Bert Parks (December 30, 1914 - February 2, 1992), an American actor, singer, and radio and television announcer and host, is remembered best as the longtime, iconic host (1955-1980) of the annual Miss America Pageant telecast, live from Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Because his enduring image remains that of the tuxedoed pageant host, who balanced between courtliness and fatherliness, even as he sang the pageant's long-running theme ("There She Is," written by Bernie Wayne and introduced by Parks on his very first Miss America telecast), Parks' concurrent career as a once-ubiquitous radio and television host is almost completely obscured by comparison. December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 1 day remaining. ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... LeAnn Rimes singing in concert A singer is a type of musician who uses his or her voice to produce music. ... 1955 (MCMLV in Roman) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards prizes to young women contestants from the states of the United States of America. ... Alternate meanings: See Atlantic City (disambiguation) Atlantic City is a city located in USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 40,517. ... Official language(s) None defined, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 47th 22,608 km² 110 km 240 km 14. ...

The Game Host

Born Bert Jacobson in Atlanta, Georgia, Parks showed his entertainment facility as early as age three, when he was said to have entertained his parents with impersonations of film legend Charles Chaplin. He got his first broadcasting job at age sixteen, for Atlanta's WGST radio, and moved to New York when he was nineteen. His resonant voice and charming style helped him land work as a singer and straight man on The Eddie Cantor Show before becoming a CBS radio staff announcer. By the time he hit his thirties, Parks's broadcasting star began rising in earnest. Nickname: The Horizon City, Hotlanta, The Big Peach Official website: http://www. ... For the Jamaican musician named Charlie Chaplin, see Charlie Chaplin (singer). ... Eddie Cantor in the 1920s Eddie Cantor (January 31, 1892 - October 10, 1964) was a comedian, singer, actor, songwriter, and one of the most popular entertainers in the United States of America in the early and middle 20th century. ... For other uses, see CBS (disambiguation). ...

Parks became the host of Break the Bank, which premiered on radio in 1945 (other hosts included future The Price is Right announcer Johnny Olsen and future Beat the Clock host Bud Collyer) and went on to television from 1948-1957. But Parks became best known at that time for hosting the phenomenally popular Stop the Music on ABC (the former NBC Blue Network) beginning in 1948, bringing it to television a year later and keeping it there until 1952. As an orchestra or vocalists presented a song---the vocalists hummed the song title but sang remaining lyrics---a listener anywhere in the U.S. might get a call from the show and, when the listener answered, Parks would holler, "Stop the music!" A correct guess earned a prize and a shot at a "Mystery Melody" involving a giant jackpot. This article deals with the U.S. version. ... Johnny Olson on The Price is Right John Leonard Johnny Olson (May 22, 1910 – October 12, 1985) was an American radio and television announcer. ... Beat the Clock was a Goodson-Todman Productions game show which originally ran on CBS from 1950 to 1958 and ABC from 1958 to 1961, with later revivals. ... Bud Collyer (b. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is a television and radio network in the United States. ... NBC, formerly called the National Broadcasting Company, is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...

In fact, some critics thought the beginning of the end of old-time radio as usually remembered came when Stop the Music was aired against the hugely popular and influential Fred Allen Show. (Wary of the trend of giveaway shows taking hold in radio, Allen actually wrote and performed a hilarious Break the Bank parody called "Break the Contestant" in May 1948.) Parks and Stop the Music outrated the highly literate master of the ad-lib and Allen's Alley, a radio fixture since the mid-1930s who had the nation's number one rated radio show in 1946-47. (Allen daringly---but typically---offered $5,000 to any listener who got a call from Stop the Music while listening to The Fred Allen Show.) Allen left radio as a full-time host a year later, mostly because of his health (his doctor advised him to take a year off), partly because his ratings had fallen sharply against Stop the Music, and partly because he loathed what he thought was a lowering of standards as television began eating into radio's audience and radio scrambled to keep or re-attract it. He has eyes like Venetian blinds and a tongue like an adder - radio/television critic John Crosby about humourist Fred Allen, portrayed here by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. ...

Other game/quiz shows Parks hosted in the first decade and a half of television (the debut years are noted here) included The Big Payoff (1951), Balance Your Budget (1952), Double or Nothing (1952), Two in Love (1954), Giant Step (1956), Hold That Note (1957), County Fair (1958), Bid 'n' Buy (1958), Masquerade Party (which debuted in 1952 with Parks as a panelist until he became the show's host in 1958), and Yours For A Song (1961). Remarkably, the scandal which rocked television quiz and game shows at the end of the 1950s avoided Parks entirely. See also: 1951 in television, other events of 1952, 1953 in television and the list of years in television. // Events February 15 - The funeral of King George VI is televised in the UK. August 1 - First TV broadcast in the Dominican Republic by La Voz Dominicana, a TV station based... See also: 1953 in television, other events of 1954, 1955 in television and the list of years in television. // Events January 1 - NBC broadcasts the Rose Parade in NTSC color on 21 stations. ... See also: 1955 in television, other events of 1956, 1957 in television and the list of years in television. // Events January 28 - Elvis Presley makes his national television debut on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show. ... See also: 1956 in television, other events of 1957, 1958 in television and the list of years in television. // Events January 6 - Elvis Presley makes final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. ... See also: 1957 in television, other events of 1958, 1959 in television and the list of years in television. // Events July 1 - The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation links television broadcasting across Canada. ... See also: 1960 in television, other events of 1961, 1962 in television and the list of years in television. For the American network television schedule, please see 1961-62 American network television schedule. ... The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were the result of the revelation that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the producers to arrange the outcome of a supposed competition. ... // Events and No. ...

He also had a stab at daytime variety with The Bert Parks Show (1950), a variety show featuring such regulars as Betty Ann Grove, The Heathertones, Harold Lang, and the Bobby Sherwood Quintet; See also: 1949 in television, other events of 1950, 1951 in television and the list of years in television. // Events February 12 - European Broadcasting Union (EBU) inaugurated. ... Betty Ann Grove was a petite redhead with a powerful voice who recorded in the 1950s and appeared on tv (including The Bert Parks Show. ... The Heathertones vocal quartet took form in 1946 with members Nancy Swain Overton, her sister Jean Swain, Bix Brent and Pauli Skindlov. ...

There He Is

But the job for which Parks really became an American institution became his in 1955, a year after the pageant's television premiere (with future actress Lee Meriwether winning the title) on ABC. For over two decades, as it moved to NBC (in 1966, also the first time the pageant was telecast in colour), and withstood later protests over sexism and exploitation, Parks made himself an American icon hosting the Miss America Pageant, which was born in 1920 but which he took over as its host in its second television appearance. Aside from his famous (and easily parodied, by himself and others alike) singing of the theme song, Parks' real talent was his ability to make the pageant contestants feel at ease and look their best, considering they really were stage amateurs. Pageant historian Vicki Gold Levi put it this way: "He made you feel that he could be your guest at Thanksgiving dinner and he would just sit there and tell you all about Miss Alabama and all about Miss California. And he just was such an important ingredient of why the television show worked." See also: 1954 in television, other events of 1955, 1956 in television and the list of years in television. // Events April 1 - The DuMont Television network drastically cuts back its programming. ... Lee Meriwether (born Lee Ann Meriwether on May 27, 1935) in Los Angeles, California, is an actress and was Miss America 1955 (competing as Miss Califonia). ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is a television and radio network in the United States. ... NBC, formerly called the National Broadcasting Company, is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... See also: 1965 in television, other events of 1966, 1967 in television and the list of years in television. For the American network television schedule, please see 1966-67 American network television schedule. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Thanksgiving is an annual holiday observed in the United States and Canada to celebrate being thankful for the things one has. ...

Parks himself liked to think that folksiness in hand with charm was the key to his success hosting the pageants, and he had that uncommon ability to turn an unexpected pratfall into a great laugh without embarrassing himself or the unfortunate contestant. But Parks wasn't exactly just an eager boy from the farm: In his own way, Parks was suave, courtly, and fatherly at once; perhaps one television retrospective of the Miss America pageants (The American Experience) put his signature moment best: "His moment of serenading each year's winner evoked a debutante ball, a father giving away the bride, and a Cinderella story, all in one." American Experience (sometimes abbreviated AmEx) is a television program aired on the PBS network in the United States. ...

There He Goes

Maybe that was why---however much some thought Parks too old and others thought him too corny and even sexist---Miss America pageant organisers provoked a national uproar when they fired Parks after he hosted the 1980 edition. It was as if the nation's patriarch, stale though he may have been at times, had been dumped without so much as a by-your-leave. 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

In fact, the way Parks was fired became almost as much of a scandal as the fact that he was fired at all. According to The American Experience, pageant organisers felt pressured to replace Parks by 1979. But when they decided to do it at last, they did it by sending a letter to his Connecticut home---while he was traveling to Florida. (For many years, Parks spent time in stage productions, including a successful stint succeeding Robert Preston in The Music Man, and as a guest star on television and in films, including memorable spots in WKRP in Cincinnati, The Love Boat, and in a parody of himself in the Marlon Brando comedy The Freshman.) This page refers to the year 1979. ... Official language(s) English Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 48th 14,371 km² 113 km 177 km 12. ... Official language(s) English Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 22nd 170 451 km² 260 km 800 km 17. ... Preston in This Gun for Hire (1942) Robert Preston (June 8, 1918 - March 21, 1987), was an American actor. ... The cast of WKRP in Cincinnati is pictured in this 1978 publicity photo. ... The Love Boat - Opening Title The Love Boat was a TV series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from 1977 until 1986. ... Marlon Brando, Jr. ...

That was bad enough, but the news leaked to the press before Parks saw the letter. He picked up a newspaper to read about his own firing. The uproar even included the longtime king of late-night television, Johnny Carson, who instigated an unsuccessful letter-writing campaign aimed at reinstating Parks. The pageant stood fast and brought in former Tarzan star Ron Ely beginning in 1980 and, in due course, veteran character actor and daytime television host Gary Collins. For the article about the Erskine College president, see Dr. John Carson John William Johnny Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American actor, comedian and writer best known for his iconic status as the host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. ... James H. Pierce and Joan Burroughs Pierce starred in the 1932-34 Tarzan radio series Tarzan, a character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1914 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in twenty-three sequels. ... Gary Collins (Born April 30, 1938 in Venice, California) is an American film and televison actor. ...

There He Is, One More Time

In 1990, Parks was invited back to the Miss America telecast to help celebrate the pageant's 70th anniversary---as a guest. Gary Collins serenaded the winner with the signature "There She Is," but Parks serenaded the 25 previous Miss America winners who gathered on stage. The good news was that Parks received a standing ovation from the theater audience. But the bad news was that there were a few mistakes, enough that Parks would not be asked to return again. This article is about the year. ...

It may not have mattered, after all. Parks died of lung cancer at age 77 two years later. Whether or not his iniquitous firing had something to do with it, the Miss America Pageant suffered falling television ratings over several years, until NBC dropped it after thirty years due to a record low rating in 1996. The pageant telecast returned to its original television home, ABC, until that network decided to drop it after the 2004 pageant due to low ratings. Lung cancer is a cancer of the lungs characterised by the presence of malignant tumours. ... NBC, formerly called the National Broadcasting Company, is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... When TV viewers or entertainment professionals in the United States mention ratings they are generally referring to Nielsen Ratings, a system developed by the New York City-based firm Nielsen Media Research to determine which shows television viewers watch at what times. ... This is a list of television-related events in 1996. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is a television and radio network in the United States. ...

In 2005, the pageant announced it would move to Las Vegas, with Desperate Housewives co-star James Denton as the new host and the telecast presented on cable network Country Music Television (CMT). 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nickname: The Entertainment Capital of the World Official website: http://www. ... Desperate Housewives is an American television series, created by Marc Cherry, that began airing on ABC in 2004, in HDTV. Set on Wisteria Lane in the fictional Fairview, Eagle State the series tracks the lives of four housewives, following their domestic struggles while several mysteries involving their husbands, friends and... James Denton James (Jamie) Denton (born January 20, 1963) is an American actor. ... For other uses of this three-letter abbreviation, see CMT. Country Music Television, or CMT as it often called, is a country music oriented cable television channel. ...