Don Ameche, the Great Inventor?
Mark LoPresti
small role in Fred Allen's "It's in the Bag" (a great little known comedy, btw)
in which he talks tongue in cheek of having made many inventions. And while
watching a Three Stooges short this morning, Ameche was referred to as being a
great inventor alongside the likes of Edison. Obviously this is some kind of
Hollywood inside joke. Anyone know the whole story?
Mark LoPresti, Buffalo NY
________________________________________________
"You can't cheat an honest man, never give a sucker an even break,
and never smarten-up a chump." - W.C. Fields
Feuillade
> What's the gag with Don Ameche
> being known as a great inventor? > Ameche has a small role in Fred
> Allen's "It's in the Bag" (a great
> little known comedy, btw) in
> which he talks tongue in cheek of
> having made many inventions.
> And while watching a Three
> Stooges short this morning,
> Ameche was referred to as
> being a great inventor alongside
> the likes of Edison. Obviously
> this is some kind of Hollywood
> inside joke. Anyone know the
> whole story?
Don Ameche played the title role in 20th Century Fox's 1939 film "The Story of
Alexander Graham Bell."
In 1941's "Ball of Fire," Barbara Stanwyck doesn't say "I'll phone you," she
says "I'll catch you on the Ameche" -- because, as she explains to Gary Cooper,
Don Ameche invented the telephone.
It seems that among teenagers in the very early 40s, the telephone was known as
the "Ameche," in honor of its "inventor."
Tom Moran
http://members.aol.com/Feuillade/TomMoran.index.html
My theater reviews can be read at:
http://www.eclipsemagazine.com
(Latest reviews: "Swing!" and "The Wild Party")
Frank R.A.J. Maloney
Imagine my surprise when I finally found out that Don Ameche (like Fred
Astaire, William and Mary, and Lewis and Clark) wasn't a single word.
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
mailto: fr...@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/frajm/
"All over the room throats were being strained and minds broadened."
-- P. G. Wodehouse, Piccadilly Jim
W. Lydecker
popular singer of the forties. "Where's
my bourbon?"
no...@webtv.net
40s,
the telephone was known s the "Ameche" in honor of its "inventor".
Bushwah. "It seems that" according to whom?
I was a teenager in those very early 1940's and I never heard of such a
thing. The telephone was known as the "phone". --
Norton Shawn
. .. .. .. ..
Paul Penna
<no...@webtv.net> wrote:
> Tom Moran wrote that: "It seems that among teenagers in the very early
> 40s,
> the telephone was known s the "Ameche" in honor of its "inventor".
>
> Bushwah. "It seems that" according to whom?
>
> I was a teenager in those very early 1940's and I never heard of such a
> thing. The telephone was known as the "phone".
My understanding is that it was a rather ephemeral pop-culture
catchphrase. Think "where's the beef?"
--
Paul Penna
Howard Brazee
Mark LoPresti wrote:
>
> What's the gag with Don Ameche being known as a great inventor? Ameche has a
> small role in Fred Allen's "It's in the Bag" (a great little known comedy, btw)
> in which he talks tongue in cheek of having made many inventions. And while
> watching a Three Stooges short this morning, Ameche was referred to as being a
> great inventor alongside the likes of Edison. Obviously this is some kind of
> Hollywood inside joke. Anyone know the whole story?
For many people, Don Ameche IS Alexander Graham Bell
Glenworthy@xteleport.com Henry Glenworthy
"Mark LoPresti" <sevg...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000429124333...@ng-fg1.aol.com...
> What's the gag with Don Ameche being known as a great inventor? Ameche has
a
> small role in Fred Allen's "It's in the Bag" (a great little known comedy,
btw)
> in which he talks tongue in cheek of having made many inventions. And
while
> watching a Three Stooges short this morning, Ameche was referred to as
being a
> great inventor alongside the likes of Edison. Obviously this is some kind
of
> Hollywood inside joke. Anyone know the whole story?
>>>>
"Watson, come here, I need you!"
---------------------------------------------------------------
Howard Brazee
>
> Imagine my surprise when I finally found out that Don Ameche (like Fred
> Astaire, William and Mary, and Lewis and Clark) wasn't a single word.
Didn't Donna Meche date that great Irish running back, Frank O'Harris?
Paul Penna
Glenw...@xteleport.com> wrote:
> "Watson, come here, I need you!"
It was better than that: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you."
--
Paul Penna
Feuillade
>Tom Moran wrote that:
> It seems that among teenagers
> in the very early 40s, the telephone
> was known s the "Ameche" in
> honor of its "inventor".
> Bushwah. "It seems that" according
> to whom?
> I was a teenager in those very
> early 1940's and I never heard of
> such a thing.
The fact that you were a social pariah during your teen years is *not* my
fault.
no...@webtv.net
introduced as:
"And here is is, ladies and gentlemen, the man who invented the
telephone ... Mr. Don Ameche!!".
no...@webtv.net
In the 1957 film "The Story of Mankind" ... the role of Alexander Graham
Bell was played by Don Ameche's younger brother ... Jim Ameche.
no...@webtv.net
social pariah during your teen years is not my fault".
Tom ... you leaky sonofabitch ... I thought you had reformed.
And ... you're wrong. Everything is your fault. I'm not happy that you
started this.
Unwilling or unable to answer a question pertinent to the issue ...
"according to whom?" ... you resort to personal slur as response.
You are a sickness.
And I hope that this particular interplay stops right here.
Frank R.A.J. Maloney
>
>as
>funny today as they were back then.
>
In my high school (1960-1963), we had two young hams who could usually be
counted on to recreate a Bickersons routine for any assembly in need of a few
good laughs.
Feuillade
> Tom Moran directed the following
> flame at me:
Flame? Some people (those with senses of humor) might consider it a witticism.
>> The fact that you were a
>> social pariah during your teen
>> years is not my fault.
I see now that my psychic abilities are still intact. :)
> Tom ... you leaky sonofabitch ...
> I thought you had reformed.
Reformed from what, exactly?
> And ... you're wrong. Everything
> is your fault. I'm not happy that
> you started this.
Started what?
Are you sorry that I pointed out that, simnply because you happened to be
drawing breath on the planet earth at a given point, you are not necessarily an
authority on teenage slang in every village and hamlet in the United States at
the time?
Get over yourself.
> Unwilling or unable to answer a
> question pertinent to the issue ...
> "according to whom?" ... you
> resort to personal slur as response.
Gee, I really *am* psychic, aren't I?
> You are a sickness.
Projection is a *wonderful* thing.
> And I hope that this particular
> interplay stops right here.
Actually, it will stop right here -- if you have a brain in your head.
But I'm not hopeful. :)
no...@webtv.net
Feuillade -- Tom Moran --- and I didn't.
Feuillade
> Okay ---I kept my promise.
> I promised myself to never
> again read Feuillade -- Tom
> Moran --- and I didn't.
Famous last words.
You haven't been the first to say them.
And you won't be the last.
And you *all* break your word...
Helen & Bob
W6ou wrote:
> > Anyone remember John and Blanche Bickerson?
>
> The Bickersons (Don Ameche and Francis Langford) old radio programs are just as
> funny today as they were back then.
They can be a hazard to navigation. Once in a while, some radio station will play
nostalgia radio, and put on The Bickersons. Damn, I have to pull over or not
listen, because I will laugh so hard I can't drive.
Timeless humor.
Bob
mack
"Helen & Bob" <chil...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:391072CA...@ix.netcom.com...
One line I always crack up over is when John is trying to get Blanche to
turn off the light and come to bed, since he needs his sleep, but she says
she has to put on her beauty masque. "Guaranteed to make you beautiful in
five treatments". He asks what number this one is and she replies "The
fourth."
He mutters "That fifth one has got to be a pip!" ; - )
Robert Maas
catchphrase. Think "where's the beef?">>
I thought that hamburger metaphor for "where's the essential part that
seems to be missing or hidden behind all the fluff" was still going
strong because it's a classic, never been replaced by any better
cliche for that concept in impatient/fedUp mode?
Here's an idea I came up with just after writing that before pressing SEND:
You wait on hold for 20 minutes to get into your HMO (Kaiser for example),
and all the time you're listening to background music interrupted by
ads for their medical info tapes, all the while you're saying to yourself
"where's the beef", but finally you get an advice nurse on the line who
dismissed your problem, so, and here's the new line, you say to the nurse
"You call that beef???" -- You like my newly-invented retort?
Robert Maas
station will play nostalgia radio, and put on The Bickersons. Damn, I
have to pull over or not listen, because I will laugh so hard I can't
drive.>>
Hmm, it would be fun for some popular radio station in San Francisco
to put it on during the evening commute hour then watch the fun on the
highways... Hmm, how about KGO putting in on instead of Dr. Laura
by accident and not noticing it until the Highway Patrol breaks into
their control room to request them to please put Dr. Laura back on...
W. Lydecker
pearls strung across the bay. KABL -
midnight.