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Dennis Day

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Alma mater
  
Role
  
Singer

Name
  
Dennis Day

Children
  
10 children

Years active
  
1939–1988


Dennis Day httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Full Name
  
Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty

Born
  
May 21, 1916 (
1916-05-21
)
New York City, New York

Cause of death
  
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Resting place
  
Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City

Occupation
  
Singer, Actor, Comedian

Died
  
June 22, 1988, Los Angeles, California, United States

Spouse
  
Peggy Almquist (m. 1948–1988)

Parents
  
Patrick McNulty, Mary McNulty

Albums
  
Shillelaghs & Shamrocks, Irish Legend Essentials

Movies and TV shows
  
The Jack Benny Program, Melody Time, The Dennis Day Show, Johnny Appleseed, Golden Girl

Similar People
  
Jack Benny, Don Wilson, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Lawrence Welk

Dennis Day (born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty; May 21, 1916 – June 22, 1988) was an American singer, radio, television and film personality and comedian of Irish descent.

Contents

Dennis Day Dennis Day Radio Star Old Time Radio Downloads

Dennis day sings the rose of tralee


Early life

Dennis Day Dennis Day Show aka The RCA Victor Show Dennis Day

Day was born and raised in The Bronx New York City in the Throggs Neck section, the second of five children born to Irish immigrants Patrick McNulty and Mary (née Grady) McNulty. His father was a factory electric power engineer. Day graduated from Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in New York City, and attended Manhattan College in the Bronx, where he sang in the glee club.

Radio

Dennis Day DENNIS DAY FREE Wallpapers amp Background images

Day appeared for the first time on Jack Benny's radio show on October 8, 1939, taking the place of another famed tenor, Kenny Baker. He remained associated with Benny's radio and television programs until Benny's death in 1974. He was introduced (with actress Verna Felton playing his mother) as a young (nineteen-year-old), naive boy singer – a character he kept through his whole career.

Dennis Day Dennis Day 1916 1988 Find A Grave Memorial

Mary Livingstone, Benny's wife, brought the singer to Benny's attention after hearing Day on the radio during a visit to New York. She took a recording of Day's singing to Benny, who then went to New York to audition Day. The audition resulted in Day's role on the Benny program.

Day's first recorded song was "Goodnight My Beautiful".

Dennis Day Dennis Day

Besides singing, Dennis Day was a mimic. On the Benny program, Day performed impressions of various noted celebrities of the era, including Ronald Colman, Jimmy Durante and James Stewart.

Dennis Day A Day In The Life Of Dennis Day Comedy Old Time Radio Downloads

From 1944 through 1946 he served in the United States Navy as a Lieutenant. While in service he was temporarily replaced on the Benny radio program by fellow tenor Larry Stevens. On his return to civilian life, he continued to work with Benny while also starring on his own NBC show, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day (1946–1951). On Benny's show, Day's having two programs in comparison to Benny's one was the subject of numerous jokes and gags, usually revolving around Day rubbing Benny's, and sometimes other cast members' and guest stars' noses in that fact (i.e. "Dennis, why do you have two horns on your bicycle?" "Why shouldn't I? I've got two shows!"). His last radio series was a comedy/variety show that aired on NBC's Sunday afternoon schedule during the 1954–55 season.

A Day in the Life of Dennis Day

Dennis Day Dennis Day Radio Star Old Time Radio Downloads

When Day got his own radio sitcom, he continued to play essentially the same character that he originated on Benny's program. However, for this series, Day lived in the fictional town of Weeberville. He stayed at a boarding house run by Clara Anderson, played by Bea Benaderet. Her henpecked husband, Herbert Anderson, was voiced by Dink Trout. Day was engaged to their daughter Mildred, played by Barbara Eiler. His character worked at Willoughby's Drug Store, where Frank Nelson played his boss, Mr. Willoughby. The show was sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive. Vern Smith was the announcer, while music was provided by Bud Dant and his orchestra. The format of the show would begin with a song by Day, followed by the first half of the plot, a second song by Day in the middle of the episode, the rest of the plot, and then a third song by Day to finish the episode. Episodes can be heard regularly on the Sirius XM Radio Classics Channel.

Television

An attempt was made to adapt A Day in the Life Of Dennis Day as an NBC filmed series (Sam Berman's caricature of Dennis was used in the opening and closing titles), produced by Jerry Fairbanks for Dennis' sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive, featuring the original radio cast, but got no farther than an unaired 1949 pilot episode. In late 1950, a sample kinescope was produced by Colgate and their ad agency showcasing Dennis as host of a projected "live" comedy/variety series (The Dennis Day Show) for CBS, but that, too, went unsold. He continued to appear as a regular cast member when The Jack Benny Program became a TV series, staying with the show until it ended in 1965.

Eventually, his own TV series, The Dennis Day Show (aka The RCA Victor Show), was first telecast on NBC on February 8, 1952, and then in the 1953–1954 season. Between 1952 and 1978, he made numerous TV appearances as a singer and actor (such as NBC's The Gisele MacKenzie Show and ABC's The Bing Crosby Show and Alfred Hitchcock Presents) and voice for animation, such as the Walt Disney feature Johnny Appleseed, handling multiple characters.

During the final season of The Jack Benny Program (1964–65), Day was nearly 49 years old, although Jack was still delivering such lines as "That crazy kid drives me nuts ..."

His last televised work with Benny was in 1970, when they both appeared in a public service announcement together to promote savings and loans. This was shortly after the whole cast and crew of The Jack Benny Show had joined for Jack Benny's Twentieth Anniversary Special.

In 1972, he co-starred with June Allyson and Judy Canova in the First National Tour of the Broadway musical No, No, Nanette.

In 1976, Day was the voice of "The Preacher" in the Rankin-Bass production Frosty's Winter Wonderland and again worked with them in 1978, when he voiced Fred in The Stingiest Man in Town, which was their animated version of Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol.

He also appeared in Date with the Angels – Season 1, Episode 13 as himself. Aired Friday 9:30 PM October 25, 1957 on ABC – some records show it was episode 19, titled Star Struck.

Film

Although his career was mainly radio and TV-based, Day also appeared in a few films. These included Buck Benny Rides Again (1940) opposite Jack Benny, Sleepy Lagoon (1943), Music in Manhattan (1944), I'll Get By (1950), Golden Girl (1951), The Girl Next Door (1953), and Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) as a singing telegraph man. For the soundtrack of My Wild Irish Rose (1947), a biopic about Chauncey Olcott, Day provided the singing voice to the acting of Dennis Morgan.

Personal life

In 1948, Day married Peggy Almquist; the marriage lasted until his death in 1988. The couple had ten children. His brother Jim McNulty, two years younger, was married to actress/singer Ann Blyth.

Day died on June 22, 1988, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease), in Los Angeles, California. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6646 Hollywood Boulevard. He is interred in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.

Discography (partial)

  • From Walt Disney's "Melody Time" – Johnny Appleseed – All Voices by Dennis Day (1949, RCA/Camden)
  • Dennis Day Sings Christmas Is for the Family (1957, Design)
  • At Hollywood's Moulin Rouge (1957, Masterseal)
  • That's an Irish Lullaby (1959, RCA)
  • "The Story of Johnny Appleseed" Cricketone Chorus & Orchestra and Playhour Players (1959, Pickwick International K.M. Corporation)
  • Walt Disney's Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1960, RCA/Camden)
  • Shillelaghs and Shamrocks (1963, Reprise)
  • Dennis Day Narrates Johnny Appleseed (1963, Bellflower)
  • Walt Disney Presents Dennis Day in the Story of Johnny Appleseed (1964, Disneyland)
  • White Christmas (1965, Design) [reissue of Christmas Is for the Family]
  • My Wild Irish Rose (1966, RCA Camden) [reissue of earlier RCA Victor recordings]
  • Clancy Lowered the Boom (1947 RCA Victor single)
  • Dear Hearts and Gentle People (1949 RCA Victor single)
  • Christmas in Killarney (1950 RCA Victor single)
  • References

    Dennis Day Wikipedia


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