- Dennis Day
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Dennis Day 
Dennis Day in 1960.Born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty
May 21, 1916
New York City, New YorkDied June 22, 1988 (aged 72)
Los Angeles, CaliforniaCause of death Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Style Comedian, Tenor singer Dennis Day (May 21, 1916 – June 22, 1988)[1][2][3] born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty, was an Irish-American singer and radio, television and film personality.
Contents
Early life
Day was born and raised in New York City, the second of five children born to Irish immigrants Patrick McNulty and Mary (née Grady) McNulty. His father was a stationary engineer.[4][5] Day graduated from Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in New York City, and attended Manhattan College in the Bronx, where he sang in the glee club.
Radio
Day appeared for the first time on Jack Benny's radio show on October 8, 1939, taking the place of another famed tenor, Kenny Baker. He remained associated with Benny's radio and television programs until Benny's death in 1974. He was introduced (with actress Verna Felton playing his mother) as a young (nineteen year old), naive boy singer — a character he kept through his whole career. His first song was "Goodnight My Beautiful".
Besides singing, Dennis Day was an excellent mimic. He did many imitations on the Benny program of various noted celebrities of the era, such as Ronald Colman, Jimmy Durante, and James Stewart.
Sam Berman's caricature of Dennis Day for 1947 NBC promotional book
From 1944 through 1946, he served in the US Navy as a Lieutenant. On his return to civilian life, he continued to work with Benny while also starring on his own NBC show, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day (1946–1951). Day's having two programs in comparison to Benny's one was the subject of numerous jokes and gags on Benny's show, usually revolving around Day rubbing Benny's, and sometimes other cast members and guest stars' noses in that fact. His last radio series was a comedy/variety show that aired briefly on NBC during the 1954-55 season.
Television
An attempt was made to adapt A Day in the Life Of Dennis Day as an NBC filmed series (Sam Berman's caricature of Dennis was used in the opening and closing titles), produced by Jerry Fairbanks for Dennis' sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive, featuring the original radio cast, but got no further than an unaired 1949 pilot episode. In late 1950, a sample kinescope was produced by Colgate and their ad agency showcasing Dennis as host of a projected "live" comedy/variety series (The Dennis Day Show) for CBS, but that, too, went unsold. He continued to appear as a regular cast member when The Jack Benny Program became a TV series, staying with the show until it ended in 1965.
Eventually, his own TV series, The Dennis Day Show (aka The RCA Victor Show), was first telecast on NBC on February 8, 1952, and then in the 1953-1954 season. Between 1952 and 1978, he made numerous TV appearances as a singer and actor (such as NBC's The Gisele MacKenzie Show and ABC's The Bing Crosby Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents) and voice for animation (such as the Walt Disney feature Johnny Appleseed, handling multiple characters).
During the final season of The Jack Benny Program (1964–65), Day was 48 years old, although Jack was still delivering such lines as "That crazy kid drives me nuts ..."
His last televised work with Benny was in 1970, when they both appeared in a public service announcement together to promote savings and loans.
Personal life
In 1948, Day married Peggy Almquist; the marriage lasted until his death in 1988. The couple had ten children. His brother Jim McNulty, two years younger, was married to actress/singer Ann Blyth.
Day died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease), in Los Angeles, California. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6646 Hollywood Boulevard. He is interred in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.
Discography (partial)
- From Walt Disney's "Melody Time" - Johnny Appleseed - All Voices by Dennis Day (1949, RCA/Camden)
- Dennis Day Sings Christmas Is for the Family (1957, Design)
- At Hollywood's Moulin Rouge (1957, Masterseal)
- That's an Irish Lullaby (1959, RCA)
- Walt Disney's Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1960, RCA/Camden)
- Shillelaghs and Shamrocks (1963, Reprise)
- Dennis Day Narrates Johnny Appleseed (1963, Bellflower)
- Walt Disney Presents Dennis Day in the Story of Johnny Appleseed (1964, Disneyland)
- White Christmas (1965, Design) [reissue of Christmas Is for the Family]
- My Wild Irish Rose (1966, RCA Camden) [reissue of earlier RCA Victor recordings]
- Clancy Lowered the Boom (1947 RCA Victor single)
- Dear Hearts and Gentle People (1949 RCA Victor single)
- Christmas in Killarney (1950 RCA Victor single)
References
- Notes
- ^ Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.
- ^ Ancestry.com. California Death Index, 1940-1997 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000.
- ^ Passenger list, S.S. Britannic, 17 September 1934. Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.
- ^ U.S. Census, Jan. 1, 1920, State of New York, County of Bronx, enumeration district 393, p. 13-B, family 257.
- ^ Patrick Jos. McNulty, Bronx, New York, born 18 July 1881. Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
External links
- Dennis Day at the Internet Movie Database
- "Dennis Day". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1541. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
- Glowing Dial interview with vocalist Larry Stevens about Dennis Day and Jack Benny (1999)
Categories:- 1916 births
- 1988 deaths
- People from the Bronx
- American musicians of Irish descent
- American military personnel of World War II
- American people of Irish descent
- Deaths from motor neurone disease
- Manhattan College alumni
- RCA Victor artists
- Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
- United States Navy officers
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