History of Dennis Day in Timeline

May 21, 1916

Dennis Day (born Owen Patrick Eugene McNulty; May 21, 1916 – June 22, 1988) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He was of Irish descent.

1939

In 1939, Gene McNulty, as Day was then known, sang on network radio with bandleader Larry Clinton. The Clinton broadcasts were aimed at the collegiate audience, and were often broadcast from a college campus. The 23-year-old McNulty won an audience poll as a favorite vocalist.

October 08, 1939

Day appeared for the first time on Jack Benny's radio show on October 8, 1939, taking the place of another tenor, Kenny Baker. He remained associated with Benny's radio and television programs until Benny's death in 1974. He was introduced (with actress Verna Felton playing his overbearing mother) as a young (19-year-old), naive boy singer – a character he kept through his whole career, although his character eventually "aged" a few years.

March 1946

From 1944 to March 1946, he served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant. While in service, he was temporarily replaced on the Benny radio program by fellow tenor Larry Stevens. On his return to civilian life, he continued to work with Benny while also starring on his own NBC show, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day (1946–1951). On Benny's show, Day's having two programs in comparison to Benny's one was the subject of numerous jokes and gags, usually revolving around Day rubbing Benny's, and sometimes other cast members' and guest stars' noses, in that fact (e.g., "Dennis, why do you have two horns on your bicycle?" "Why shouldn't I? I've got two shows!"). His last radio series was a comedy and variety show that aired on NBC's Sunday afternoon schedule during the 1954–55 season.

February 08, 1952

Eventually, his own TV series, The Dennis Day Show (or The RCA Victor Show), was first telecast on NBC on February 8, 1952, and then in the 1953–1954 season. On this show, Day played a less-fictionalized version of himself, using his natural voice and behaving as an adult who was considerably more mature than his Benny character.

January 23, 1955

Between 1952 and 1978, Day made numerous TV appearances as a singer and actor (such as NBC's The Gisele MacKenzie Show, ABC's The Bing Crosby Show and Alfred Hitchcock Presents) and voice for animation. Day appeared as the "Mystery Guest" on the January 23, 1955 episode of What's My Line?. Day was correctly identified by panelist Dorothy Kilgallen.

1957

In 1957, Day played himself in episode seven, season two of the briefly aired (1957–1958) situation comedy called Date with the Angels in which, on the way to a recording studio, Day's car breaks down in front of Vicki Angel's (Betty White) home. While waiting for the automobile service to arrive, he does a few imitations (including Elvis), sings a song, and does a duet with Vicki. The episode, which began in Sardi's restaurant, included brief appearances of Liberace and Hugh O'Brian. While numerous stars appeared in the series without credit, all three (Day, Liberace, O'Brian) guest stars appear in the credits on that episode.

October 25, 1957

He also appeared in Date with the Angels – season one, episode 13, as himself; it aired on Friday at 9:30 pm, October 25, 1957, on ABC. Some records show it was episode 19, titled "Star Struck".

1960

Day was given stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for radio and television in 1960.

1965

An attempt was made to adapt A Day in the Life of Dennis Day as an NBC filmed series (Sam Berman's caricature of Dennis was used in the opening and closing titles), produced by Jerry Fairbanks for Dennis' sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive, featuring the original radio cast, but got no farther than an unaired 1949 pilot episode. In late 1950, a sample kinescope was produced by Colgate and their ad agency showcasing Dennis as host of a projected "live" comedy/variety series (The Dennis Day Show) for CBS, but that, too, went unsold. He continued to appear as a regular cast member when The Jack Benny Program became a TV series, staying with the show until it ended in 1965.

1970

His last televised work with Benny was in 1970, when they appeared in a public-service announcement together to promote savings and loans. This was shortly after the whole cast and crew of The Jack Benny Show had joined for Jack Benny's Twentieth Anniversary Special.

1972

He starred as railroad employee Jason Barnes in the 1962 Death Valley Days TV episode "Way Station". In 1972, he co-starred with June Allyson and Judy Canova in the first national tour of the Broadway musical No, No, Nanette.

1976

In 1976, Day was the voice of Parson Brown in the Rankin-Bass production Frosty's Winter Wonderland and again worked with them in 1978, when he voiced Fred in The Stingiest Man in Town, which was their animated version of Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol.

1988

A Republican, Day was supportive of Dwight Eisenhower's campaign during the 1952 presidential election and Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election. He died in 1988.