SID CAESAR
Name: Sid Caesar
Born: 8 September 1922 Yonkers, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Sid Caesar (born September 8, 1922) is an Emmy-winning American comic actor and
writer best known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of
Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease
and Grease 2.
Isaac Sidney Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York, where his father, Max, and
mother, Ida, ran a twenty-four-hour luncheonette. Caesar would help his parents
by waiting on tables and it was during this time that Sid learned to mimic many
of the accents he would use throughout his long career. He first tried his
double-talk with a group of Italians, his head barely reaching above the table.
They enjoyed it so much, they sent him over to a group of Poles to repeat it in
Polish, and so on with Russians, Hungarians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Lithuanians,
and Bulgarians. Despite his apparent fluency in many languages, in reality
Caesar can only speak English and Yiddish. The Caesars were a funny family and
Sid's older brother Dave was his comic mentor and 'one-man cheering section'.
They created their earliest family skits from then current movies like Test
Pilot and Wings.
At fourteen, Caesar first went to the Catskills as a saxophonist with Mike
Cifficello's Swingtime Six and would also occasionally perform in skits. After
graduating from high school in 1939, Caesar's family was still reeling from the
Great Depression and he moved out, intent on a musical career. He arrived in New
York City penniless and tried to join the musician's union (later he audited
classes at the famed Juilliard School of Music). That first summer on his own,
he played at the Vacationland Hotel in Swan Lake in the Catskills. There under
the tutelage of Don Appel, the resort's social director, Caesar played in the
band and learned to perform comedy, doing three shows a week.
During the summer of 1942, he met his future wife Florence Levy at the Avon
Lodge. After joining the musician's union, he briefly played with Shep Fields,
Claude Thornhill, Charlie Spivak, and even Benny Goodman. In September 1942,
Caesar joined the United States Coast Guard. Fortunately, he was posted to
Brooklyn so he was able to maintain contact with his family and fiancie. Vernon
Duke, the famous composer of Autumn in New York, April in Paris, and Taking a
Chance on Love, was also stationed at the same base and he collaborated with
Caesar in musical revues.
Caesar's knack for wisecracks, however, got bigger applause than the musical
numbers, and the show's producer asked him to do stand-up between his numbers.
While still in the service, Caesar was ordered to Palm Beach, Florida where
Vernon Duke and Howard Dietz were putting together a service revue, Tars and
Spars. There he met the civilian director of the show Max Liebman, later the
producer of his first hit television series. Tars and Spars toured nationally
and then a film version was made at Columbia Pictures. He also got a part in The
Guilt of Janet Ames. He married Florence Levy on July 17, 1943. They are the
parents of three children.
Name: Sid Caesar
Born: 8 September 1922 Yonkers, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Sid Caesar (born September 8, 1922) is an Emmy-winning American comic actor and
writer best known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of
Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease
and Grease 2.
Isaac Sidney Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York, where his father, Max, and
mother, Ida, ran a twenty-four-hour luncheonette. Caesar would help his parents
by waiting on tables and it was during this time that Sid learned to mimic many
of the accents he would use throughout his long career. He first tried his
double-talk with a group of Italians, his head barely reaching above the table.
They enjoyed it so much, they sent him over to a group of Poles to repeat it in
Polish, and so on with Russians, Hungarians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Lithuanians,
and Bulgarians. Despite his apparent fluency in many languages, in reality
Caesar can only speak English and Yiddish. The Caesars were a funny family and
Sid's older brother Dave was his comic mentor and 'one-man cheering section'.
They created their earliest family skits from then current movies like Test
Pilot and Wings.
At fourteen, Caesar first went to the Catskills as a saxophonist with Mike
Cifficello's Swingtime Six and would also occasionally perform in skits. After
graduating from high school in 1939, Caesar's family was still reeling from the
Great Depression and he moved out, intent on a musical career. He arrived in New
York City penniless and tried to join the musician's union (later he audited
classes at the famed Juilliard School of Music). That first summer on his own,
he played at the Vacationland Hotel in Swan Lake in the Catskills. There under
the tutelage of Don Appel, the resort's social director, Caesar played in the
band and learned to perform comedy, doing three shows a week.
During the summer of 1942, he met his future wife Florence Levy at the Avon
Lodge. After joining the musician's union, he briefly played with Shep Fields,
Claude Thornhill, Charlie Spivak, and even Benny Goodman. In September 1942,
Caesar joined the United States Coast Guard. Fortunately, he was posted to
Brooklyn so he was able to maintain contact with his family and fiancie. Vernon
Duke, the famous composer of Autumn in New York, April in Paris, and Taking a
Chance on Love, was also stationed at the same base and he collaborated with
Caesar in musical revues.
Caesar's knack for wisecracks, however, got bigger applause than the musical
numbers, and the show's producer asked him to do stand-up between his numbers.
While still in the service, Caesar was ordered to Palm Beach, Florida where
Vernon Duke and Howard Dietz were putting together a service revue, Tars and
Spars. There he met the civilian director of the show Max Liebman, later the
producer of his first hit television series. Tars and Spars toured nationally
and then a film version was made at Columbia Pictures. He also got a part in The
Guilt of Janet Ames. He married Florence Levy on July 17, 1943. They are the
parents of three children.