Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie and Groucho!
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #271: Morey Amsterdam (more on him here). Here he is in an irresistaibly charming, very old school turn on a 1964 edition of The Hollywood Palace with his old cohort from The Dick Van Dyke Show (and before) Rose Marie (star of Vaudeville #49–more on her here). As an added bonus, they are introduced by the emcee for the show that night: Groucho Marx. This is a very interesting clip in that regard. It is just a couple of years after he left You Bet Your Life and he’s still the “old” Groucho, not the old age rebooting that began with Skiddoo in 1968.
To find out more about the variety arts past and present, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold. And don’t miss Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, to be released by Bear Manor Media in 2013.
