GEORGE JESSEL (RADIO)
Summary
One in this series of programs hosted by George Jessel. Jessel presents a history of show business from 1910 to the present, through recollections and memories of his own career in entertainment. Jessel begins the program by reminiscing about his apppearance at B.F. Keith's Colonial Theater in New York, in the early 1900s, on a bill he shared with English actress Lillie Langtry. He recalls other memorable gigs throughout his entertainment career: a show in which, for the second act, he found himself before an empty house, due to news of the sinking of the Titanic; his early work in Washington, D.C., performing as a monologuist; the private show he staged for Pres. Woodrow Wilson, as requested by then theater worker George Marshall (future owner of the Washington Redskins football team); "Mama at a French Play," the one-act sketch in which his role required him to translate for his Yiddish mother; the five-shows-daily performances at the Paramount Theatre in New York in which Sam Levene appeared as a planted stooge; and a gig with Eddie Cantor at the Olympic Theatre in Miami Beach. Jessel refers to his relationship with film star Norma Talmadge, and the rest of the program is devoted to anecdotes about Cantor.
Details
- NETWORK: WEVD-AM
- DATE: 1973
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: N/A
- CATALOG ID: R90:0097
- GENRE: Radio - Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Biography
- SERIES RUN: WEVD-AM (New York, NY) - Radio series, 1973
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Joel Plavin … Producer
- George Jessel … Host
- Lillie Langtry
- Woodrow Wilson
- George Marshall
- Sam Levene
- Eddie Cantor
- Norma Talmadge