The Adventures of Ozzie Nelson

The Adventures of Ozzie Nelson PDF Author: John R. Holmes
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476683581
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 427

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Book Description
When Ozzie Nelson died in 1975, he was no longer a household name. For a guy who had created the longest-running TV sitcom in history, invented the rock video, and fronted one of the most successful big bands of the 1930s, it's baffling that Nelson has faded so far from American media memory. Larger than life offscreen--an attorney, college football star, cartoonist, songwriter, major band leader--Ozzie created a smaller-than-life TV persona, the bumbling average Dad who became known to the rock generation (which included his teen idol son Rick Nelson) as the essence of blandness. But America also saw Ozzie as their iconic Dad: not a "father knows best," since his pontifications usually proved flawed by the end of each episode, but the father who tried his best. This book is the only full-length biography of Ozzie Nelson since he published his memoirs in 1973. It treats the big band and early TV icon with affection and hints that American pop culture may owe more to Ozzie than is generally acknowledged.

The Adventures of Ozzie Nelson

The Adventures of Ozzie Nelson PDF Author: John R. Holmes
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476683581
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 427

Get Book

Book Description
When Ozzie Nelson died in 1975, he was no longer a household name. For a guy who had created the longest-running TV sitcom in history, invented the rock video, and fronted one of the most successful big bands of the 1930s, it's baffling that Nelson has faded so far from American media memory. Larger than life offscreen--an attorney, college football star, cartoonist, songwriter, major band leader--Ozzie created a smaller-than-life TV persona, the bumbling average Dad who became known to the rock generation (which included his teen idol son Rick Nelson) as the essence of blandness. But America also saw Ozzie as their iconic Dad: not a "father knows best," since his pontifications usually proved flawed by the end of each episode, but the father who tried his best. This book is the only full-length biography of Ozzie Nelson since he published his memoirs in 1973. It treats the big band and early TV icon with affection and hints that American pop culture may owe more to Ozzie than is generally acknowledged.

Ozzie

Ozzie PDF Author: Ozzie Nelson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Oswald Nelson began his spectacular career as a musician at age 14 when he and a friend were paid $5 to play for the local Woman's Club dance in his native Ridgefield Park, N.J. Before Ozzie knew it, his "band" was in such demand that people were willing to pay them an incredible $10 per night. Ozzie divided his free time at Rutgers University between football and music. Music won out and within five years of graduation, he was the leader of one of the big bands of the 1930s and an established radio personality. During this period, he met Harriet Hilliard, who became his partner and, of course, his wife. Together, they won millions of radio fans when they joined Red Skelton on the highly popular Raleigh Cigarette Hour. In 1944, "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" was first broadcast. It went on to run for 22 years, first on radio and then television. Ozzie's career did not end there--he returned to the stage, and this fall [1973] will be back on television with a new series, Ozzie's Girls. More than Ozzie's success story or family album this is a nostalgic evocation of one of the most glamorous eras of show business. Enriched by a wealth of amusing anecdotes, it presents a genuinely nice man who writes with warmth and unaffected charm. Readers will like the man and enjoy his entertaining story.

Teenage Idol, Travelin' Man

Teenage Idol, Travelin' Man PDF Author: Philip Bashe
Publisher: Hyperion
ISBN: 9781562829698
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
The complete biography of rock idol Rick Nelson includes details of behind-the-scenes tensions on the set of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Rick's brushes with the law, his drug abuse, and his untimely death.

The Great Clowns of American Television

The Great Clowns of American Television PDF Author: Karin Adir
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786413034
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
There are generations that have never seen Sid Caesar become an automobile tire or Red Skelton stick his thumbs in his armpits and intone, "Two theagulls...," never journeyed with Ernie Kovacs to a surrealistic world of his warped imagination. Here seventeen comic talents are profiled (with photographs): their early years, marriages and personal challenges, anecdotes about them, the characters they created, their styles, and often representative dialogue or sketch descriptions. There is a listing of all television shows in which each comic starred (giving length, network, air dates). The comics include Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Carol Burnett, Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Tim Conway, Jackie Gleason, Danny Kaye, Ernie Kovacs, Olsen and Johnson, Martha Raye, Soupy Sales, Red Skelton, Dick Van Dyke, Flip Wilson, Jonathan Winters, and Ed Wynn.

Rick Nelson, Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer

Rick Nelson, Rock 'n' Roll Pioneer PDF Author: Sheree Homer
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786460601
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
Ricky Nelson (he later preferred "Rick") was 8 years old when he began his career in show business. After a successful run on radio, his family's situation comedy The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet enjoyed a 14 year television tenure. On the April 10, 1957, episode, "Ricky the Drummer," Nelson started his singing career by lip syncing to Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'." He scored 36 Top 40 singles between 1957 and 1972 and ranked number 5 in Billboard's Top 25 Artists of the Decade 1950-1959. As a country rock pioneer, Rick Nelson influenced Buffalo Springfield, Linda Ronstadt, and the Eagles. This book is a candid account of his life in rock and roll through stories told by musicians and producers on the road and in the studio with him. Actors and family members also provided invaluable memories and insights.

Sticks and Bones

Sticks and Bones PDF Author: David Rabe
Publisher: Samuel French, Inc.
ISBN: 9780573615832
Category : American drama
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description
"A savagely comic portrait of an archetypal, middle class family, Ozzie, Harriet, David and Ricky, falling apart. When David comes back from the war blinded, he is pursued by furies that haunt him. Wanting to return their son to normal, Ozzie offers camaraderie, while Harriet cooks and bakes the foods he once loved, and shares her faith in her beloved religion. But David grows even more vengeful. Ozzie feels the foundation of his world crumbling. In a darkly hilarious scene, a catholic priest called in to give his blessing is, ingeniously, rebuffed by David. Finally, Ozzie and Harriet break under the pressure, for it seems David is about to turn their home into his nightmare. It's up to guitar-playing, fudge-eating Ricky to save the day and allow the family to return their cherished status qua with a tidy, ritualistic atrocity all their own."--Publisher's description.

April 20, 1956

April 20, 1956 PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description


The Entertainer

The Entertainer PDF Author: Margaret Talbot
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1594631883
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
Using the life and career of her father, writer Margaret Talbot tells the story of the rise of popular culture through a personal lens. The arc of Lyle Talbot's career is in fact the story of American entertainment. Born in 1902, Lyle left small-town Nebraska in 1918 to join a traveling carnival. From there he became a magician's assistant, an actor in a traveling theater troupe, a romantic lead in early talkies, then an actor in major Warner Bros. pictures, then an actor in cult B movies, and finally a part of the advent of television, with regular roles on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It to Beaver. In her impeccably researched narrative--a combination of Hollywood history, social history, and family memoir--Margaret Talbot conjures warmth and nostalgia for those earlier eras of '10s and '20s small-town America, '30s and '40s Hollywood.--From publisher description.

Growing Up in Disneyland

Growing Up in Disneyland PDF Author: Ron Defore
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781643166070
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Growing up in Disneyland" is part biography about Ron's father, Broadway, movie, and TV star, Don DeFore, and his own autobiography. Don DeFore earned a star on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame and was a household name in the 1950s and 60s. He co-starred in numerous feature films with many Hollywood legends, TV shows, and live theater. He is best known for "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" in which he played the next-door-neighbor, "Thorny," and his co-starring role as "Mr. B" in the 1960s TV series, "Hazel." The book includes much of Don's unpublished autobiography, "Hollywood-DeFore 'n After.

Television Introductions

Television Introductions PDF Author: Vincent Terrace
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810892502
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Since the beginning of network television, many shows have been preceded by an opening announcement or a theme song that served various purposes. In Television Introductions: Narrated TV Program Openings, Vincent Terrace has assembled openings for more than 900 television shows of the past seven decades. The only documented history of narrated television program introductions, this volume is arranged by various types of programming, such as comedies, dramas, westerns, game shows, soap operas, and children’s shows. In addition to quoting the opening material, entries include information about each show’s network history, years of broadcast, and show type. Many entries also include descriptions of the show, the names of announcers, and a list of main cast members. A comprehensive resource for researchers and pop culture aficionados alike, Television Introductions provides a fascinating look at this neglected part of TV history.