Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December
26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was a musician,
comedian and writer, who was instrumental in
innovating the concept of the television talk
show. Allen is called List of people known as the
father or mother of something|The Father of TV
Talk Shows."

After years in radio, Allen became the original
host of The Tonight Show, from its first New York
broadcast in 1953 in television|1953, up until
1957 in television|1957, when he was replaced by
Jack Paar. It was as host of the Tonight Show that
Allen pioneered the "man on the street" and
audience-participation comedy bits that have
become commonplace in late-night TV.

Allen went on to host a slew of television
programs up until the 1980s, including the game
show I've Got a Secret and The New Steve Allen
Show in 1961 in television|1961. He was a regular
on the extremely popular panel game show What's My
Line? from 1953 to 1954 and returning as a guest
panelist until the series' end in 1967.

Allen was also a composer who supposedly wrote
over 7000 songs. In one famous stunt, Allen wrote
400 simple tunes in a single day. Allen's best
known songs are "This Could Be The Start of
Something Big" and  "The Gravy Waltz", which won a
Grammy Award in 1963 in music|1963 for best jazz
composition. Allen was also an actor, appearing in
such films as 1955 in film|1955's The Benny
Goodman Story.

Allen was also the producer of the award-winning
PBS series Meeting of Minds, a "talk show" with
notable historical figures, with Steve Allen
serving as host. This series pitted Socrates,
Marie Antoinette, Thomas Paine, Thomas More|Sir
Thomas More, Attila the Hun, Karl Marx, Emily
Dickinson, Charles Darwin, Galileo Galilei, and
other historical figures in dialogue and argument.
A proposed revival of this show was rejected as
"too cerebral".

He was also an accomplished comedy writer, and
author of over 50 books, including Dumbth, a
commentary on the United States|American
educational system, and Steve Allen on the Bible,
Religion, and Morality. 

Allen was a Secular Humanism|secular humanist and
Humanist Laureate for the Academy of Humanism, a
member of CSICOP and the Council for Secular
Humanism. 
Allen was a supporter of world government and
served on the World Federalist Association Board
of Advisers
http://www.amherstvigil.org/92798.html. In spite
of his liberal position on free speech, his later
concerns about the smuttiness he observed on
television caused him to make proposals
restricting the content of programs.

Allen was married to Jayne Meadows from 1954 until
his death in 2000. He died of heart failure and is
interred in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills
Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Steve Allen has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame: a TV star at 1720 Vine St. and a radio star
at 1537 Vine St.

== Shows ==
*Songs for Sale (1950 in television|1950- 1952 in
television|1952)
*The Steve Allen Show (1950)
*The Tonight Show (1954 in television|1954 - 1956
in television|1956, NBC)
*The Steve Allen Show
*Talent Patrol (1953 - 1955 in television|1955)
*What's My Line (1953 - 1954)
*I've Got a Secret  (1964 in television|1964 -1967
in television|1967)
*Meeting of Minds (1977 in television|1977 - 1981,
PBS)
*Steve Allen Comedy Hour (1980 in television|1980
- 1981 in television|1981)
*The Start of Something Big (1985 in
television|1985 - 1986 in television|1986)

== Songs include: ==
*"This Could Be the Start of Something Big"
*"The Gravy Waltz"

== Books==
*Bop Fables (1955)
*Fourteen for Tonight (1955)
**Short story collection
*The Funny Men (1956)
*Wry on the Rocks (1956)
**Poetry
*The Girls on the Tenth Floor and Other Stories
(1958)
**1970 printing: ISBN 0836936086
*The Question Man... (1959)
*Mark It and Strike It: An Autobiography (1960)
*Not All of Your Laughter, Not All of Your Tears
(1962)
*Dialogues in Americanism (1964)
**with L. Brent Bozell, William F. Buckley, Jr.,
Robert M. Hutchins, James MacGregor Burns, and
Willmoore Kendall
*Letter to a Conservative (1965)
*The Ground is Our Table (1966)
*Bigger Than A Breadbox (1967)
*The Flash of Swallows (1969)
*The Wake (1972)
**ISBN 0385076088
*Princess Snip-Snip and the Puppy-Kittens (1973)
*Curses! or...How Never to Be Foiled Again (1973)
**ISBN 0874770084
*What To Say When It Rains (1974)
**ISBN 0843103574
*Schmock-Schmock! (1975)
**ISBN 038509664X
*Meeting of Minds (1978)
**ISBN 0517533839
**1989 printing: ISBN 0879755504
*Chopped-Up Chinese (1978)
*Ripoff: A Look at Corruption in America (1979)
**With Roslyn Bernstein and Donald H. Dunn
**ISBN 0818402490
*Meeting of Minds, Second Series (1979)
**ISBN 0517538946
**1989 printing: ISBN 0879755652
*Explaining China (1980)
**ISBN 0517540622
*Funny People (1981)
**ISBN 0812827643
*Beloved Son: A Story of the Jesus Cults (1982)
**ISBN 0672526786
*More Funny People (1982)
**ISBN 0812828844
*How to Make a Speech (1986)
**ISBN 0070011648
*How to Be Funny: Discovering the Comic You (1987)
**With Jane Wollman
**ISBN 0070011990
**1992 printing: ISBN 0879757922
**1998 revised edition: ISBN 1573922064
*The Passionate Nonsmoker's Bill of Rights: The
First Guide to Enacting Nonsmoking Legislation
(1989)
**With Bill Adler, Jr.
**ISBN 0688062954
*"Dumbth":  And 81 Ways to Make Americans Smarter
(1989)
**ISBN 0879755393
**1998 revised edition: ISBN 1573922374
*Meeting of Minds, Vol. III (1989)
**ISBN 0879755660
*Meeting of Minds, Vol. IV (1989)
**ISBN 0879755679
*The Public Hating: A Collection of Short Stories
(1990)
**ISBN 0942637224
*Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion & Morality
(1990)
**ISBN 0879756381
*Hi-Ho, Steverino:  The Story of My Adventures in
the Wonderful Wacky World of Television (1992)
**ISBN 0942637550
**large-print edition: ISBN 1560545216
*More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion &
Morality (1993)
**ISBN 0879757361
*Make 'em Laugh (1993)
**ISBN 0879758376
*Reflections (1994)
**ISBN 0879759046
*The Man Who Turned Back the Clock, and Other
Short Stories (1995)
**ISBN 1573920029
*The Bug and the Slug in the Rug (1995)
**ISBN 1880851172
*But Seriously...: Steve Allen Speaks His Mind
(1996)
**ISBN 1573920908
*Steve Allen's Songs: 100 Lyrics with Commentary
(1999)
**ISBN 0786407360
*Steve Allen's Private Joke File (2000)
**ISBN 0609806726
*Vulgarians at the Gate: Trash TV and Raunch
Radio--Raising the Standards of Popular Culture
(2001)
**ISBN 1573928747

Allen's series of mystery novels "starring"
himself and wife Jayne Meadows was actually
ghostwriter|ghostwritten by Walter J. Sheldon, and
later Robert Westbrook)
*Murder in Manhattan (1990)
**ISBN 0821730339
*Murder in Vegas (1991)
**ISBN 0821734628
*The Murder Game (1993)
**ISBN 0821741152
*Murder on the Atlantic (1995)
**ISBN 0821746472
*Murder on the Glitter Box (1989)
**ISBN 0821727524
*The Talk Show Murders (1982)
**ISBN 0440084717
*Wake Up to Murder (1996)
**ISBN 1575660903
*Die Laughing (1998)
**ISBN 1575662418
*Murder in Hawaii (1999)
**ISBN 1575663759

==Quote==
"How many humanists does it take to screw in a
lightbulb? Ten: one to screw in the lightbulb and
nine to fight for the right to do so!"


==External links==

*http://www.steveallen.com/ The Official Website
of Steve Allen
*http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-01/steve-allen.html
Steve Allen tribute (Skeptical Inquirer January
2001)

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Image:Steveallen.jpg|thumb|right|Steve Allen on
the cover of Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion,
and Morality 
Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December
26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was a musician,
comedian and writer, who was instrumental in
innovating the concept of the television talk
show. Allen is called List of people known as the
father or mother of something|The Father of TV
Talk Shows."

After years in radio, Allen became the original
host of The Tonight Show, from its first New York
broadcast in 1953 in television|1953, up until
1957 in television|1957, when he was replaced by
Jack Paar. It was as host of the Tonight Show that
Allen pioneered the "man on the street" and
audience-participation comedy bits that have
become commonplace in late-night TV.

Allen went on to host a slew of television
programs up until the 1980s, including the game
show I've Got a Secret and The New Steve Allen
Show in 1961 in television|1961. He was a regular
on the extremely popular panel game show What's My
Line? from 1953 to 1954 and returning as a guest
panelist until the series' end in 1967.

Allen was also a composer who supposedly wrote
over 7000 songs. In one famous stunt, Allen wrote
400 simple tunes in a single day. Allen's best
known songs are "This Could Be The Start of
Something Big" and  "The Gravy Waltz", which won a
Grammy Award in 1963 in music|1963 for best jazz
composition. Allen was also an actor, appearing in
such films as 1955 in film|1955's The Benny
Goodman Story.

Allen was also the producer of the award-winning
PBS series Meeting of Minds, a "talk show" with
notable historical figures, with Steve Allen
serving as host. This series pitted Socrates,
Marie Antoinette, Thomas Paine, Thomas More|Sir
Thomas More, Attila the Hun, Karl Marx, Emily
Dickinson, Charles Darwin, Galileo Galilei, and
other historical figures in dialogue and argument.
A proposed revival of this show was rejected as
"too cerebral".

He was also an accomplished comedy writer, and
author of over 50 books, including Dumbth, a
commentary on the United States|American
educational system, and Steve Allen on the Bible,
Religion, and Morality. 

Allen was a Secular Humanism|secular humanist and
Humanist Laureate for the Academy of Humanism, a
member of CSICOP and the Council for Secular
Humanism. 
Allen was a supporter of world government and
served on the World Federalist Association Board
of Advisers
http://www.amherstvigil.org/92798.html. In spite
of his liberal position on free speech, his later
concerns about the smuttiness he observed on
television caused him to make proposals
restricting the content of programs.

Allen's second wife was actress Jayne Meadows, by
whom he had one son. They were married from 1954
until his death in 2000. He died of cardiac
disease triggered by a previous minor traffic
accident the same day (October 30, 2000), and is
interred in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills
Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Steve Allen has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame: a TV star at 1720 Vine St. and a radio star
at 1537 Vine St.

== Shows ==
*Songs for Sale (1950 in television|1950- 1952 in
television|1952)
*The Steve Allen Show (1950)
*The Tonight Show (1954 in television|1954 - 1956
in television|1956, NBC)
*The Steve Allen Show
*Talent Patrol (1953 - 1955 in television|1955)
*What's My Line (1953 - 1954)
*I've Got a Secret  (1964 in television|1964 -1967
in television|1967)
*Meeting of Minds (1977 in television|1977 - 1981,
PBS)
*Steve Allen Comedy Hour (1980 in television|1980
- 1981 in television|1981)
*The Start of Something Big (1985 in
television|1985 - 1986 in television|1986)

== Songs include: ==
*"This Could Be the Start of Something Big"
*"The Gravy Waltz"

== Books==
*Bop Fables (1955)
*Fourteen for Tonight (1955)
**Short story collection
*The Funny Men (1956)
*Wry on the Rocks (1956)
**Poetry
*The Girls on the Tenth Floor and Other Stories
(1958)
**1970 printing: ISBN 0836936086
*The Question Man... (1959)
*Mark It and Strike It: An Autobiography (1960)
*Not All of Your Laughter, Not All of Your Tears
(1962)
*Dialogues in Americanism (1964)
**with L. Brent Bozell, William F. Buckley, Jr.,
Robert M. Hutchins, James MacGregor Burns, and
Willmoore Kendall
*Letter to a Conservative (1965)
*The Ground is Our Table (1966)
*Bigger Than A Breadbox (1967)
*The Flash of Swallows (1969)
*The Wake (1972)
**ISBN 0385076088
*Princess Snip-Snip and the Puppy-Kittens (1973)
*Curses! or...How Never to Be Foiled Again (1973)
**ISBN 0874770084
*What To Say When It Rains (1974)
**ISBN 0843103574
*Schmock-Schmock! (1975)
**ISBN 038509664X
*Meeting of Minds (1978)
**ISBN 0517533839
**1989 printing: ISBN 0879755504
*Chopped-Up Chinese (1978)
*Ripoff: A Look at Corruption in America (1979)
**With Roslyn Bernstein and Donald H. Dunn
**ISBN 0818402490
*Meeting of Minds, Second Series (1979)
**ISBN 0517538946
**1989 printing: ISBN 0879755652
*Explaining China (1980)
**ISBN 0517540622
*Funny People (1981)
**ISBN 0812827643
*Beloved Son: A Story of the Jesus Cults (1982)
**ISBN 0672526786
*More Funny People (1982)
**ISBN 0812828844
*How to Make a Speech (1986)
**ISBN 0070011648
*How to Be Funny: Discovering the Comic You (1987)
**With Jane Wollman
**ISBN 0070011990
**1992 printing: ISBN 0879757922
**1998 revised edition: ISBN 1573922064
*The Passionate Nonsmoker's Bill of Rights: The
First Guide to Enacting Nonsmoking Legislation
(1989)
**With Bill Adler, Jr.
**ISBN 0688062954
*"Dumbth":  And 81 Ways to Make Americans Smarter
(1989)
**ISBN 0879755393
**1998 revised edition: ISBN 1573922374
*Meeting of Minds, Vol. III (1989)
**ISBN 0879755660
*Meeting of Minds, Vol. IV (1989)
**ISBN 0879755679
*The Public Hating: A Collection of Short Stories
(1990)
**ISBN 0942637224
*Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion & Morality
(1990)
**ISBN 0879756381
*Hi-Ho, Steverino:  The Story of My Adventures in
the Wonderful Wacky World of Television (1992)
**ISBN 0942637550
**large-print edition: ISBN 1560545216
*More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion &
Morality (1993)
**ISBN 0879757361
*Make 'em Laugh (1993)
**ISBN 0879758376
*Reflections (1994)
**ISBN 0879759046
*The Man Who Turned Back the Clock, and Other
Short Stories (1995)
**ISBN 1573920029
*The Bug and the Slug in the Rug (1995)
**ISBN 1880851172
*But Seriously...: Steve Allen Speaks His Mind
(1996)
**ISBN 1573920908
*Steve Allen's Songs: 100 Lyrics with Commentary
(1999)
**ISBN 0786407360
*Steve Allen's Private Joke File (2000)
**ISBN 0609806726
*Vulgarians at the Gate: Trash TV and Raunch
Radio--Raising the Standards of Popular Culture
(2001)
**ISBN 1573928747

Allen's series of mystery novels "starring"
himself and wife Jayne Meadows was actually
ghostwriter|ghostwritten by Walter J. Sheldon, and
later Robert Westbrook)
*Murder in Manhattan (1990)
**ISBN 0821730339
*Murder in Vegas (1991)
**ISBN 0821734628
*The Murder Game (1993)
**ISBN 0821741152
*Murder on the Atlantic (1995)
**ISBN 0821746472
*Murder on the Glitter Box (1989)
**ISBN 0821727524
*The Talk Show Murders (1982)
**ISBN 0440084717
*Wake Up to Murder (1996)
**ISBN 1575660903
*Die Laughing (1998)
**ISBN 1575662418
*Murder in Hawaii (1999)
**ISBN 1575663759

==Quote==
"How many humanists does it take to screw in a
lightbulb? Ten: one to screw in the lightbulb and
nine to fight for the right to do so!"

==External links==

*http://www.steveallen.com/ The Official Website
of Steve Allen
*http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-01/steve-allen.html
Steve Allen tribute (Skeptical Inquirer January
2001)

start box
succession box|title=Host of The Tonight
Show|before=–|after=Steve Allen & Ernie
Kovacs|years=1954 – 1956
succession box|title=Host of The Tonight
Show
(with Ernie Kovacs)|before=Steve
Allen|after=Jack Paar|years=1956 – 1957
end box