1. George Watt Fenneman was an American radio and television announcer.
50 Facts About George Fenneman
1. 2.
Marx, said of Fenneman in 1976, "There never was a comedian who was any good unless he had a good straight man, and George was straight on all four sides".
3.
George Fenneman, born in Peking, China, died from respiratory failure in Los Angeles, California, on May 29,1997, at the age of 77.
4.
George Fenneman was born in Peking, China, the only child of Edgar Warfield and Jessico "Jessie" George Fenneman.
5.
George Fenneman was an infant when his parents moved to San Francisco, California, where he grew up.
6.
George Fenneman's father was a certified public accountant and worked in the import-export business.
7.
George Fenneman's mother was an author and a minister of the Divine Art of Living.
8.
When George Fenneman was eight, he wrote and starred in his own drama before his neighborhood friends in the basement of his home.
9.
George Fenneman became a broadcast correspondent for the US Office of War Information, where he met Jack Webb, a fellow staff announcer who would later hire him for Webb's Dragnet radio and TV series.
10.
In 1941, George Fenneman was hired by KSFO radio for $35 per week.
11.
George Fenneman immediately found himself hosting the show Lunch at the Top of the Mark.
12.
In 1942, George Fenneman took a job as a radio announcer and actor at KGO, increasing his salary to $55 per week.
13.
George Fenneman's first acting role on the station was the early California bandit Joaquin Murrieta in the production Golden Days.
14.
George Fenneman was reported to be "one of the better radio voices".
15.
In 1948, George Fenneman was an announcer for the Abbott and Costello radio show.
16.
George Fenneman became the announcer on the Coca-Cola Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands, heard on over 168 radio stations on the NBC Blue Network.
17.
George Fenneman won the audition as the radio show's announcer in 1947.
18.
George Fenneman stayed with the show when it moved to television in 1950, on NBC where it remained for 11 years.
19.
George Fenneman was known as "Groucho Marx's man Friday, who helps him on Wednesdays and Thursdays ".
20.
Dwan said George Fenneman's demeanor made him the perfect straight man for the show.
21.
George Fenneman knew what his role was, and he was, above all, a gentleman.
22.
George Fenneman was a resilient target of Marx's frequent mispronunciations of his name and other light-hearted teasing.
23.
On one episode George Fenneman was suspended in a harness as a substitute for the show's stuffed duck that was dropped from overhead with a $100 payoff in its beak when a contestant said the secret word during every episode.
24.
George Fenneman remained friends with Marx until the latter's death in 1977.
25.
George Fenneman announced the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Comedy Show, sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes.
26.
George Fenneman said Martin and Lewis would shower him with sheet music or cut off his tie while he was on camera selling cigarettes.
27.
George Fenneman said "The sponsor and the sponsor's wife are way ahead with eighteen million dollars".
28.
George Fenneman hosted many game shows: in 1953, Your Claim To Fame, a panel quiz show sponsored by the Regal Amber Brewing Company of San Francisco, Anybody Can Play in 1958 with Dolores Reed, The Perfect Husband, Who In The World and Your Surprise Package in 1961.
29.
George Fenneman hosted an un-aired pilot episode of Take My Advice, an NBC game show where a celebrity panel offered advice to contestants about how to handle personal problems.
30.
George Fenneman created commercials for the Paper Mate pen company.
31.
George Fenneman was the commercial spokesman for Lipton Tea during much of the 1960s, and in that role appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show when The Beatles made their second US TV appearance on February 16,1964.
32.
George Fenneman was host of a highly regarded KCET-TV program, On Campus.
33.
On January 14,1964, George Fenneman hosted the half-hour special, Here Comes a Star.
34.
George Fenneman interviewed Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera as they readied their newest cartoon show The Magilla Gorilla Show.
35.
In 1974, George Fenneman co-hosted Talk About Pictures, an Emmy Award-winning program created by Life magazine photographer Leigh Wiener.
36.
George Fenneman was the announcer for a number of radio shows, including Pete Kelly's Blues, The Orson Welles Show, The Eddie Albert Show and The Hedda Hopper Show.
37.
George Fenneman narrated many commercial and industrial films including work for Lockheed Aviation and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
38.
George Fenneman was one of a pair of announcers on Dragnet.
39.
George Fenneman shared narration duties with Hal Gibney on radio and the original 1951 Dragnet television series, and then with John Stephenson when Dragnet returned to TV in 1967.
40.
George Fenneman narrated The Simpsons season 5 episode "Marge on the Lam" broadcast on November 4,1993.
41.
George Fenneman recorded the episode's ending in a Dragnet-style summation of the three principal characters' fates.
42.
George Fenneman purchased a 10 percent interest in the You Bet Your Life production company.
43.
George Fenneman played Buzz, the co-pilot on the radio show I Fly Anything, a radio adventure drama, broadcast on ABC from November 29,1950, until July 19,1951.
44.
George Fenneman appeared on screen in the 1951 film The Thing from Another World as "Dr Redding", Fenneman was a neighbor of The Thing from Another Worlds director, Christian Nyby.
45.
George Fenneman portrayed Randy Rambo in The Tom Ewell Show episode "The Prying Eye," broadcast on March 28,1961.
46.
In 1967 George Fenneman appeared in the film adaptation of the Broadway show How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as himself.
47.
George Fenneman is credited at the end as "TV Announcer".
48.
George Fenneman married his college sweetheart, Margaret "Peggy" Jane Clifford in 1943.
49.
George Fenneman died from respiratory failure at his home in Los Angeles, California, on May 29,1997, at the age of 77.
50.
George Fenneman's body was cremated, and the location of ashes is unknown.