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Sid Caesar

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Sid Caesar
Caesar in 1961
Born
Isaac Sidney Caesar

(1922-09-08)September 8, 1922
Yonkers, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 12, 2014(2014-02-12) (aged 91)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • writer
Years active1945–2005
Spouse
Florence Levy
​
​
(m. 1943; died 2010)​
Children3

Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: Your Show of Shows (1950–1954), which was a 90-minute weekly show watched by 60 million people, and its successor, Caesar's Hour (1954–1957), both of which influenced later generations of comedians.[1] Your Show of Shows and its cast received seven Emmy nominations between the years 1953 and 1954 and tallied two wins. He also acted in films; he played Coach Calhoun in Grease (1978) and its sequel Grease 2 (1982) and appeared in the films It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Silent Movie (1976), History of the World, Part I (1981), Cannonball Run II (1984), and Vegas Vacation (1997).

Caesar was considered a "sketch comic" and actor, as opposed to a stand-up comedian. He also relied more on body language, accents, and facial contortions than simply dialogue. Unlike the slapstick comedy which was standard on TV, his style was considered "avant garde" in the 1950s. He conjured up ideas and scene and used writers to flesh out the concept and create the dialogue. Among the writers who wrote for Caesar early in their careers were Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Carl Reiner, Michael Stewart, Mel Tolkin, Lucille Kallen, Selma Diamond, and Woody Allen. "Sid's was the show to which all comedy writers aspired. It was the place to be," said Steve Allen.

His TV shows' subjects included satires of real life events and people, and parodies of popular film genres, theater, television shows, and opera. But unlike other comedy shows at the time, the dialogue was considered sharper, funnier, and more adult-oriented. He was "best known as one of the most intelligent and provocative innovators of television comedy," who some critics called "television's Charlie Chaplin" and The New York Times refers to as the "comedian of comedians from TV's early days."[2]

Honored in numerous ways over 60 years, he was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards, winning twice. He was also an accomplished saxophonist, having played the saxophone since he was eleven years old, and was the author of several books, including two autobiographies in which he described his career and later struggle to overcome years of alcoholism and addiction to barbiturates.

Early life

[edit]

Caesar was the youngest of three sons; his family was Jewish.[3] He was born in Yonkers, New York.[4][5] His father was Max Ziser (1874–1946) and his mother was Ida (née Raphael) (1887–1975). They likely were from Dąbrowa Tarnowska, Poland.[6] Reports state that the surname "Caesar" was given to Max, as a child, by an immigration official at Ellis Island.[7][8][9] According to Marian L. Smith, senior historian of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, there is no known case of a name changed at Ellis Island.[10]

Max and Ida Caesar ran a restaurant, a 24-hour luncheonette.[11] By waiting on tables, their son learned to mimic the patois, rhythm, and accents of the diverse clientele, a technique he termed double-talk, which he used throughout his career. He first tried double-talk with a group of Italians, his head barely reaching above the table. They enjoyed it so much that they sent him over to a group of Poles to repeat his native-sounding patter in Polish, and so on with Russians, Hungarians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Lithuanians, and Bulgarians. Sid Caesar's older brother, David, was his comic mentor and "one-man cheering section."[12] They created their earliest family sketches from movies of the day like Test Pilot and the 1927 silent film Wings.[13]

As a boy, Caesar took saxophone lessons and played in small bands to make money during the Great Depression. When he was 14, Caesar went to the Catskill Mountains as a tenor saxophonist in the Swingtime Six band with Mike Cifichello and Andrew Galos and occasionally performed in sketches in the Borscht Belt.[2]

Career

[edit]

Stage and film

[edit]

After graduating from Yonkers High School in 1940,[14] Caesar left home, intent on a musical career. He arrived in Manhattan and worked as an usher and then a doorman at the Capitol Theater there.[2] He was ineligible to join the musicians' union in New York City until he established residency, but he found work as a saxophonist at the Vacationland Hotel, a resort located in the Catskill Mountains of Sullivan County, New York. Mentored by Don Appel, the resort's social director, Caesar played in the dance band and learned to perform comedy, doing three shows a week.[13] He audited classes in clarinet and saxophone at the Juilliard School of Music.[15] In 1940, he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard, and was stationed in Brooklyn, New York, where he played in military revues and shows.[16][17] Caesar was discharged from the service in 1945.[18] Vernon Duke, the composer of Autumn in New York, April in Paris, and Taking a Chance on Love, was at the same base and collaborated with Caesar on musical revues.[13]

During the summer of 1942, Caesar met his future wife, Florence Levy, at the Avon Lodge in the Catskills village of Woodridge, New York. They were married on July 17, 1943,[19] and had three children: Michele, Rick and Karen.[14] After joining the musicians' union, he briefly played with Shep Fields, Claude Thornhill, Charlie Spivak, Art Mooney and Benny Goodman.[14] Later in his career, he performed "Sing, Sing, Sing" with Goodman for a TV performance.[20]

Still in the military, Caesar was ordered to Palm Beach, Florida, where Vernon Duke and Howard Dietz were putting together a service revue called Tars and Spars. There he met the civilian director of the show, Max Liebman. When Caesar's comedy got bigger applause than the musical numbers, Liebman asked him to do stand-up bits between the songs. Tars and Spars toured nationally, and became Caesar's first major gig as a comedian.[21] Liebman later produced Caesar's first television series.

After finishing his military service in 1945, the Caesars moved to Hollywood. In 1946, Columbia Pictures produced a film version of Tars and Spars in which Caesar reprised his role. The next year, he acted in The Guilt of Janet Ames. He turned down the lead of The Jolson Story as he did not want to be known as an impersonator, and turned down several other offers to play sidekick roles.[13] He soon returned to New York, where he became the opening act for Joe E. Lewis at the Copacabana nightclub. He reunited with Liebman, who guided his stage material and presentation. That job led to a contract with the William Morris Agency and a nationwide tour. Caesar 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.[22] He won a 1948 Donaldson Award for his contributions to the musical.[13][23]

Television

[edit]

Caesar's television career began with an appearance on Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater[21] in the fall of 1948.[24] In early 1949, Caesar and Liebman met with Pat Weaver, vice president of television at NBC, which led to Caesar's first series, Admiral Broadway Revue with Imogene Coca. The Friday show was simultaneously broadcast on NBC and the DuMont network, and it was an immediate success. However, its sponsor, Admiral, an appliance company, could not keep up with the demand for its new television sets, so the show was canceled after 26 weeks—ironically, on account of its runaway success.[22]

Imogene Coca and Caesar in Your Show of Shows (1952)

On February 25, 1950, Caesar appeared in the first episode of Your Show of Shows, initially the second half of the two-hour umbrella show Saturday Night Review; at the end of the 1950–51 season, Your Show of Shows became its own, 90-minute program from the International Theatre at 5 Columbus Circle and later The Center Theatre at Sixth Avenue and 49th Street.[25] Burgess Meredith hosted the first two shows,[25] and the premiere featured musical guests Gertrude Lawrence, Lily Pons and Robert Merrill.[13] The show was a mix of sketch comedy, movie and television satires, Caesar's monologs, musical guests, and large production numbers. Guests included: Jackie Cooper, Robert Preston, Rex Harrison, Eddie Albert, Michael Redgrave, Basil Rathbone, Charlton Heston, Geraldine Page, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Pearl Bailey, Fred Allen, Benny Goodman, Lena Horne and many other stars of the time. It was also responsible for bringing together the comedy team of Caesar, Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. Many writers also got their break creating the show's sketches, including Lucille Kallen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Michael Stewart, Mel Tolkin and Sheldon Keller. Sid Caesar won his first Emmy in 1952. In 1951 and 1952, he was voted the United States' Best Comedian in Motion Picture Daily's TV poll. The show ended after almost 160 episodes[13] on June 5, 1954.[25]

A few months later, Caesar returned with Caesar's Hour, a one-hour sketch/variety show with Morris, Reiner, Bea Arthur and other members of his former crew. Nanette Fabray replaced Coca, who had left to star in her own short-lived series. Ultimate creative and technical control was now in Caesar's hands, originating from the Center Theater and the weekly budget doubled to $125,000. The premiere on September 27, 1954, featured Gina Lollobrigida.[13] Everything was performed live, including the commercials.[citation needed]

Caesar's Hour was followed by ABC's short-lived Sid Caesar Invites You from January 26 to May 25, 1958. It briefly reunited Caesar, Coca, and Reiner, with Simon and Brooks among the writers.[26]

L-R: Edie Adams, Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Ethel Merman, Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett

In 1963, Caesar appeared on television, on stage, and in films. Several As Caesar Sees It specials evolved into the 1963–64 Sid Caesar Show (which alternated with Edie Adams in Here's Edie).[27] He starred with Virginia Martin in the Broadway musical Little Me, with book by Simon, choreography by Bob Fosse, and music by Cy Coleman. Playing eight parts with 32 costume changes, he was nominated in 1963 for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.[28] On film, Caesar and Adams played a husband and wife drawn into a mad race to find buried loot in Stanley Kramer's comedy ensemble It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) which became a box office success and earned six Academy Award nominations.

Style and technique

[edit]

Caesar was not a stand-up comedian but a "sketch comic, and actor," wrote one historian. "He conjured up ideas and enhanced scenes, but never wrote a word," and thereby depended on his writers for dialogue.[29] Caesar was skilled at pantomime, dialects, monologs, foreign language double-talk and general comic acting.[30]

Caesar in 1972

His sketches were often long, sometimes 10 or 15 minutes, with numerous close-ups showing the expressions on the faces of Caesar and other actors. Caesar relied more on body language, accents, and facial contortions than simply spoken dialogue. Unlike slapstick comedy, which was standard on TV, his style was considered avant garde. Caesar "...was born with the ability to write physical poetry," notes comedian Steve Allen, a technique like that used for a silent film comedian.[29] An example of this "silent film" style is a live sketch with Nanette Fabray, where they both pantomime an argument choreographed to the music of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.[31]

Writer Mel Tolkin stated that Caesar "didn't like one-line jokes in sketches because he felt that if the joke was a good one, anybody could do it. One-liners would take him away from what drove his personal approach to comedy." Larry Gelbart called Caesar's style theatrical, and called him "...a pure TV comedian." In describing his control during the live performances, actress Nanette Fabray recalled that unlike most comedians, such as Red Skelton, Bob Hope or Milton Berle, Caesar always stayed in character: "He was so totally into the scene he never lost it."[29]

Caesar was able to pantomime a wide variety of things: a tire, a gumball machine, a lion, a dog, a punching bag, a telephone, an infant, an elevator, a railroad train, a herd of horses, a piano, a rattlesnake and a bottle of seltzer.[29] On the Dick Clark show in 1978, he played a chewing gum machine and a slot machine.[32] He was also able to create imaginary characters. Alfred Hitchcock compared him to Charlie Chaplin, and critic John Crosby felt "he could wrench laughter out of you with the violence of his great eyes and the sheer immensity of his parody." In an article in The Saturday Evening Post in 1953, show business biographer Maurice Zolotow noted that "Caesar relies upon grunts and grimaces to express a vast range of emotions."[29]

Of his double-talk routines, Carl Reiner said, "His ability to doubletalk every language known to man was impeccable,"[33] and during one performance Caesar imitated four different languages but with almost no real words.[34] Despite his apparent fluency in many languages, Caesar could actually speak only English and Yiddish. In 2008, Caesar told a USA Today reporter, "Every language has its own music ... If you listen to a language for 15 minutes, you know the rhythm and song."[35] Having developed this mimicry skill, he could create entire monologs using gibberish in numerous languages, as he did in a skit in which he played a German general.[36]

Subjects

[edit]

Among his primary subjects were parodies and spoofs of various film genres, including gangster films, westerns, newspaper dramas, spy movies and other TV shows. Compared to other comedy shows at the time, the dialogue on his shows was considered sharper, funnier and more adult oriented.[29] In his sketches for Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, he would also typically "skewer the minutiae of domestic life" along with lampooning popular or classic movies.[2]

Contemporary movies, foreign movies, theater, television shows and opera were targets of satire by the writing team. Often the publicity generated by the sketches boosted the box office of the original productions. Some notable sketches included: "From Here to Obscurity" (From Here to Eternity), "Aggravation Boulevard" (Sunset Boulevard), "Hat Basterson" (Bat Masterson), and "No West for the Wicked" (Stagecoach).

They also performed some recurring sketches. "The Hickenloopers", television's first bickering-couple sketch, predated The Honeymooners. As "The Professor", Caesar was the daffy expert who bluffed his way through his interviews with earnest roving reporter Carl Reiner. In its various incarnations, "The Professor" could be Gut von Fraidykat (mountain-climbing expert), Ludwig von Spacebrain (space expert), or Ludwig von Henpecked (marriage expert). Later, "The Professor" was inspiration for Mel Brooks' "The Two Thousand Year Old Man".[citation needed] The most prominent recurring sketch on the show was "The Commuters", which featured Caesar, Reiner, and Morris involved with everyday working and suburban life situations. Years later, the sketch "Sneaking through the Sound Barrier", a parody of the British film The Sound Barrier, ran continuously as part of a display on supersonic flight at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Working with writers

[edit]
Caesar in 1980

Steve Allen claimed, "Sid's was the show to which all comedy writers aspired. It was the place to be." While Caesar did not write his dialogue, he made all final decisions. His writers, such as Mel Brooks, felt they "had a great instrument in Caesar that we could all play, and we played it very well." As for Caesar, Nachman describes him basically as an "inspired idea man who allowed the writers to take more risks" than other TV shows.[29] Woody Allen remembers that "...you wrote situations," instead of jokes, as in "This Is Your Story" with Carl Reiner, a parody of the popular TV show This Is Your Life.[37][38] It was said to be "Caesar's personal favorite" sketch.[29]

In many cases, sketch dialogue was not even written down, but simply indicated by describing a scene, as in, "Sid does man coming home from business mad." Sometimes, said Larry Gelbart, it was "organized chaos," and when watching the writers create from offstage, felt, "...it was a religious experience." To Mel Brooks, "it was a zoo. Everyone pitched lines at Sid. Jokes would be changed fifty times." Naturally there were some explosive episodes: "Mr. Caesar once dangled a terrified Mr. Brooks from an 18th-story window until colleagues restrained him. With one punch, he knocked out a horse that had thrown his wife off its back, a scene that Mr. Brooks replayed in his movie Blazing Saddles."[29]

Neil Simon recalled that after writing out a sketch and giving it to Caesar, "Sid would make it ten times funnier than what we wrote. Sid acted everything out, so the sketches we did were like little plays." Simon also remembered the impact that working for Caesar had on him: "The first time I saw Caesar it was like seeing a new country. All other comics were basically doing situations with farcical characters. Caesar was doing life."[29]

Some of his writers, like Woody Allen, initially didn't like being among the large team of writers coming up with routines for Caesar, feeling it was too competitive and contributed to hostility among writers. An Allen biographer wrote that Allen "...chafed under the atmosphere of inspired spontaneity", although Allen did say that, "Writing for Caesar was the highest thing you could aspire to—at least as a TV comedy writer. Only the presidency was above that." Neil Simon noted that "we were competitive the way a family is competitive to get dad's attention. We all wanted to be Sid's favorite."[29] As part of the competitive atmosphere in The Writer's Room, as it was called, friendship was also critical. Larry Gelbart explained:

We were able to be urbane. Between us we read every book. Between us we saw every movie. Between us we saw every play on Broadway. You could make jokes about Kafka or Tennessee Williams. We also had dinner together. We went to movies together. We were all friends. And that was very important. We appreciated each other a lot.[39]

Impact on television

[edit]

Nachman concludes that "the Caesar shows were the crème de la crème of fifties television," as they were "studded with satire, and their sketches sharper, edgier, more sophisticated than the other variety shows."[29] Likewise, historian Susan Murray notes that Caesar was "...best known as one of the most intelligent and provocative innovators of television comedy."[40]

According to actress Nanette Fabray, who acted alongside Caesar, "He was the first original TV comedy creation."[29] His early shows were the "...gold standard for TV sketch comedy."[29] In 1951, Newsweek noted that according to "the opinion of lots of smart people, Caesar is the best that TV has to offer,"[29] while Zolotow, in his 1953 profile for The Saturday Evening Post, wrote that "in temperament, physique, and technique of operation, Caesar represents a new species of comedian."[29]

However, his positive impact on television became a negative one for Broadway. Caesar fans preferred to stay home on Saturday nights to watch his show instead of seeing live plays. "The Caesar show became such a Saturday-night must-see habit—the Saturday Night Live of its day," states Nachman, that "...Broadway producers begged NBC to switch the show to midweek."[29] Comedy star Carol Burnett, who later had her own hit TV show, remembers winning tickets to see My Fair Lady on Broadway: "I gave the tickets to my roommate because I said, Fair Lady's gonna be running for a hundred years, but Sid Caesar is live and I'll never see that again."[39]

Faded success and personal problems

[edit]

After nearly 10 years as a prime-time star of television comedy with Your Show of Shows followed by Caesar's Hour, his stardom ended rapidly and he nearly disappeared from the spotlight. Nachman describes this period:

Caesar slid into a personal and career abyss ... [he] had no interest in movies ... He would live and die by the tube. His career was short-circuited by alcohol and pills ... The pressures of sudden stardom, of headlining and co-producing a weekly hit show, crushed him.[29]

Caesar himself felt, "It had all come too fast, was too easy, and he didn't deserve the acclaim."[29] Writer Mel Brooks, who also became his close friend, said, "I know of no other comedian, including Chaplin, who could have done nearly ten years of live television. Nobody's talent was ever more used up than Sid's. He was one of the greatest artists ever born. But over a period of years, television ground him into sausages."[29]

In 1977, after blacking out during a stage performance of Neil Simon's The Last of the Red Hot Lovers in Regina, Saskatchewan, Caesar gave up alcohol "cold turkey". In his 1982 autobiography, Where Have I Been?, and his second book, Caesar's Hours, he chronicled his struggle to overcome his alcoholism and addiction to sleeping pills.

Later years

[edit]

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Caesar continued to make occasional television and theatrical appearances and starred in several movies including Silent Movie and History of the World, Part I (both reuniting him with Mel Brooks), Airport 1975, and as Coach Calhoun in Grease and its sequel Grease 2 in 1982. In 1971, he starred opposite Carol Channing and a young Tommy Lee Jones in the Broadway show Four on a Garden.

In 1973, Caesar reunited with Imogene Coca for the stage play The Prisoner of Second Avenue, written in 1971 by Neil Simon. Their play opened in Chicago in August 1973.[41] That same year, Caesar and Max Liebman mined their own personal kinescopes from Your Show of Shows (NBC had lost the studio copies) and they produced the feature film Ten From Your Show of Shows, a compilation of some of their best sketches. In 1974, Caesar said, "I'd like to be back every week" on TV and appeared in the NBC skit-based comedy television pilot called Hamburgers.[42]

Caesar as guest on The Big Show with host Steve Allen in 1980

In 1980, he appeared as a double-talking Japanese father for Mei and Kei's Pink Lady and opposite Jeff Altman in the Pink Lady and Jeff show.

In 1983, Caesar hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live, where he received a standing ovation at the start of the show and was awarded a plaque at the conclusion of the show declaring him an honorary cast member.[43] He released an exercise video, Sid Caesar's Shape Up!, in 1985.[44] In 1987–89, Caesar appeared as Frosch the Jailer in Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.[45] In 1987, Caesar starred in the David Irving film The Emperor's New Clothes with Robert Morse as the Tailor. Caesar remained active by appearing in movies, television and award shows, including the movie The Great Mom Swap in 1995.

In 1996, the Writers Guild of America, West reunited Caesar with nine of his writers from Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour for a two-hour panel discussion featuring head writer Mel Tolkin, Caesar, Carl Reiner, Aaron Ruben, Larry Gelbart, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Sheldon Keller, and Gary Belkin. The event was taped, broadcast on PBS in the United States and the BBC in the UK, and later released as a DVD titled Caesar's Writers.[46]

In 1997, he made a guest appearance in Vegas Vacation and, the following year, in The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit based on a Ray Bradbury novel. Also that year, Caesar joined fellow television icons Bob Hope and Milton Berle at the 50th anniversary of the Primetime Emmy Awards. Billy Crystal also paid tribute to Caesar that night when he won an Emmy for hosting that year's Oscar telecast, recalling seeing Caesar doing a parody of Yul Brynner in The King & I on Your Show of Shows. Caesar performed his double-talk in a "foreign dub" skit on the November 21, 2001, episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Caesar attending Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2000

On September 7, 2001, Caesar, Carl Reiner and Nanette Fabray appeared on CNN's live interview program Larry King Live along with actor, comedian and improvisationist Drew Carey.[47]

In 2003, he joined Edie Adams and Marvin Kaplan at a 40th anniversary celebration for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.[48] In 2004, Caesar's second autobiography, Caesar's Hours, was published, and in 2006, Billy Crystal presented Caesar with the TV Land Awards' Pioneer Award.[49] In what TV Land called "...a hilarious, heartfelt, multilingual, uncut acceptance speech,"[49] Caesar performed his double-talk for over five minutes.[citation needed]

In a November 2009 article in the Toluca Lake, California, Tolucan Times, columnist Greg Crosby described a visit with Caesar and his wife Florence at their home. Of the couple's meeting, Florence said, "Well, I thought he was nice for the summer ... I thought he would be just a nice boyfriend for the summer. He was cute-looking and tall, over six feet.... I was in my last year at Hunter College; we were still dating when Sid went into the service, the Coast Guard. Luckily he was stationed in New York so we were able to continue seeing each other, even though my parents weren't too happy about it. They never thought he would amount to anything, that he'd never have a real career or make any money. But we were married one year after we met, in July of 1943." She also pointed out, "You know, he's not funny all the time. He can be very serious." At the time of the interview, the couple had been married for 66 years.[50] Florence Caesar died on March 3, 2010, aged 88.[2][51]

Personal life

[edit]

Caesar was married to Florence Levy for 67 years until her death in 2010.[4] Caesar asserted that he was "proud to be Jewish" and that "Jews have a good sense of humor. Jews appreciate humor because in their life it's not too funny. We've been trodden down for a long time, thousands of years. So we've had to turn that around because if you take it all too seriously you're going to eat yourself. And we're very good at being self-deprecating. Either we do it or somebody's going to do it for us. We might as well do it first."[4]

Death

[edit]

Caesar died on February 12, 2014, at his home in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 91, after a short illness.[22][52]

On Caesar's death, Carl Reiner said, "He was the ultimate, he was the very best sketch artist and comedian that ever existed." Mel Brooks commented, "Sid Caesar was a giant, maybe the best comedian who ever practiced the trade. And I was privileged to be one of his writers and one of his friends."[33] Woody Allen stated, "He was one of the truly great comedians of my time".[53] Jon Stewart and The Daily Show paid tribute to Caesar at the show's close on February 12, 2014.[54] Vanity Fair republished a brief tribute written by Billy Crystal in August 2005, in which he said of Caesar and his contemporaries:

I get nervous when I am with these giants. I always feel like I want to say, Thank you. I am blessed to have grown up in their time of perfection, to have witnessed the utter force of Sid. Live, uncut, daring but not risqué. Never stooping beneath themselves, Sid and this team of icons put forth a raucous, hilarious, and truthful brand of comedy that, 50 years later, is still funny and inspiring, and makes me think ... What kind of comedy would I be doing if I hadn't seen Sid Caesar? Would I be a comedian at all?[55]

His interment was at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery. He was predeceased by his wife, Florence (2010) and survived by his children Karen, Michelle, and Rick, and two grandsons. His son, Dr. Richard (Rick) Caesar died several months after his father on July 16, 2014.[56]

Filmography

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Film

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1946 Tars and Spars Chuck Enders
1947 The Guilt of Janet Ames Sammy Weaver
1963 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Melville Crump
1966 The Mouse That Roared Duchess / Mountjoy / Tully Television film
1967 The Busy Body George Norton
A Guide for the Married Man Man at Romanoff's
The Spirit Is Willing Ben Powell
1968 The Lucy Show. Lucy and Sid Caesar
1973 Ten from Your Show of Shows Un­known Also writer
1974 Airport 1975 Barney
1976 Silent Movie Studio Chief
1977 Flight to Holocaust George Beam Television film
Fire Sale Sherman
Curse of the Black Widow Lazlo Cozart Television film
1978 The Cheap Detective Ezra Dezire
Grease Coach Calhoun
Barnaby and Me Leo Fisk Television film
1980 The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu Joe Capone
Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz Wizard / U.N. Krust Voice
1981 The Munsters' Revenge Dr. Dustin Diablo Television film
History of the World: Part I Chief Caveman
1982 Grease 2 Coach Calhoun
1984 Over the Brooklyn Bridge Uncle Benjamin
Cannonball Run II Fisherman No. 2
1985 Love Is Never Silent Mr. Petrakis Television film
Alice in Wonderland The Gryphon
1986 Stoogemania Doctor Fixyer Mindyer
Christmas Snow Snyder Television film
1987 The Emperor's New Clothes The Emperor
1988 Freedom Fighter Max Television film
Side by Side Louis Hammerstein
1995 The Great Mom Swap Papa Tognetti
1997 Vegas Vacation Mr. Ellis
1998 The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit Sid Zellman
2000 Globehunters Jacob Voice
Television film
2004 Comic Book: The Movie Old Army Buddy (final film role)

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1949 Admiral Broadway Revue Regular Performer 19 episodes
1950–54 Your Show of Shows Himself (Regular Performer) 139 episodes
1954 Producers' Showcase Napoleon Bonaparte / Himself Episode: "Dateline"
1954–1957 Caesar's Hour Himself (Host) 70 episodes
1958 Sid Caesar Invites You Himself 13 episodes
The All-Star Christmas Show Television special
1959 Some of Manie's Friends Television special
The United States Steel Hour Un­known 2 episodes
1961 General Electric Theater Nick Lucifer Episode: "The Devil You Say"
Checkmate Johnny Wilder Episode: "Kill the Sound"
1962 As Caesar Sees It Himself Television special
1963–1964 The Sid Caesar Show Himself (Host)
1966–1970 The Hollywood Palace
1965–1973 The Dean Martin Show Himself 4 episodes, also composer
1967 The Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca,
Carl Reiner, Howard Morris Special 		Himself (Co-host) Television special
The Carol Burnett Show Himself Season 1, episodes 2 & 14
The Danny Thomas Hour Gregory Episode: "Instant Money"
1968 That Girl Marty Nickels Episode: "The Drunkard"
1969–1971 Love, American Style Bert / John Smith 2 episodes
1975 When Things Were Rotten Marquis de la Salle Episode: "The French Dis-connection"
1976 Good Heavens Herman Meltzer Episode: "Herman Meltzer"
1978 Vega$ The General Episode: "Mother Mishkin"
1978–1984 The Love Boat Bert Multon / Michael Harmon 2 episodes
1979 Intergalactic Thanksgiving King Goochi Voice; television special
1981 The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo The Bomber Episode: "Another Day, Another Bomb"
1982 Matt Houston Prince Sergei Polansky Episode: "Recipe for Murder"
1983 Saturday Night Live Host[57] Episode: "#8.12"
1985 Amazing Stories Lou Bundles Episode: "Mr. Magic"
1986 Sesame Street Himself Episode: "#18.19"
1995 Love & War Mr. Stein 2 episodes
1997 Life with Louie Marty Kazoo Voice
Mad About You Uncle Harold Episode: "Citizen Buchman"
2001 Whose Line Is It Anyway? Himself Season 4 Episode 15

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Year Award Category Project Result Ref.
1948 Donaldson Award Male Debut in a Musical — Won [23]
1951 Primetime Emmy Award Most Outstanding Personality — Nominated [58]
Best Actor — [58]
Look magazine Best Comedian on TV — Won [14]
1952 Primetime Emmy Award Best Actor — [58]
Best Comedian or Comedienne — Nominated [58]
1953 Best Comedian — [58]
1954 Best Male Star of Regular Series Your Show of Shows [58]
1956 Best Comedian — [58]
1956 Look magazine Best Comedian on TV — Won [14]
1957 Primetime Emmy Award Best Actor in a Comedy Series Caesar's Hour [58]
1958 Nominated [58]
1963 Tony Award Best Actor in a Musical Little Me [28]
1987 British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy — Honored
1995 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series Love & War Nominated [58]
1997 Mad About You [58]
2001 Television Critics Association Career Achievement Award — Honored [59]
2006 TV Land Award Pioneer Award — [60]
2011 Television Critics Association Lifetime Achievement Award — [61]

Honors

[edit]

In 2005, The Humane Society of the United States honored Caesar by establishing the "Sid Caesar Award for Television Comedy" among the Genesis Awards given annually to individuals in major news and entertainment media who produce outstanding works that raise public awareness of animal issues.[64] In announcing the 2014 Genesis Award winners on February 14, 2014, the Society paid special homage to Caesar, whom the Society credited as one of its most dedicated supporters.[65]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Sid Caesar remembered as one of TV s early kings of comedy" on YouTube, CBS This Morning, February 13, 2014
  2. ^ a b c d e Rothstein, Mervyn; Keepnews, Peter (February 12, 2014). "Sid Caesar, Comedian of Comedians From TV's Early Days, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  3. ^ By Anne Cohen, February 12, 2014, Forward
  4. ^ a b c Paskin, Barbra (October 7, 2010). "Interview: Sid Caesar". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  5. ^ "With a Jewish-infused style, Sid Caesar revolutionized television comedy". The Jewish Standard. March 21, 2014. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  6. ^ cite web|url=http://jgsgw.org/SidCaeserArticle.pdf Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ U.S. Census 1920, Yonkers, NY, enumerator's district 205, page 15A, and U.S. Census 1930, Yonkers, NY, enumerator's district 60-3, p. 6A
  8. ^ Murray, Susan (2013). Tom Pendergast; Sara Pendergast (eds.). Encyclopedia of Pop Culture. St. James Press. ISBN 978-1558628472.
  9. ^ "Sid Caesar Biography". Filmreference.com. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  10. ^ Marian L. Smith. "American Names: Declaring Independence". Immigration Daily.
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  12. ^ Brennan, Patricia (February 12, 2014). "Sid Caesar dies; pathbreaking comedian". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 16, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Sid Caesar; Eddy Friedfeld (2004). Caesar's Hours: My Life in Comedy, with Love and Laughter. PublicAffairs. ISBN 9781586481520.
  14. ^ a b c d e "Sid Caesar". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on February 16, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  15. ^ Gennis, Sadie. "Comedian Sid Caesar Dies at 91". TV Guide. Archived from the original on February 16, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  16. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions: Sid Caesar". United States Coast Guard. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  17. ^ Young, Stephanie. "The life and legacy of Sid Caesar", Coast Guard Compass, February 13, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  18. ^ Celebrities and Other Famous People: A list of people that once served in or was associated with the U.S. Coast Guard. uscg.mil. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  19. ^ Adir, Karin (2001). The Great Clowns of American Television. McFarland & Company. p. 64. ISBN 978-0786413034.
  20. ^ video: Sid Caesar performing "Sing, Sing, Sing" with Benny Goodman and his orchestra on YouTube
  21. ^ a b Day, Patrick Kevin. "Sid Caesar: Five TV clips that demonstrate his comic genius" Los Angeles Times, February 12, 2014
  22. ^ a b c McLellan, Dennis (February 12, 2014). "Sid Caesar, pioneer of live television comedy, dies at 91". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  23. ^ a b Richard Natale (February 12, 2014). "Sid Caesar Dead, Iconic Comedian Dies at 91". Variety. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  24. ^ Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2003). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (Eighth ed.). Ballantine Books. p. 13. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
  25. ^ a b c Brooks, Marsh, p. 1344.
  26. ^ Brooks, Marsh, pp. 1068–69.
  27. ^ Adams, Val (January 1, 1964). "A.B.C.-TV TO DROP '77 SUNSET STRIP' / Also Discontinuing 3 Other Series Before April". The New York Times, p.41. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  28. ^ a b "1963 Tony Award Winners". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  29. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Nachman, Gerald (2003). Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. New York: Pantheon Books. pp. 99–122. ISBN 9780375410307. OCLC 50339527.
  30. ^ Newcomb, Horace, editor. Encyclopedia of Television volume 1, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers (1997) pp. 272–274
  31. ^ "Sid Caesar & Nannette Fabry - Argument to Beethoven's 5th" on YouTube, video clip
  32. ^ "Sid Caesar on Dick Clark's Life Wednesday show" on YouTube, 1978
  33. ^ a b Dobuzinskis, Alex. "Comic legend Sid Caesar dies at 91". Reuters. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  34. ^ "Sid Caesar performing in four different languages" on YouTube, video clip
  35. ^ Keveney, Bill (January 9, 2008). "Sid Caesar is the showman of showmen who keeps on laughing". USA Today. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  36. ^ "Sid Caesar as "The German General" on YouTube, video clip
  37. ^ "Sid Caesar in "This Is Your Story" on YouTube, video clip
  38. ^ Margolick, David. "Sid Caesar's Finest 'Your Show of Shows' Sketch". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  39. ^ a b Maslon, Laurence. Make'em Laugh, Hachette Book Group (2008) pp. 75–79
  40. ^ Murray, pp. 408–409
  41. ^ Chicago Daily News, July 23, 1973
  42. ^ "Sid Caesar, Once Shining TV Star Makes Rare Appearance Tonight," Nashua Telegraph, April 2, 1974, p. 17
  43. ^ "Air Date: February 5th, 1983 — Host: Sid Caesar". SNL Transcripts. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  44. ^ Vettel, Phil. "Et Tu, Sid Caesar (exercise Guru, Too)." August 9, 1985: The Chicago Tribune. [1]
  45. ^ Metropolitan Opera Archives. Accessed May 15, 2013.
  46. ^ "Caesar's Writers | About". Caesarswriters.com. January 24, 1996. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  47. ^ "Larry King Live Transcript: "Hail Sid Caesar"". CNN. September 7, 2001. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  48. ^ ""It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" 40th anniversary". In70mm.com. October 19, 2003. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  49. ^ a b "TV Land Awards". TV Land. Archived from the original on September 11, 2007.
  50. ^ "Florence Caesar". The Tolucan Times. November 11, 2009. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  51. ^ "Florence Caesar Obituary - Beverly Hills, California". Tributes.com. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  52. ^ Barnes, Mike (February 12, 2014). "Sid Caesar Dead: Comedy Titan Was 91". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  53. ^ "Sid Caesar: Mel Brooks and Woody Allen pay tribute". BBC News. February 12, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  54. ^ "Sid Caesar Tribute - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 02/12/14 (Video Clip)". TheDailyShow.com. February 12, 2014. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  55. ^ Crystal, Billy (August 2005). "All Hail Caesar". Vanity Fair. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  56. ^ "Richard Irwin (Rick) Caesar M.D. Obituary". Eugene Register-Guard. July 20, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  57. ^ Prial, Frank J. (February 4, 1983). "Live From New York, It's The New Sid Caesar". The New York Times. p. C26. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2024. Tomorrow night he will be the host of Saturday Night Live. It will be the first time I've gone on live since 1962, he said matter-of-factly.
  58. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Sid Caesar [Awards and Nominations]". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  59. ^ "2001 TCA Awards announcement". Television Critics Association. July 21, 2001. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  60. ^ TV Land Awards 2006 – Pioneer Award
  61. ^ Rhodan, Maya (January 31, 2014). "Sid Caesar Dies at 91". Time. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  62. ^ "Sid Caesar: Hollywood Walk of Fame". Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  63. ^ "Hall of Fame Honorees: Complete List". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. November 13, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  64. ^ "The Genesis Awards". The Humane Society of the United States. March 23, 2013. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  65. ^ "Winners of the 2014 Genesis Awards". The Humane Society of the United States. February 14, 2014. Archived from the original on July 8, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Sid Caesar and Eddy Friedfeld: Caesar's Hours: My Life in Comedy, with Love and Laughter, January 30, 2005. ISBN 978-1586481520
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sid Caesar.
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