Jerry Colonna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Gerardo Luigi "Jerry" Colonna (September 17, 1904 – November 22, 1986) was an American musician, actor, comedian, singer, songwriter and trombonist best remembered as the zaniest of Bob Hope's sidekicks in Hope's popular radio shows and films of the 1940s and 1950s. With his pop-eyed facial expressions and walrus-sized handlebar moustache, Colonna was known for singing loudly "in a comic caterwaul," according to Raised on Radio author Gerald Nachman, and for his catchphrase, "Who's Yehudi?", uttered after many an old joke, although it usually had nothing to do with the joke. The line was believed to be named for violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, and the search for Yehudi became a running gag on the Hope show. Colonna featured in three of the popular Hope-Crosby Road films: Road to Singapore (1940) as Achilles Bombassa, Road to Rio (1947) as a Cavalry captain and The Road to Hong Kong (1962) in a cameo role. He can also be seen in the Fred Allen vehicle, It's in the Bag! (1945), as psychiatrist Dr. Greenglass, and he made a brief appearance with Hope in the "Wife, Husband and Wolf" sketch in Star Spangled Rhythm. In 1956 he performed the featured song "My Lucky Charm" in the film Meet Me in Las Vegas, starring Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse. He provided the voice of the March Hare in the Walt Disney animated film version of Alice in Wonderland (1951) (another radio legend, Ed Wynn, voiced the Mad Hatter) and also lent his zany narration style to several Disney shorts, including Casey at the Bat (1946) and The Brave Engineer (1950).
Alice in Wonderland
as March Hare (voice)On a golden afternoon, wildly curious young Alice tumbles into the burrow and enters the merry,...
Movie pageMake Mine Music
as Narrator (segment "Casey at the Bat") (voice)In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged...
Movie pageRoad to Singapore
as Achilles BombanassaTwo playboys try to forget previous romances in Singapore - until they meet Dorothy Lamour...
Movie pageRoad to Utopia
as Man on boat to Alaska (uncredited)While on a ship to Skagway, Alaska, Duke and Chester find a map to a secret gold mine, which had...
Movie pageMeet Me in Las Vegas
as Jerry ColonnaChuck Rodwell is a gambling cowboy who discovers that he's lucky at the roulette wheel if he...
Movie pageThe Road to Hong Kong
as Man Looking For a Match (uncredited)When Chester accidentally memorises and destroys the only copy of a secret Russian formula for a...
Movie pageSis Hopkins
as ProfessorAn unsophisticated farm girl enrolls in college and stars in the campus musical.
Movie pageThis Is Bob Hope...
as Self (archive footage)During his career, Bob Hope was the only performer to achieve top-rated success in every form of...
Movie pageRosalie
as JosephWest Point cadet Dick Thorpe falls in love with a girl, who turns out to be a princess from an...
Movie pagePort of Seven Seas
as Arab Rug DealerIn the French port of Marseille, a young woman named Madelon is in love with a young sailor,...
Movie pageGarden of the Moon
as MusicianDon Vincente is determined to make a success of himself and his band. He gets his break by...
Movie pageAndy Hardy Comes Home
as DocAndy Hardy, now a grown man with a wife and children, returns to his hometown on a business trip...
Movie pageStar Spangled Rhythm
as Jerry ColonnaPop, a security guard at Paramount has told his son that he's the head of the studio. When his...
Movie pageIt's in the Bag!
as Dr. GreengrassThe ringmaster of a flea circus inherits a fortune...if he can find which chair it's hidden in.
Movie pageLittle Miss Broadway
as Band MemberAn orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people....
Movie pageHappy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC
as Self (archive footage)Stars celebrate Bob Hope's 50 years with NBC.
Movie pageMusical Movieland
as The Texas TornadoA group of tourists is given a tour of a movie studio lot. They see the various permanent sets...
Movie pageThe Brave Engineer
as NarratorCasey Jones is one of the best engineers there is and it is his duty to get his cargo to its...
Movie pageSong Hits on Parade
as uncreditedFreddie Rich and his band perform a selection of musical numbers.
Movie pageEllis in Freedomland
as The Waste-away (voice)Westinghouse claims its electric appliances "freed women from the drudgery of housework." The...
Movie pageNaughty But Nice
as Allie GrayDonald Hardwick (Dick Powell) is a stuffed-shirt, classical music professor. His family and...
Movie pageValley of the Giants
as Saloon SingerA lumberman takes on a sleezy corporate giant wanting to move in and do whatever it takes to...
Movie pageSwingtime in the Movies
as The Texas TornadoIn this musical short, a waitress at the Warner Bros. commissary gets her big break.
Movie pageMusic Land
as Narrator (archive footage)Walt Disney animation animated cartoon musical compilation ("The BIG Parade of MIRTH and...
Movie pageCasey at the Bat
as NarratorThe over-confident Casey comes to the plate for Mudville in this animated version of the classic...
Movie pageAtlantic City
as The ProfessorIn 1915, Atlantic City is a sleepy seaside resort, but Brad Taylor, son of a small hotel and...
Movie pageIce-Capades
as ColonnaBob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he...
Movie pageDon't Push, I'll Charge When I'm Ready
as SelfDuring World War II, an Italian POW is accidentally drafted into the American army.
Movie pageIce Capades Revue
as Theophilus J. TwitchellPromoter Ann Porter decides to start her own Ice Show despite the efforts of ex-racketeer Duke...
Movie pageMelody and Moonlight
as Abner KelloggJane Frazee made her starring film debut in the Republic B-plus musical Melody and Moonlight....
Movie pageTrue to the Army
as Pvt. 'Pinky' FothergillA wire-walker, on the run from gangsters, masquerades as a soldier at her boyfriend's Army base.
Movie pageHedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 1
as HimselfHedda Hopper guides us through some of Hollywood's sights; the home of William S. Hart and a Kay...
Movie pageSweepstakes Winner
as Nick, the ChefA scatterbrained waitress invests her inheritance in a broken-down race horse and a sweepstakes...
Movie pageOperation Wonderland
as Self1951 behind the scenes featurette of the Walt Disney animated classic.
Movie pageJoys
as SelfOver fifty of the greatest living comedians are called to a party at Bob Hope's house, where...
Movie pagePriorities on Parade
as Jeep JacksonBand leader Johnny Draper auditions his band, the Dixie Pixies, at the Eagle Aircraft Co.,...
Movie pagePinocchio
as RingmasterPinocchio is a 1957 TV musical broadcast shown live on NBC, directed and choreographed by Hanya...
Movie pageStars on Horseback
as uncreditedA profile of blacksmith George Garfield, among whose Hollywood clients were the horses of Joel...
Movie pageKentucky Jubilee
as Jerry HarrisA film director travels to Kentucky to seek out local talent for a hillbilly musical film....
Movie pageComin' Round the Mountain
as Argyle PhifftA Tennessee boy (Bob Burns) returns from the big city, runs for mayor and puts his musical kin...
Movie pageClimax!
as StanClimax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was...
TV Show pageThe Colgate Comedy Hour
as SelfThe Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC...
TV Show pageWhat's My Line?
as Self - Mystery GuestFour panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while...
TV Show pageThe Monkees
as Dr. MannMicky, Mike, Peter, and Davy are four young men in mid-1960s LA, members of a struggling...
TV Show pageDinah!
as SelfDinah's show premiered 9 September 1974 and continued through to 4 September 1981. She started...
TV Show page