Talk:Sid Caesar

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Einstein

This famous scientist watched one tv show: Your Show of Shows. He enjoyed Sid Caesar's comedy so much that he invited Caesar to visit at his Princeton home. Sid Caesar tried to quickly study physics so that he would have a common topic of conversation with the famous man. However, shortly before the scheduled visit, Einstein died. Sid Caesar was so affected by Einstein's appreciation that he frequently refers to Einstein in his comedy routines. He may even have created many elaborate comedy monologues, simply to somehow include the mention of Einstein's name.152.163.101.6 19:12, 25 March 2006 (UTC)Lestrade

WP:WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers priority assessment

Per debate and discussion re: assessment of the approximate 100 top priority articles of the project, this article has been included as a top priority article. Wildhartlivie (talk) 10:28, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

military photo/for family

i recently came across an old photo of my father,sids platoon leader.the picture is sid ceasar and my father with the three stooges at a uso show at fort dobbs texas before the korean war.dad was shipped out to korea afterwards.it is a very funny photo with the three stooges haveing fun with them.i would like to get a copy to his family,dont know how to contact them. i can be reached at 423-231-1405 or mike1414harville@yahoo.com thanks for your help,mike harville —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.246.245.168 (talk) 15:37, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

Florence Caesar?

Is she actually dead? I can't find her obituary anywhere and her death was listed by an anonymous source. It seems plausible she is but I'm asking due to something I'm doing on the article Hollywood marriage. (There's being an example of a long-term celebrity marriage)--T. Anthony (talk) 07:12, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Florence Caesar died in March 2010. Nice 2009 article on her and Sid here, covers the same angle. Dwpaul ^Talk 18:11, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Woody Allen?

The text implies that Woody Allen wrote for Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows. This is unlikely (Allen would have been a teenager) but Allen did write for Caesar's television specials in the 1960s and may have done some writing for Caesar's Hour. Halfelven (talk) 09:00, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

NPR had an obituary about Ceasar this morning (I listened on podcast) and mentioned Woody Allen as one of Ceasar's writers, but I dont remember for which of the shows. If you want to check it out I listened on Feb 13 2014.Simplysavvy (talk) 11:21, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Woody Allen, at 19, began writing scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, specials for Sid Caesar post-Caesar's Hour (1954–1957), and other television shows.IMDb: Woody Allen By the time he was working for Caesar, he was earning $1,500 a week; with Caesar, he worked alongside Danny Simon, whom Allen credits for helping form his writing style.TV Comedy Writer Danny Simon Dies - The Washington Post
Xb2u7Zjzc32 (talk) 18:49, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Peacock words

Much of this article reads like a press release from the Sid Caesar Fan Club. It also has few citations, with several paragraphs having none at all. I have trimmed the most obvious examples of puffery, like multiple references to standing ovations Mr. Caesar received.Paragraphbee (talk) 21:40, 31 May 2013 (UTC)

 Done Noting that the article has been extensively rewritten and many citations added prior to it being featured at WP:ITN following the subject's death, so this criticism has (I think) been addressed. Dwpaul ^Talk 17:44, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Nachman

We have 23 cites all to the same author. This is overdoing it. Given all the books on American comedy, surely we can give a more representative sampling of historians/critics. --Tenebrae (talk) 18:22, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

• Speaking of Nachman, the Steve Allen quote that cites him appears to be grammatically incorrect ("was born with the ability write physical poetry"). Do you have this book? Is the quote not actually "... to write ..."? Dwpaul ^Talk 18:49, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

There's nothing technically wrong with using a good source if it is a good source--only undue weight for analysis, rather than facts would be a real issue. The anecdotes I see quoted don't strike me as presenting any sort of POV that needs countering. μηδείς (talk) 18:55, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Also it appears that Nachman collects and relates the opinions of many others, not just his own. But to your point, virtually the entire Style and technique section is sourced to Nachman, accounting for 9 of the refs. Surely we can relate somehow that Nachman is the primarymost significant source for that section without citing him 9 times? Dwpaul ^Talk 19:11, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

To respond to μηδείς: No one's saying not to use a good source, and no one's saying Nachman isn't a good source. That's not the point. The point is we now have 24 cites to a single voice analyzing the subject, and that's too many. I don't have time right now, and I hope other editors help, but we need a more balanced set of voices or that one section in particular needs to be given a one-source tag.--Tenebrae (talk) 20:43, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

I have all of the sources I added, including St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Nachman's Seriously Funny, Encyclopedia of Television, Maslon's Make'em Laugh, and the NYT obit. Nachman's is by far the best for actual quotes, as his bibliography includes 75 biographical books and countless interviews. The hardest part about incorporating his material into a WP article is that since there was little order to the subjects discussed or the quotes, I tried to arrange details by topical sub-sections. The strongest aspect of Nachman's book is that rather than just state a fact from a synthesis of material, as most of the other sources do, he also includes many supporting 1st-person quotes by those who worked with him. Ideas for improvement are welcome. --Light show (talk) 21:10, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

First, my thanks to the editor who added page numbers. Extremely welcome. Second, given the number of comments about Caesar's work by notable individuals following his death, we can probably substitute a few. I mean, we mention Nachman personally twice within the prose of "Style and technique". --Tenebrae (talk) 22:05, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

I don't have a physical copy, but I see Ted Sennett's book on Your Show of Shows is at Google Books. I'll try to "browse" later! [1] --Tenebrae (talk) 22:17, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Actually, so is Nachman's, I propose we link to each cited Google Books page. I'll certainly volunteer to help.

And by the way, how great is it that with all the millennials editing Wikipedia that a bunch of editors still care enough about this live-TV great to bulk up his page. I'm really happy to be part of this crew.--Tenebrae (talk) 22:21, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Represent the end of the Baby Boomer era, myself. And I share your satisfaction that some folks care about SC and the early era of TV comedy. At the nom to run this at ITN, an editor said they had never heard of SC (though I think from their other comments they were not from these shores). I found myself thinking that was really sad (and their loss). Dwpaul ^Talk 16:07, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Me, too. And I think if we all keep at this, we can get this article to GA. What do you think? --Tenebrae (talk) 00:36, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Faded success and personal problems

I find myself recoiling at this heading. Yes, he had "personal problems" (as we all do), but somehow this sounds a bit pathetic and condescending. Is there a better way to word this? "Personal issues" isn't much better, but is moving in the direction I'm thinking to go. "Struggles"? Dwpaul ^Talk 15:47, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

In an interview he describes having a great dinner of steak and wine, then strolling down a Paris boulevard, then feeling terrible. Seems similar to Robbie Williams and Stephen Fry, try a title of "Health"
Xb2u7Zjzc32 (talk) 17:44, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Good suggestion. My most recent thought, though, was just to retitle that section as "Decline", which seems to me to encompass both his (relative) withdrawal from the limelight and some personal deterioration without being too explicit. Thoughts? Dwpaul ^Talk 17:49, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Would this have anything to do with the "mashed potato" story? Apparently while dining with two friends, Ceasar--quite intoxicated at the time--fell facefirst into his dish of mashed potatoes and nearly drowned. His companions passed it off to the other diners as a comedy bit he was rehearsing, but really it was quite serious. I can find nothing about this bit of apocrypha anywhere (unlike the horse story, noted in the article) and was wondering how it ever got started. --The_Iconoclast (talk) 22:59, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

Conan's Tribute To Sid Caesar

• Conan's Tribute To Sid Caesar youtube
• "sid caesar" Tribute|death conan (google search)
• Conan Christopher O'Brien (born 18 April 1963)
• 23 February 1973 (New York City, New York) 10 from Your Show of Shows (1973) - Release Info - IMDb
• Plaza Theater in Brookline Village, MA - Cinema Treasures
  Xb2u7Zjzc32 (talk) 18:01, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Possibly Useful Link(s)

Moore, Frazier (December 21, 2003). "Look! How (Sid) Caesar Ruled American Comedy". AP via Meriden, CT Record-Journal (via news.google.com).

• Discusses the writing of Caesar's Hours and describes Sid at 81. Frazier Moore also wrote AP's recent obit of Sid. Dwpaul ^Talk 18:35, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Sorkin, Aaron (February 14, 2014). "Why the Sublime Schtick of Sid Caesar Still Matters". Huffington Post. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

Dwpaul ^Talk 22:28, 14 February 2014 (UTC)

Max

BTW, we now have what I think is a pretty good start on a Max Liebman article. --Tenebrae (talk) 04:53, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Wunderbar! Dwpaul ^Talk 15:00, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

List of Films

The list of characters in the movie The Mouse that Roared were played by Peter Sellers, not Ceasar. Ceasar is not listed in the cast by IMDb

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053084/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_56 96.250.109.4 (talk) 15:47, 3 September 2016 (UTC)

In looking again The Mouse that Roared is listed as a TV film, of which I have no knowledge,

Comment withdrawn. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.250.109.4 (talk) 15:51, 3 September 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

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Dramatic Weight Loss

I came to the page hoping to find some info about the dramatic weight loss that apparently happened in the late 1960s. His appearance changed considerably and I was curious to know about that. He appears on a Lucy Show episode from 1969 that jokes about his weight loss and has a couple of funny scenes of Caesar eating cottage cheese while the people around him are enjoying huge portions of rich foods. It seems noteworthy, and would improve the article if someone has some reliable information to include. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lafong (talk • contribs) 23:25, 18 January 2019 (UTC)

World War II service

Although Caesar served in the United States Coast Guard during the World War II era, no reliable sources found as of yet state that he served overseas in a war zone during the war. Accordingly, Category:United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II was removed from the article. Semper Fi! FieldMarine (talk) 12:01, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

Stated in Article..There was no known Name Change at Ellis Island. WELL my familis last name was So- Called " Americanized...From Hammerli with umlot over "a".They added E's to now spell Haemmerle""

Yes Ellis Island Did In Fact CHANGE NAMES 148.75.37.154 (talk) 00:35, 8 December 2022 (UTC)