Thursday, April 4, 2013

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - EARL WILSON


EARL WILSON

From Wikipedia:
Harvey Earl Wilson (May 3, 1907–January 16, 1987), born Harvey Earl Wilson, was an American journalist, gossip columnist and author, perhaps best known for his nationally syndicated newspaper column, "It Happened Last Night".

Born in Rockford in Mercer County in western Ohio, Wilson attended Heidelberg College and graduated from Ohio State University in 1931 with a B. S. in journalism.

Wilson's column originated from the New York Post and ran from 1942 until 1983. His chronicling of the Broadway scene during the "Golden Age" of show business formed the basis for a book published in 1971, "The Show Business Nobody Knows". He signed his columns with the tag line, "That's Earl, brother." His nickname was "Midnight Earl".

Wilson is also the author of two controversial books, "Show Business Laid Bare", and an unauthorized biography of Frank Sinatra, "Sinatra – An Unauthorized Biography". The former book is notable for revealing the extramarital affairs of President John F. Kennedy.

In the early 1950s, Wilson was an occasional panelist on the NBC game show, 'Who Said That?', in which celebrities tried to determine the speaker of quotations taken from recent news reports.

Wilson appeared in a few films as himself, notably "Copacabana" (1947) with Groucho Marx and Carmen Miranda, "A Face in the Crowd" (1957) with Andy Griffith, "College Confidential" (1960), and "Beach Blanket Bingo" (1965) with Paul Lynde. Wilson also hosted the DuMont TV show 'Stage Entrance' from May 1951 to March 1952.

AS SEEN IN:
'Make Room For Daddy'
"Lose Me In Las Vegas"

SYNOPSIS:
While in Las Vegas on his honeymoon with Kathy (his second wife) and the three kids, the family takes in a benefit show at one of the clubs. There, Earl Wilson is introduced from the audience.

O'BSERVATION:
  • Aside from all of his appearances on talk shows and variety programs (even taking another bow from the audience at 'The Ed Sullivan Show'), Wilson's appearance here links 'Make Room For Daddy' to a dramatic series, 'The Reporter', in which he played himself in the second episode, "Hideout".
  • Despite his appearances in all of those movies listed above, that doesn't mean they can now be absorbed into the TV Universe. There was an Earl Wilson in the real world (the Trueniverse), the televersion of Earl Wilson in Earth Prime-Time, and all of those other appearance in the movies can only be found in the Cineverse or any of its sub-dimensions.
BCnU!

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