As I go, I scribble notes to myself (see above), and then take to the word processor yet again.

There is probably no such thing as a perfect book, and mine are certainly no exception to that rule. But rest assured I am chasing those imperfections with all my might, doing my best to deliver a book readers will enjoy. Wish me luck!

As the TV World Turns

Here's a fun little artifact I acquired recently, courtesy of eBay -- the October 1955 issue of a television fan magazine. On the cover are Liberace ("man of a million talents"), Fess Parker, then playing Davy Crockett in a serial on ABC's Disneyland, and comedians Groucho Marx (You Bet Your Life) and Martha Raye (The Martha Raye Show). 

I enjoyed seeing the photos and stories about some of the most popular performers in the mid-fifties. There's a layout featuring husband and wife Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling, of Topper fame, showing off their baby son Jeffreys Sterling. Of course, some of the articles remind us that the information imparted in these publications often needs to be taken with a grain of salt, or twelve. A profile of Betty White declares, "Betty Ought to Get Married!" -- glossing over the fact that the clean-cut star was in fact a two-time divorcee. TV World also assures us that actress Jean Hagen (Make Room for Daddy) "loves co-star Danny [Thomas] as a dear friend," and that "being a TV mom comes second nature" to her. In reality, a frustrated Hagen would quit the show only a few months later, forcing the writers to make Thomas' character a widower the following season. Thomas would admit years later in his autobiography that their working relationship was often bumpy.

If readers didn't think they were getting their 25 cents worth from TV World, they could always venture down the darker alleys of magazines like the infamous Confidential, whose articles that year were more along the lines of "Rory Calhoun -- But for the Grace of God, Still a Convict!" Me, I think I'll stick with Betty White and her quest to find the man who can give her "that tingle that means Mama had better be shopping for wedding announcements."

Coming Attraction

Oh, boy! I'm happy to announce that my sixth book, to be published next year, focuses on yet another unforgettable funny lady. My subject is none other than marvelous, madcap Martha Raye. The book, which provides a complete overview of her life and career, will be published in time to commemorate the centennial of her birth in 1916.

I've been knee-deep in research for more than a year now, piecing together the story of a remarkable career that encompassed movies, her highly rated TV variety shows of the 1950s, and even the zany Benita Bizarre of the beloved Saturday morning show The Bugaloos. I've had the opportunity to conduct some fascinating interviews with those who knew and worked with Miss Raye, and uncovered quite a bit of previously unpublished information about her storied career.

If you have any information to contribute, by all means please let me hear from you, via this blog. There's always room for another good story about this endlessly intriguing star.

And Now a Word from...Vivian Vance?

Practically since the beginning of television, advertisers have been looking for ways to make sure consumers watch their commercials. In the 1970s and 1980s, one favorite way was to hire a celebrity whom viewers liked to deliver the message.

At right is Vivian Vance, beloved as Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy, pitching coffee. Below is movie and TV veteran Martha Raye as a spokesperson for a denture cleanser. They're just two of the classic TV performers who landed ongoing endorsement deals. Such a deal could be quite lucrative, well into six figures per year, without requiring a lot of an actor's time.

"Celebrity broker" Jon Albert explained in 1986, "As the price of network commercials keeps going up and up, there has to be a tremendous amount of effectiveness in a short time ... Viewers tend to become aware of celebrity commercials a lot quicker than non-celebrity commercials. By capitalizing on the performer's celebrity you can give the product some celebrity."

Did this work for you? Did you buy products because they were endorsed by a celebrity?