Fred Allen

Also known as John Florence Sullivan

American comedian (1894–1956)

Person · Open Library

Works: 15

Top works

low man on a totempole
Reform
Trees of Eden
Fredzone
Letters

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio. His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it was…

Known for

Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio — Self - Predicts Demise of Radio (archive footage)1991
Bob Hope's World of Comedy — Self - Tribute Montage (archive footage)1976
The Great Radio Comedians — Self (Archive footage)1971
Judge for Yourself — Himself1953
O. Henry's Full House — Sam "Slick" Brown (segment "The Ransom of Red Chief")1952
We're Not Married! — Steve Gladwyn1952
The Colgate Comedy Hour — Self1950
Your Show of Shows1950
The Jack Benny Program — Fred Allen1950
What's My Line? — Self1950

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Country: United States
Active from: 1894
Active to: 1956

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 183
Total plays: 814

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology
· 1989 · cited 43,374x
Colorimetric Method for Determination of Sugars and Related Substances
· 1956 · cited 41,857x
SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python
· 2020 · cited 34,522x
Social Identity Theory and the Organization
· 1989 · cited 31,503x
User Acceptance of Information Technology: Toward A Unified View1
· 2003 · cited 29,645x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“A molehill man is a pseudo-busy executive who comes to work at 9 am and finds a molehill on his desk. He has until 5 pm to make this molehill into a mountain. An accomplished molehill man will often have his mountain finished even before lunch.”
“I'm a little hoarse tonight. I've been living in Chicago for the past two months, and you know how it is, yelling for help on the way home every night. Things are so tough in Chicago that at Easter time, for bunnies the little kids use porcupines.”
“All the sincerity in Hollywood you could stuff in a flea's navel and still have room left to conceal eight caraway seeds and an agent's heart.”
“A good comedian can say things funny and other guys just say funny things.”
“Sullivan will be successful as long as other people have talent.”
“What does Sullivan do? He points at people. Rub meat on actors and dogs will do the same thing.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born: John Florence Sullivan , ( 1894-05-31 ) May 31, 1894, Cambridge, Massachusetts , U.S.
Died: March 17, 1956 (1956-03-17) (aged 61), New York City, U.S.
Years active: 1914–1956
Spouse: Portland Hoffa ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1927 )
Show: The Fred Allen Show
Network: CBS , NBC
Style: Comedian
Country: United States

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image: Fred allen 1940s NBC photo.JPG

Show 4 more facts

Commons category: Fred Allen
date of birth: 1894-05-31
date of death: 1956-03-17
name in native language: Fred Allen

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

Article

John Florence Sullivan (May 31, 1894 – March 17, 1956), known professionally as Fred Allen, was an American comedian. His absurdist, topically pointed radio program The Fred Allen Show (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the Golden Age of American radio.

His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but that was only part of his appeal. Radio historian John Dunning wrote that Allen was perhaps radio's most admired comedian and most frequently censored. A master ad libber, Allen often tangled with his network's executives and often barbed them on the air over the battles while developing routines whose style and substance influenced fellow comic talents, including Groucho Marx, Stan Freberg, Henry Morgan, and Johnny Carson; his avowed fans also included President Franklin D. Roosevelt, humorist James Thurber, and novelists William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and Herman Wouk, who began his career writing for Allen.