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- George Dolenz was born in Italy in 1908 to a large family. He left Italy in the 1920s to start a new life and it seemed that he didn't want to look back on his old one. He arrived in Los Angeles in the 1940s and it was there that he somehow met up with Howard Hughes. Hughes signed him up as a leading man at RKO Pictures--which he owned--but, under Hughes' contract, George only starred in one film, Vendetta (1950), with Faith Domergue. He became a master of several dialects, and could play urbane Continental roles such as "Baron Sergei" in In Society (1944), with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Latin-American types such as the mysterious "Cortega" in Scared Stiff (1953), with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and even Roman-era royalty such as "Emperor Theodosius" in Sign of the Pagan (1954). When his contract with Hughes ran out, George appeared in many films for other studios throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and starred in the TV series The Count of Monte Cristo (1956). George was the father of actor Micky Dolenz of The Monkees (1965), husband of actress Janelle Johnson Dolenz and the grandfather of actress Ami Dolenz.
- Music Department
Clark "Doc" Whipple. Not much is known about him until he made his way to New York City in the mid 1930's. Back in that day, radio shows that didn't feature singers used organs for their musical background. There was plenty of work for a talented organist, and Whipple found his niche at NBC, where he was one of the studio organists working for the network. While it's impossible to know which organist played on which show, Whipple is known to have worked on "Mystery Theater of the Air" and "Ma Perkins." With NBC airing dozens of such shows on its red and blue networks, Whipple, like other organists, was certainly busy.
Enter television in the mid 1940's. The medium at that time was considered an experiment; in the beginning, there weren't more than 10,000 working televisions in the country, and most were on the east coast. Television shows were done on a tight budget, and, as with radio, the organ was the primary source of musical background. For daytime radio, this practice continued into the 1960's, including many soap operas and local productions across the country.
Enter "The Howdy Doody Show," which was hosted by "Buffalo" Bob Smith. Smith insisted on Whipple being the organist for the show, and Whipple did so for many years, also leading the NBC orchestra in various canned music for the show. When "Howdy Doody" gravitated away from music in the early-to-mid 1950's, Whipple found plenty of work on the next big thing: soap operas, which relied heavily on organs until the late 1960's.
Whipple and his family moved to nearby Scarsdale around 1951, making it easy for him to commute to and from the NBC studios. He lived there until his death in 1963.- Music Department
Felix Slatkin was born on 22 December 1915 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Felix is known for Porgy and Bess (1959). Felix was married to Eleanor Slatkin. Felix died on 8 February 1963 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Ernst Gläser was born on 29 July 1902 in Butzbach, Hesse, Germany. He was a writer, known for Le dernier civil (1984). He died on 8 February 1963 in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.