SID CAESAR

'Sid Caesar' (born September 8, 1922) is an Emmy-winning American comic actor and writer, best known as the leading man on the 1950s television series ''Your Show of Shows'', and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in ''Grease'' and ''Grease 2''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Later years

Trivia

Awards

Further reading

External links

Periodicals

Biography

Early life

Isaac Sidney Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York where his father, Max, and mother, Ida, ran a twenty-four-hour luncheonette. Sid would help his parents by waiting on tables and it was during this time that Sid learned to mimic many of the accents he would use throughout his long career. He first tried his ''double-speak'' with a group of Italians, his head barely reaching above the table. They enjoyed it so much, they sent him over to a group of Poles to repeat it in Polish, and so on with Russians, Hungarians, Frenchman, Spaniards, Lithuanians, and Bulgarians. Despite his apparent fluency in many languages, in reality Sid can only speak English and Yiddish.
After graduating from high school in 1939, Sid's family was still reeling from the Depression and he struck out on his own. He went to New York City penniless and tried to join the musician's union playing the saxophone and was good enough to later attend the famed Juilliard School of Music where he audited classes. That first summer on his own, he played at the Vacationland Hotel in Swan Lake in the Catskills. There under the tutelage of the Don Appel, the resort's social director, Sid learned to perform comedy, doing three shows a week.
During the Summer of 1942, he met his future wife Florence Levy at the Avon Lodge. After joining the musician's union, he briefly played with Shep Fields, Claude Thornhill, Charlie Spivak, and even Benny Goodman. In September 1942, Sid joined the United States Coast Guard. Fortunately, he was posted to Brooklyn so he was able to maintain contact with his family and financee. Vernon Duke, the famous composer of ''Autumn in New York'', ''April in Paris'', and ''Taking a Chance on Love'', was also stationed at the same base and he collaborated with Sid in musical revues.
Sid's knack for wisecracks, however, got bigger applause than the musical numbers, and the show's producer asked him to do stand-up between his numbers. While still in the service, Sid was ordered to Palm Beach, Florida where Vernon Duke and Howard Dietz were putting together a service revue, ''Tars and Spars''. There he met the civilian director of the show Max Liebman,later the producer of his first television show. ''Tars and Spars'' toured nationally and then a film version was made at Columbia Pictures. He also got a part in ''The Guilt of Janet Ames''.

Career

After the war, Sid and Florence stayed in Hollywood, but despite a few offers to play sidekick roles, Sid decided to go back to New York where he got a club date as the opening act for Joe E. Lewis at the Copacabana nightclub. He reunited with Max Liebman, who guided his stage material and presentation. That appearance led to a contract with the William Morris agency and a nationwide tour. Sid also performed in a Broadway revue ''Make Mine Manhattan'' which featured ''The Five Dollar Date'', one of his first original pieces in which he sang, acted, double-talked, pantomimed, and wrote the music.
In early 1949, Sid and Max met with Pat Weaver, vice president of television at NBC (and father of Sigourney Weaver). Sid began his television career when he made an appearance on Milton Berle's ''Texaco Star Theater''. Then in 1949, Sid hosted his first series ''Admiral Broadway Revue'' with Imogene Coca. The show was an immediate success but its sponsor, ''Admiral Corporation'', an appliance company, could not keep up with the demand for its new television sets, so the show was cancelled on account it's great success.
On February 23, 1950, Sid appeared in the first ''Your Show of Shows'', a Saturday night ninety-minute variety program whose premier featured Burgess Meredith as guest host, Gertrude Lawrence, Lily Pons, and Robert Merill. The show launched Sid into instant stardom and was a mix of scripted and improvised comedy, dance numbers, movie and television satires, Caesar's inimitable double-talk monologues, and top musical guests. The impressive guest list included: Jackie Cooper, Robert Preston, Rex Harrison, Eddie Albert, Michael Regrave, Charleton Heston, Geraldine Page, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Pearl Bailey, Fred Allen, and Lena Horne. It was also responsible for bringing together some of the greatest comic talent of its day, including Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. Many prominent writers, denizens of the famed ''Writer's Room'', also got their start creating its madcap skits, including Lucille Kallen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Mel Tolkin, and Larry Gelbart. Sid won his first Emmy in 1952. The show ended after 160 live epidsodes on June 5, 1954.
Caesar began hosting ''Caesar's Hour'', a one-hour sketch show with Morris, Reiner, and a young Bea Arthur. ''Caesar's Hour'' was followed by ''Sid Caesar Invites You'' and ''The Sid Caesar Show''. In 1958, ''The Sid Caesar Show'' was cancelled and in his autobiography, ''Caesar's Hour'', Sid confesses that he turned to alcohol and drugs to overcome the insecurity of having a successful career unravel.

Later years

After his successful television career, Sid was cast in several noteworthy films including the 1963 mega-comedy ''It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World'', ''Silent Movie'', ''History of the World, Part I'' and as "Coach Calhoun" in 1978's ''Grease'' and its sequel, ''Grease 2'', in 1982. In 1997, he made a guest appearance in ''National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation'' and in 1998 in ''The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit'', based on a Ray Bradbury novel.

Trivia

★ Sid has been married to Florence Levy since July 17, 1943. Sid and Florence are the parents of three children.

★ In 2004, Caesar's autobiography, ''Caesar's Hours'', was published.

★ In 1963, Sid was nominated a Tony Award as Best Actor for "Little Me."

★ In 1951 and 1952, Sid was voted the United States' Best Comedian by Motion Picture Daily's TV poll.

★ He reprised this famous "double-speak'' skit in an episode of ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' in 2001.

Awards

Year	Award (number)	Result
1987	Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy	'–'
2005	DVDX Award	'Won'
1997	Emmy Award	'Nominated'
1995	Emmy Award	'Nominated'
1958	Emmy Award	'Nominated'
1957	Emmy Award	'Won'
1956	Emmy Award	'Nominated'
1954	Emmy Award	'Nominated'
1953	Emmy Award	'Nominated'
1952	Emmy Award	'Nominated / Won'
1951	Emmy Award	'Nominated'
2006	Pioneer Award	'–'
2001	Career Achievement Award	'–'
Unknown	Star on the Walk of Fame	'–'

Further reading

★ F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, Sid Caesar's Broadway debut, ''New York Daily News'', October 18, 2004. [1]

External links

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★ Caesar, Sid (museum biography)

★ Sid Caesar (allmovie.COM)

★ The New York Times (NYC Times) biography - sid caesar

★ SidCaeser.com

★ Archive of American Television Interview with Sid Caesar Mar 14, 1997 on Google Video

Periodicals

★ Washington Post; August 11, 2002 "Sid Caesar ... He went on to play in a series of big bands, including those of Claude Thornhill, Charlie Spivak, Shep Fields, Art Mooney and Benny Goodman. ..."