The son of a circus clown and a cleaning woman, Red Skelton was born Richard Bernard on July 18, 1913 in Vincennes, Indiana. He was introduced to show business at the age of 7 at a vaudeville show in Vincennes. At age 10, he left home to travel with a medicine show through the Midwest, and joined the vaudeville circuit at age 15. At age 17, he married Edna Marie Stilwell, a theatre usher who became his vaudeville partner and later his chief writer and manager.

Last night, the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards were broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. This year, the annual award show not only paid tribute to those making television today, but to the 50th anniversary of two momentous events in television history. Namely, the TV coverage surrounding President Kennedy’s assassination and The Beatles’ US television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. Six-time Emmy nominee Don Cheadle (“House of Lies”) presented the segment on television’s role in the coverage of President John F. Kennedy assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. The segment connected the tragedy to another event that captivated...

  Milton Berle, whose career as a comedian spanned vaudeville, radio, television, and film, was born Mendel Berlinger on July 12, 1908 in New York City. He started his career at the age of five, when he appeared in the silent film “The Perils of Pauline” after winning a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest. At the age of 10 began getting parts onstage, and by his late teens...

What better time to celebrate the career highlights of Paul McCartney than today?  Today marks Paul McCartney’s 71st birthday! It seems like just yesterday that the Beatles on...

This Sunday May 26th, Steven Sorderbergh’s newest biopic “Behind the Candelabra” will premiere on HBO. The biopic chronicles the life of the famous pianist and vocalist Władziu Valentino Liberace, better known as just Liberace, starring...

Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in London on May 29th 1903. Three years later, Hope’s father moved the family to Cleveland, Ohio. Upon his arrival in America his name was changed to Bob.

In honor of what would have been Bing Crosby’s 110th birthday, we would like to take a moment to reminisce on his great career. Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby on May 3, 1903.  A neighborhood friend gave him the nickname “Bing,” and it stuck for the rest of his life.

In 1925, The Three Stooges started out as a vaudeville and comedy act with comedian Ted Healy.  During this period, they were known as “Ted Healy and His Stooges,” “Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen,” “Ted Healy and His Three Lost Souls” and “Ted Healy and His Racketeers.” On stage, Healy would perform jokes and songs, but the...

After winning a talent contest in 1962, Martha Reeves was asked to perform at Detroit's Twenty Grand nightclub, where Motown A&R man William "Mickey" Stevenson heard her sing and scheduled a meeting.  Although she was not signed to a record contract during that meeting, she was hired to be his secretary. A few months later, Stevenson was overseeing a session for Mary Wells'...

Before achieving success in the late 60’s and 70’s on the pop/rock and country charts, B.J. Thomas started out singing in church during his youth. In the early 1960’s, Thomas joined the musical group The Triumphs in Houston, Texas, who released a number of songs under small labels. After a brief period with The Triumphs, Thomas began a solo career with a hit cover version of Hank...