|
Ol' Blue Eyes - None other than the popular Italian-American singer, actor
Francis "Frank" Albert Sinatra often called by his showbiz nickname "Ol' Blues
Eyes." Discovered on a 1937 radio broadcast of MAJOR BOWES ORIGINAL AMATEUR
HOUR, Frank Sinatra jumped from radio to the new medium of television in the
early 1950s with a musical variety show THE FRANK SINATRA SHOW/CBS/1950-52.
Winning an Oscar® for From Here To Eternity (1953) gave Sinatra a new career as
an actor. He sang "Love & Marriage" (a major hit record for him) during a
musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town" on an episode of the NBC
anthology PRODUCER'S SHOWCASE in 1955. Years later, this song was the theme song
for the sitcom MARRIED...WITH CHILDREN/FOX/1987-97. Ol' Blue Eyes returned to
television for a short-lived variety drama THE FRANK SINATRA SHOW/ABC/1957-58.
His daughter Nancy Sinatra made her professional debut on this program on
November 1, 1957. During the 1950s and 1960s Frank Sinatra guest starred on a
number variety series including CLUB OASIS, THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR, HOLLYWOOD
PALACE, and MAX LIEBMAN PRESENTS. Sinatra was a regular on NBC's DEAN MARTIN
PRESENTS in 1968 and in 1973 he appeared on a NBC Special entitled "Ol' Blue
Eyes Is Back." He made a few rare television appearances including the NBC
TV-movie Contract on Cherry Street (1977) about a New York police officer
involved in an assassination conspiracy; the (2/25/87) episode of the CBS
detective drama MAGNUM, P.I. as Michael Doheny, a tough, retired New York Cop
investigating an unsolved murder; a cameo appearance on a 1989 episode of WHO'S
THE BOSS on the ABC Network; and on ABC's Sinatra: 80 Years My Way on December
14, 1995. Ol' Blue Eyes has also been called King of the Rat Pack, Chairman of
the Board, Frankie-Boy, The Pope, The Leader, The Swooner, The Voice, and The
Dago. After 50 films and 200 albums Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998 at the
age of 82. See also - "The
Rat Pack"
Old Barnacle, The - Pejorative nickname used by housekeeper Martha (Reta Shaw)
to describe Captain Gregg (Edward Mulhare), the deceased owner of Gull Cottage
on the sitcom THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR/NBC/ABC/1965-68. The ghost of Captain
Gregg who haunted the house never revealed himself to Martha but she still
formed a stern opinion of him from the Captain's painted portrait left in the
house.
Old Lead Bottom - On the WWII military comedy MCHALES NAVY/ABC/1962-66 the rowdy
crew of the PT Boat No. 73 stationed on the South Seas island of Taratupa
nicknamed Captain Wallace B. Binghamton (Joe Flynn) "Old Lead Bottom" because he
was constantly plotting (unsuccessfully) to get Lt. Cdr. Quinton McHale (Ernest
Borgnine) and his con artist crew members transferred from his command. Old Lead
Bottom's favorite sayings were "What, What, What!," “I could just scream,”
"Somebody up there hates me!" and "Why me?, Why me?"
Old Man - The affectionate nickname referring to Master Po (Keye Luke), a blind
Shaolin monk featured in flashback sequences on the western adventure KUNG
FU/ABC/1972-75. When monk Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) left the Shaolin
monastery he said "Goodbye Old Man. My Master." Master Po replied "What do you
hear?" Caine answered "The Grasshopper." (Po's nickname for Caine). On the crime
drama A MAN CALLED HAWK/ABC/1989 Moses Gunn was featured as "Old Man," a sage
old black man who gave council to the mysterious man known as Hawk (Avery
Brooks). When Avery Brooks later starred in the sci-fi adventure STAR TREK: DEEP
SPACE NINE/SYN/1993-99 he affectionately used the term "Old Man" when referring
to a long-lived symbiant life form which co-inhabited the body of Trill Jadzia
Dax (Terry Farrell), chief science officer on space station Deep Space Nine. In
the golden days of television the space rangers on ROD BROWN OF THE ROCKET
RANGERS/CBS/1953-54 also referred to their Commander Swift (John Boruff) as "Old
Man." See also - "Grasshopper"
Old Ranger, The - The early episodes of the western anthology DEATH VALLEY
DAYS/1952-75 (begun on radio in 1930) were introduced by a slender, weatherworn
senior citizen known as the "Old Ranger" (Stanley Andrews) who hosted and
narrated stories based on legend and lore from the Death Valley where Borax was
mined (20-Mule Team Borax sponsored the show). When the Old Ranger left the
series in 1965 he was replaced by a number of hosts including Ronald Reagan,
Robert Taylor, Dale Robertson and Merle Haggard. TRIVIA NOTE: Stanley Andrews
was the voice of Daddy Warbuck's in the early days of radio.
See also - METALS &
MINERALS: "Borax" and
MOUNTAINS: "Death Valley"
Old Redhead, The - Nickname of Arthur Godfrey, a folksy, easygoing red-haired
radio personality (he had his own CBS radio show from 1933-1972) who hosted a
number of successful TV programs in the 1950s and 1960s including TALENT
SCOUTS/CBS/1948-66; ARTHUR GODFREY AND HIS FRIENDS/CBS/1949-57; ARTHUR GODFREY
AND HIS UKULELE/CBS/1950; ARTHUR GODFREY TIME/CBS/1952-59; and THE ARTHUR
GODFREY SHOW/CBS/1958-59; CANDID CAMERA/CBS/1960-61; and YOUR ALL-AMERICAN
COLLEGE SHOW/SYN/1968-70. After years of health problems (broken pelvis, hip,
and lung cancer) Godfrey died in 1983.
Old Stone Face, The See - "The
Great Stone Face"
One Who Waits - A wise 250-year-old American Indian spirit guide on the quirky
rural drama NORTHERN EXPOSURE/CBS/1990-95. Played by Floyd Red Crow Westerman,
One Who Waits, assisted a Native American orphan named Ed Chigliak (Darren E.
Burrows) search for the identities of his natural parents. When his task was
done, One Who Waits just vanished into the forest. When Ed told Dr. Joel
Fleischman that he talked to a 250-year-old spiritual guide (that only Ed could
see) the town's physician felt that Ed was manifesting signs of psychotic
behavior.
Oprah - The first name of Oprah Winfrey, the successful host of the syndicated
talk show THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW/SYN/1986+. Oprah Winfrey actually got her first
name by mistake. Her parents chose the name "Orpah," named for Ruth's
sister-in-law in the Book of Ruth in the Bible. But the name was misspelled on
Winfrey's birth certificate and thus Orpah begat Oprah. Fans have since
mistakenly called her Okra, Opal, and Opera among others. Oprah's Harpo
Productions company gets its name by spelling Oprah backwards.
Original Live Test-Pattern Girl, The - In the November 6, 1954 issue of TV Guide
magazine, Nanette Fabray was given the title "The Original Live-Test Pattern
Girl" because of her experience (begun in 1942) with early color television
presented by CBS for the Federal Communications Commission. By 1949 she had
logged over 1000 hours of color television work when she appeared in the RCA
color demonstration which led to the acceptance of compatible color television.
Some of her TV credits included: CAESAR'S HOUR/NBC/1954-57; WESTINGHOUSE
PLAYHOUSE/NBC/1961; and ONE DAY AT A TIME/CBS/1975-84.
Back to Top |
