Jerry Colonna

Born: 1904-09-17

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).


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Alice in Wonderland

as March Hare (voice)
Released: 1951-07-28

On a golden afternoon, young Alice follows a White Rabbit, who disappears down a nearby rabbit...

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Make Mine Music

as Narrator (segment "Casey at the Bat") (voice)
Released: 1946-06-30

In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged...

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Road to Singapore

as Achilles Bombanassa
Released: 1940-03-22

Two playboys try to forget previous romances in Singapore - until they meet Dorothy Lamour...

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The Road to Hong Kong

as Man Looking For a Match (uncredited)
Released: 1962-03-29

When Chester accidentally memorises and destroys the only copy of a secret Russian formula for a...

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Meet Me in Las Vegas

as Jerry Colonna
Released: 1956-03-09

Chuck Rodwell is a gambling cowboy who discovers that he's lucky at the roulette wheel if he...

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Road to Utopia

as Man on boat to Alaska (uncredited)
Released: 1946-02-27

While on a ship to Skagway, Alaska, Duke and Chester find a map to a secret gold mine, which had...

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Rosalie

as Joseph
Released: 1937-12-24

West Point cadet Dick Thorpe falls in love with a girl, who turns out to be a princess from an...

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It's in the Bag!

as Dr. Greengrass
Released: 1945-04-21

The ringmaster of a flea circus inherits a fortune...if he can find which chair it's hidden in.

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Little Miss Broadway

as Band Member
Released: 1938-07-29

An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people....

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Ice Capades Revue

as Theophilus J. Twitchell
Released: 1942-12-24

Promoter Ann Porter decides to start her own Ice Show despite the efforts of ex-racketeer Duke...

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The Brave Engineer

as Narrator
Released: 1950-03-03

Casey Jones is one of the best engineers there is and it is his duty to get his cargo to its...

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Star Spangled Rhythm

as Jerry Colonna
Released: 1942-03-05

Pop, a security guard at Paramount has told his son that he's the head of the studio. When his...

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Atlantic City

as The Professor
Released: 1944-09-15

In 1915, Atlantic City is a sleepy seaside resort, but Brad Taylor, son of a small hotel and...

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Andy Hardy Comes Home

as Doc
Released: 1958-12-22

Andy Hardy, now a grown man with a wife and children, returns to his hometown on a business trip...

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Port of Seven Seas

as Arab Rug Dealer
Released: 1938-07-01

In the French port of Marseille, a young woman named Madelon is in love with a young sailor,...

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Valley of the Giants

as Saloon Singer
Released: 1938-09-17

A lumberman takes on a sleezy corporate giant wanting to move in and do whatever it takes to...

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Casey at the Bat

as Narrator
Released: 1946-08-15

The over-confident Casey comes to the plate for Mudville in this animated version of the classic...

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Swingtime in the Movies

as The Texas Tornado
Released: 1938-12-24

In this musical short, a waitress at the Warner Bros. commissary gets her big break.

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Joys

as Self
Released: 1976-03-05

Over fifty of the greatest living comedians are called to a party at Bob Hope's house, where...

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Garden of the Moon

as Musician
Released: 1938-09-23

Don Vincente is determined to make a success of himself and his band. He gets his break by...

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This Is Bob Hope...

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2017-12-29

During his career, Bob Hope was the only performer to achieve top-rated success in every form of...

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Music Land

as Narrator (archive footage)
Released: 1955-06-11

Walt Disney animation animated cartoon musical compilation ("The BIG Parade of MIRTH and...

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Operation Wonderland

as Self
Released: 1951-06-14

1951 behind the scenes featurette of the Walt Disney animated classic.

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Ice-Capades

as Colonna
Released: 1941-08-19

Bob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he...

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Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 1

as Himself
Released: 1941-10-02

Hedda Hopper guides us through some of Hollywood's sights; the home of William S. Hart and a Kay...

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Melody and Moonlight

as Abner Kellogg
Released: 1940-10-10

Jane Frazee made her starring film debut in the Republic B-plus musical Melody and Moonlight....

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Kentucky Jubilee

as Jerry Harris
Released: 1951-05-18

A film director travels to Kentucky to seek out local talent for a hillbilly musical film....

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Don't Push, I'll Charge When I'm Ready

as Self
Released: 1977-12-18

During World War II, an Italian POW is accidentally drafted into the American army.

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True to the Army

as Pvt. 'Pinky' Fothergill
Released: 1942-03-21

A wire-walker, on the run from gangsters, masquerades as a soldier at her boyfriend's Army base.

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Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1988-05-16

Stars celebrate Bob Hope's 50 years with NBC.

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Priorities on Parade

as Jeep Jackson
Released: 1942-07-23

Band leader Johnny Draper auditions his band, the Dixie Pixies, at the Eagle Aircraft Co.,...

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Musical Movieland

as The Texas Tornado
Released: 1944-09-09

A group of tourists is given a tour of a movie studio lot. They see the various permanent sets...

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Naughty But Nice

as Allie Gray
Released: 1939-06-23

Donald Hardwick (Dick Powell) is a stuffed-shirt, classical music professor. His family and...

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Ellis in Freedomland

as The Waste-away (voice)
Released: 1952-06-15

Westinghouse claims its electric appliances "freed women from the drudgery of housework." The...

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Stars on Horseback

as uncredited
Released: 1943-04-23

A profile of blacksmith George Garfield, among whose Hollywood clients were the horses of Joel...

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Sweepstakes Winner

as Nick, the Chef
Released: 1939-05-20

A scatterbrained waitress invests her inheritance in a broken-down race horse and a sweepstakes...

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Comin' Round the Mountain

as uncredited
Released: 1940-08-16

A Tennessee boy (Bob Burns) returns from the big city, runs for mayor and puts his musical kin...

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Pinocchio

as Ringmaster
Released: 1957-10-13

Pinocchio is a 1957 TV musical broadcast shown live on NBC, directed and choreographed by Hanya...

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Sis Hopkins

as Professor
Released: 1941-04-12

An unsophisticated farm girl enrolls in college and stars in the campus musical.

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Song Hits on Parade

as uncredited
Released: 1936-01-01

Freddie Rich and his band perform a selection of musical numbers.

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Climax!

as Stan
First aired: 1954-10-07

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was...

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What's My Line?

as Self - Mystery Guest
First aired: 1950-02-02

Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while...

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The Colgate Comedy Hour

as Self
First aired: 1950-09-10

The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC...

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The Monkees

as Dr. Mann
First aired: 1966-09-12

Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy are four young men in mid-1960s LA, members of a struggling...

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Dinah!

as Self
First aired: 1974-10-21

Dinah's show premiered 9 September 1974 and continued through to 4 September 1981. She started...

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