December 26: Happy Birthday, Steve Allen

December 26: Happy Birthday, Steve Allen

Born December 26th, 1921, Steve Allen was an American television personality, actor, and comedian best known for the Steve Allen Show.

Allen was born in New York City, but grew up on the south side of Chicago with his mother’s Irish Catholic family. His first radio job came in Phoenix, Arizona on station KOY. After his job as an announcer for KFAC in Los Angeles, Allen moved to Mutual Broadcasting System in 1946, where he starred in a five-nights-a-week comedy show, Smile Time, with Wendell Noble. Allen moved again, this time to CBS radio, where he hosted an hour long talk show. His popularity skyrocketed, and audiences were often standing room only. In 1950, Allen’s program replaced Our Miss Brooks, exposing him to a national audience for the first time in his career.

Making the leap to TV, Allen helped to create the Tonight Show with Sylvester “Pat” Weaver. Several years later, NBC offered him his own prime time slot that would compete with The Ed Sullivan Show. Unfortunately, the TV Western Maverick was often able to best both Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen in audience size.

Allen passed away on October 30th, 2000 from a massive heart attack. He now has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - one for radio, and one for television.