February 25

This Day in Humor with Mike Durrett

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Born 1901: Zeppo Marx, youngest member of the wild Marx Bros. comedy troupe, designated straight man, who retired after five films (1929: "Cocoanuts," 1930: "Animal Crackers," 1931: "Monkey Business," 1932: "Horse Feathers," 1933: "Duck Soup.") Died 1979.

Born 1913: Jim Backus, radio, TV, and film actor indelibly known for two roles, the voice of the nearsighted Mr. Magoo cartoon character and Thurston Howell III, shipwrecked on "Gilligan's Island" (1964-67). Died 1989.

Born 1928: Larry Gelbart, writer, "Caesar's Hour" (1954-57), "The Notorious Landlady" (1962), "The Danny Kaye Show" (1963), "M*A*S*H" (1972-83), "Oh, God!" (1977), "Tootsie" (1982).

1941: "The Lady Eve," writer-director Preston's Sturges' fine con man movie comedy, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, began its run in U.S. theatres.

1950: The landmark live TV comedy series "Your Show of Shows" (1950-54) premiered on NBC-TV, starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris (1951-54). Writers for the series included Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Mel Brooks, Lucille Kallen, and Woody Allen.

Born 1965: Scott 'Carrot Top' Thompson, stand-up comedian, actor, "Chairman of the Board" (1998).

Born 1966: Téa Leoni, actress, "A League of Their Own" (1992), "Bad Boys" (1995), "The Naked Truth" (1995-98), "Flirting With Disaster" (1996), "Hollywood Ending" (2002).

Born 1971: Sean Astin, actor, "The Goonies" (1985), "Encino Man" (1992), "Bulworth" (1998). Son of John Astin and Patty Duke Astin.

1977: The Paul Newman hockey movie, "Slap Shot," opened. It was the most foul-mouthed studio comedy to date.

Copyright ©2003 Mike Durrett. All rights reserved.