Steve Allen

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=169 style=" border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC;" BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="017a0ad1dyxtip.jpg"> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="698" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 111 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="00d69690.jpg" border=0 width="105" height="105" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> Waxahachie Independant School District    <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00FF00" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >               Waxahachie, Texas</FONT></div> <div> <B>Waxahachie High School Alumni 1962</B></div> <div> <B>WHS Seniors '62</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=268 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="01f9b9c3.jpg"> <div>                                                   </div> <div> <B><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">  </SCRIPT> </B></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="5" CELLPADDING="20" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="560" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#00FF00" BORDERCOLORDARK="#00FF00" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#000000 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 2555 WIDTH="466"><div> <I><B> <TABLE BORDER="3" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="192" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#FFFFFF" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFFFFF" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 141 ><NOBR><div> <B><IMG SRC="1b799760.jpg" border=0 width="153" height="118" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></I></div> <div> <B>Steve Allen</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A long-running late night program,</B><I><B> the Tonight Show </B></I><B>was the first, and for decades the most-watched, network talk program on television. Since 1954 NBC has aired a number of versions of the show which has, as of the mid-1990s, seen four principle hosts and one consistent format except for a brief diversion in its early days.  </B></div> <div> <B>What started out as a music, comedy and talk program first hosted by Steve Allen became, for a time, a magazine-type program, broadcasting news and entertainment segments from various correspondents located in different cities nationally. That short-lived format, however, lacked the appeal of a comedy-interview show revolving around one dynamic host.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> From mid-1957 until the present, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno have all three followed Allen's lead and hosted a show of celebrity interviews, humor and music, each host leading his show with signature style. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Widely recognized for his renaissance talents as an author, composer, musician, poet, playwright and performer, Allen was the creator and first host of NBC's Tonight Show. He also won Peabody and Emmy awards for his PBS series Meeting of Minds and starred in the memorable motion picture The Benny Goodman Story. The composer of over 8,500 songs, including the popular standard This Could be the Start of Something Big and the Grammy award winning Gravy Waltz, Steve Allen was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the "most prolific composer of modern times."Mr. Allen was also the author of more than 50 published books including comedies and mysteries as well as more serious tomes on subjects as diverse as education, morality, China and the farm worker movement of Caesar Chavez. On the day of his death, Mr. Allen was working on the promotional plans for the December release of his 53rd book Steve Allen's Private Joke File, and adding the final touches to his manuscript for his 54th book, Vulgarians at the Gate concerning the rising tide of violence and vulgarity in the popular media. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Steve Allen was married to television, film and stage actress Jayne Meadows for more than 46 years. Miss Meadows described Allen as "my best friend and my partner on stage and off for more than 48 years. He was the most talented man I've ever known and the one true love of my life." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="626" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 211 WIDTH="622"><div> <B>Steve Allen didn't just decide to be a comedian, he was destined to become one. Steve's parents were the vaudevillian comedy team of Montrose and Allen. He credits his mother, Belle Montrose, for his funny bone. Milton Berle called her "the funniest woman in vaudeville." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Steve was a pushover for comedy. He loved to write it, act it and watch it. Some 92 percent of today's comedians broke him up. He worried why he didn't laugh at the remaining eight percent.</B></div> <div> <B>For years he was known as one of the greatest ad-lib specialists in the business, taking advantage of situations as they come up and getting laughs out of them. </B></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <B>Hundreds of his off-the-cuff one-liners are legendary. Announcing the final score of a big game between Harvard and William and Mary, it came out: "Harvard 14, William 12, Mary 6." When someone in the studio audience once asked him, "Do they get your program in Boston?", he quipped, "They see it, but they don't </B><I><B>get</B></I><B> it!"</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A psychologist -- interviewed on an Allen show -- announced that the only two instinctive fears in man are the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling. "I have a great fear," replied Steve, without missing a beat, "of making a loud noise while falling."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"When I ad-lib something, I laugh," Allen was quoted. "I laugh for the same reasons the audience does; I've never heard that joke before -- and I'm just as surprised as they are."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>For nearly 50 years he distinguished himself in the spontaneous creation of humor in front of audiences. The first telecast of the </B><I><B>American Comedy Awards</B></I><B> presented their Lifetime Achievement Awards to only five American comedians: Steve Allen, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar and Jonathan Winters.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Allen has also been referred to as "the most imitated man on television." He was the first comedian to do funny and totally ad-libbed interviews with studio audiences or on the street, originated the Question Man in which the answer comes before the question, originated the idea of taking close-up pictures of people in his audience and building a comedy routine around them, and was the first comic to regularly do crazy and sometimes dangerous physical stunts on his shows.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="582" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 286 WIDTH="578"><div> <B>In the history of television, there probably was not a more durable and versatile personality than Steve Allen. Dating back to 1950, when he made the guest circuit on such programs as This is Show Business and What's My Line?, and continuing through the early 1980's when he hosted NBC's The Big Show, the Steve Allen Comedy Hour and the Emmy Awards Show, as well as four seasons of his award-winning Meeting of Minds on PBS, there were few weeks when Allen did not grace the tube on one network or another. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Some of his television career highlights include:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>- Created and hosted the "Tonight Show." (September 27, 1954 - January 25, 1957) When Steve left the show, the format was continued by Jack Paar, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. It remains the highest rated series on late night television, and is the longest running entertainment series in television history.</B></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <B>- Starred in the critically-acclaimed NBC series "The Steve Allen Show." (June 24, 1956 - 1960). This Sunday night show had a neck-and-neck rating battle with Ed Sullivan's Sunday night CBS show, which saw Steve in the lead one week and Sullivan ahead the next. Regulars were Louis Nye, Tom Poston, Don Knotts, Dayton Allen, Gabe Dell, Pat Harrington, Skitch Henderson and </B></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="149" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#111111 HEIGHT= 164 ><NOBR><div> <B><IMG SRC="1b57d9d0.jpg" border=0 width="125" height="157" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <B>announcer Gene Rayburn.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>- Starred in numerous other Steve Allen shows (1960 - 76) for ABC, CBS and various syndication companies, including episodes of late night comedies which David Letterman has credited as the single biggest inspiration for his show today.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>- Created the award-winning Meeting of Minds (1977-1981), one of the most popular series presented by the Public Broadcasting Service.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>- Continued to appear in many television programs through recent years. </B></div> <div> <B>In its 45 Year Anniversary issue published on April 4, 1998, TV Guide featured Steve in its "Titans of Talk" section and said: "Let's face it, the guy has done everything involving television except make house calls to repair sets....Wait, that might be him at the door now. But first and foremost Steve Allen's distinction hinges on his being the first--and some still say foremost-- host of </B><I><B>The Tonight Show</B></I><B>, virtually inventing the late-night form. Says Steve Lawrence, 'Turn on Leno or Letterman and you'll see what Steve created.' But Allen's contributions extend beyond the late shift. Host, co-host, guest, panelist, walk-on, it doesn't seem to matter--his mastering of the brilliant ad lib always brightens the show and carries the day. He acts, too, in everything from </B><I><B>Homicide</B></I><B> to </B><I><B>The Love Boat</B></I><B>, and has created the unerringly smart </B><I><B>Meeting of Minds</B></I><B>. With those glasses, pompadours hair and cackling laugh, he appears to be the squarest guy in the room but is the life of the party. Most often, in fact, he's its host."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A GREAT website that tells it all about Steve can be found </B><A HREF="http://www.steveallen.com/main_page/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.steveallen.com/main_page/inde"><B>HERE</B></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="laughter_3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Laughter 3"><B>Back</B></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=42 style=" border-top: 1px solid #CCCCCC;" BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="0182a2f1dyxtip.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="http://whs62.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net">Home</A>     <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Roll" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Roll">Roll Call</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/In_Memory" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/In_Memory">In Memory</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Long_Ago" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Long_Ago">Long Ago</A>    <A HREF="http://www.whs62.net/Our_50s/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.whs62.net/Our_50s/">Our 50's</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Reunions" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Reunions">Reunions</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Today" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Today">Today</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Contacts" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Contacts">Contacts</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Links" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Links">Links</A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>