Phil Silvers

Phil Silvers (born Phillip Silver; May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly sixty years. He achieved major popularity when he starred in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S. Army post in which he played Master Sergeant Ernest (Ernie) Bilko. He also starred in the films It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966). He was a winner of two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on The Phil Silvers Show and two Tony Awards for his performances in Top Banana and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He also wrote the original lyrics to the jazz standard "Nancy (with the Laughing Face)".

Phil Silvers
Silvers as Sgt. Bilko
Birth name	Phillip Silver
Born	(1911-05-11)May 11, 1911 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Died	November 1, 1985(1985-11-01) (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Character comedy
Spouse	Jo-Carroll Dennison ​ ​ (m. 1945; div. 1950)​ Evelyn Patrick ​ ​ (m. 1956; div. 1966)​
Children	5
Notable works and roles	The Phil Silvers Show

Early life

Born Philip Silver^[1] in Brooklyn, New York, in the working-class Brownsville neighbourhood,^{[citation needed]} he was the eighth and youngest child of Russian Jewish immigrants, Saul and Sarah (née Handler) Silver. His siblings were Lillian, Harry, Jack, Saul, Pearl, Michael, and Reuben Silver. His father, a sheet metal worker, helped build the early New York skyscrapers.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Silvers began entertaining at the age of 11, when he would sing in theaters when the film projector broke (a common occurrence in those days), to the point where he was allowed to keep attending the same movie theater free of charge, to sing through any future breakdowns.^[2] By age 13, he was working as a singer in the Gus Edwards Revue. Subsequently, he worked in vaudeville and as a burlesque comic.^[3]

Silvers next worked in short films for the Vitaphone studio, such as Ups and Downs (1937), and on Broadway, where he made his début in the short-lived show Yokel Boy in 1939. Critics raved about Silvers, who was hailed as the bright spot in the mediocre play.^[4] The Broadway revue High Kickers (1941) was based on his concept.^[5]

He made his feature film début in Hit Parade of 1941 in 1940^[6] (his previous appearance as a 'pitch man' in Strike Up the Band was cut). Over the next two decades, he worked as a character actor for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia, and 20th Century Fox, in such films as All Through the Night (1942) with Humphrey Bogart. Around the same time, he played a scene with W. C. Fields in Tales of Manhattan (also 1942) which was cut from the original release, but restored decades later in home video issues. Silvers also appeared in Lady Be Good (1941), Coney Island (1943), Cover Girl (1944), with Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth, and in Summer Stock (1950) with Kelly and Judy Garland.^[7] When the studio system began to decline, he returned to the stage.

Silvers wrote the lyrics for Frank Sinatra's "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)". Although he was not a songwriter, he wrote the lyrics while visiting composer Jimmy Van Heusen. The two composed the song for Van Heusen's writing partner Johnny Burke, for his wife Bessie's birthday. Substituting Sinatra's little daughter's name Nancy at her birthday party, the trio pressed the singer to record it himself. The song became a popular hit in 1945 and was a staple in Sinatra's live performances.^[8] Towards the end of the Second World War, Silvers entertained the troops during several successful overseas USO tours with Sinatra.^[9]

The Phil Silvers Show

Silvers became a household name in 1955 when he starred as Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko in You'll Never Get Rich, later retitled The Phil Silvers Show. The military comedy became a television hit, with the opportunistic Bilko fast-talking his way through one obstacle after another. In 1958, CBS switched the show to be telecast on Friday nights and moved the setting to Camp Fremont in California. A year later, the show was off the schedule.^[10] In the 1963–1964 television season, he appeared as Harry Grafton, a factory foreman interested in get-rich-quick schemes, much like the previous Bilko character, in CBS's 30-episode The New Phil Silvers Show,^[11] with co-stars Stafford Repp, Herbie Faye, Buddy Lester, Elena Verdugo as his sister, Audrey, and her children, played by Ronnie Dapo and Sandy Descher.

Film roles

 

Silvers in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

Throughout the 1960s, he appeared in films such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)^[12] and 40 Pounds of Trouble (1963).^[13] According to the documentary on the DVD of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Silvers was not a traditional comedian: he was a comic actor. He never did stand-up, and, out of character, was not known for cracking jokes.

He was featured in Marilyn Monroe's last film, the unfinished Something's Got to Give (1962). In 1967, he starred as a guest in one of the British Carry On films, Follow That Camel, a Foreign Legion parody in which he played a variation of the Sergeant Bilko character, Sergeant Nocker.^[14] Producer Peter Rogers employed him to ensure the Carry On films' success in America, though Silvers' presence did not ensure the film's success on either side of the Atlantic.^[15] His salary was £30,000, the largest Carry On salary ever, only later met by the appearance of Elke Sommer in Carry On Behind.

Broadway

 

Publicity photo of Silvers from the musical Top Banana

When Silvers played the quintessential con-man Harrison Floy in the 1947 Broadway production of High Button Shoes, Brooks Atkinson praised him as "an uproarious comic. He has the speed, the drollery and the shell-game style of a honky-tonk buffoon." Silvers later scored a major triumph in Top Banana, a Broadway show of 1952. Silvers played Jerry Biffle, the egocentric, always-busy star of a major television show. (The character is said to have been based on Milton Berle.) Silvers dominated the show and won a Tony Award for his performance. He repeated the role in the 1954 film version which was initially released in 3-D.^[2] Silvers returned to Broadway in the musical Do Re Mi in December 1960, receiving a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Stanley Green wrote, "It was particularly blessed by offering two outstanding clowns in Phil Silvers as the pushiest of patsies and Nancy Walker."^[16] Silvers was offered the leading role of conniving Roman slave Pseudolus in the Broadway musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Silvers declined,^[2] and the role went instead to Zero Mostel, who was so successful in the role that he repeated the role in the 1966 film version. By this time, Silvers realized his error and agreed to appear in the film as a secondary character, flesh merchant Marcus Lycus. When actor-producer Larry Blyden mounted a Broadway revival of Forum in 1972, he wanted Phil Silvers to play the lead, and this time Silvers agreed.^[17] The revival was a hit and Silvers became the first leading actor ever to win a Tony Award in a revival of a musical.

Later career

 

Silvers in The Beverly Hillbillies (circa 1969–1970)

Later in his career, Silvers guest-starred on The Beverly Hillbillies, and various TV variety shows such as The Carol Burnett Show, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Dean Martin Show. He appeared as curmudgeonly Hollywood producer Harold Hecuba in the classic 1966 episode "The Producer" on Gilligan's Island, where he and the castaways performed a musical version of Hamlet.^[18] (Silvers' production company Gladasya – named after his catchphrase "Gladdaseeya!"^[A] – financed the show.) He continued to make guest appearances in television sitcoms including, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Happy Days, and his final screen credit CHiPs in 1983. He also starred in various television specials and talk shows such as The Bob Hope Special, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Dick Cavett Show, The David Frost Show, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and The Mike Douglas Show. In 1980, Silvers participated in The Friar's Club Tribute to Milton Berle alongside Don Rickles, Dick Shawn, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, George Burns, Karl Malden, and Robert Culp.^[19]

Personal life

Phil Silvers was married twice, to Jo-Carroll Dennison and to Evelyn Patrick.^[20] Both of his marriages ended in divorce.^[10] He had five daughters — Candace, Cathy, Laury, Nancey, and Tracey ^[20] — all by his second wife, Evelyn Patrick.^[2]

Like his alter-ego Ernie Bilko, Silvers was a compulsive gambler, and also suffered from chronic depression.^[21] He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1962 while performing in Spain. While staying in Reno, Nevada, in the 1950s, he would often gamble all night. On one occasion, at the tiny Cal-Neva Lodge in nearby Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Silvers spent an entire night playing craps until he lost all his money and then went through $1,000 in credit. A taxi was called to return him to Reno. It was one "of the worst nights of my life", Silvers told the driver, adding, "Don't wait for any lights and don't wait for any tip . . . I left it at the Cal-Neva!"^[22]

His memoir is titled This Laugh Is On Me.

Illness and death

Silvers suffered a stroke during the run of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in August 1972.^[23] He was left with slurred speech. Despite his poor health, he continued working, playing Harry Starman in the 1974 "Horror in the Heights" episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker starring Darren McGavin. His guest appearances continued into the early 1980s, including co-starring in The Chicken Chronicles (1977),^[24] an appearance on Fantasy Island as an old comic trying to reunite with his old partner, and on Happy Days as the father of Jenny Piccolo (played by his real daughter Cathy).^[25] Silvers played the cab driver Hoppy in Neil Simon's send-up of hard-boiled detective films, The Cheap Detective (1978), which starred Peter Falk. In his cab, Silvers can be heard (three words) and seen turning his head towards the camera and breaking into a smile (1/4 fps) at the film's ending immediately prior to Falk entering "Hoppy's" cab. His final appearance was in an episode of CHiPs (entitled "Hot Date") in 1983.

On November 1, 1985, Silvers died in his sleep in Century City, California. According to his family, he died of natural causes.^[26] He was interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.^[27]

Legacy

In 1996, TV Guide ranked him number 31 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list.^[28]

In 2003, The Phil Silvers Show was voted Best Sitcom^[29] in the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, Silvers was voted #42 on the list of the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Dick Van Dyke, who made his TV debut on Bilko, says he "was always fascinated with Phil's sense of timing. Incredible."

Voice actor Daws Butler employed an impression of Silvers as the voice of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Hokey Wolf^[30] and also used the same voice in numerous cartoons for Jay Ward.^{[citation needed]} The premise of The Phil Silvers Show was the basis for the Hanna-Barbera animated series Top Cat, for which Arnold Stang moderately imitated Silvers' voice for the title character.^[31] The 1993 animated series The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog featured a character called Wes Weasley, who had a very similar appearance and voice to Silvers.

Sgt Bilko's Vintage Emporium and The Phil Silvers Archival Museum houses personal and commercial memorabilia collected by Silvers' correspondent Steve Everitt. Opened in 2015 it is located in FarGo Village, Coventry, United Kingdom.^[32]

Work

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Ref
1939	Yokel Boy	"Punko" Parks	Majestic Theatre, Broadway	^[33]
1947	High Button Shoes	Harrison Floy	Broadway Theatre, Broadway
1951	Top Banana	Jerry Biffle	Winter Garden Theatre, Broadway
1960	Do Re Mi	Hubert CRam	54th Street Theatre, Broadway U.S. National Tour
1971	How the Other Half Loves	Frank Foster	Royale Theatre, Broadway
1972	A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum	Pseudolus/Prologus	Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway

Filmography

Source: Turner Classic Movies^[34]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1937	Ups and Downs	Charlie	Short film
1940	Strike Up the Band	Pitch Man	Scenes deleted
1940	Hit Parade of 1941	Charlie Moore
1941	The Wild Man of Borneo	Murdock
1941	The Penalty	Hobo
1941	Tom, Dick and Harry	Ice Cream Vendor
1941	Ice-Capades	Larry Herman
1941	Lady Be Good	Master of Ceremonies
1941	You're in the Army Now	Breezy Jones
1942	Roxie Hart	Babe
1942	My Gal Sal	Wiley
1942	All Through the Night	Waiter
1942	Footlight Serenade	Slap
1942	Tales of Manhattan	1st Salesman at Santelli's	Uncredited; scenes deleted
1942	Just Off Broadway	Roy Higgins
1943	Coney Island	Frankie
1943	A Lady Takes a Chance	Smiley Lambert
1944	Four Jills in a Jeep	Eddie
1944	Cover Girl	Genius
1944	Take It or Leave It	Phil Silvers
1944	Something for the Boys	Harry Hart
1945	Diamond Horseshoe	Blinkie Miller
1945	Don Juan Quilligan	'Mac' MacDenny
1945	A Thousand and One Nights	Abdullah
1946	If I'm Lucky	Wallingham M. 'Wally' Jones
1950	Summer Stock	Herb Blake
1954	Top Banana	Jerry Biffle
1954	Lucky Me	Hap Schneider
1962	Something's Got to Give	Insurance Salesman	Incomplete
1962	40 Pounds of Trouble	Bernie Friedman
1963	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World	Otto Meyer
1966	A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum	Marcus Lycus
1967	A Guide for the Married Man	Technical Advisor (Realtor)
1967	Follow That Camel	Sergeant Nocker
1968	Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell	Phil Newman
1970	The Boatniks	Harry Simmons
1975	The Strongest Man in the World	Kirwood Krinkle
1976	Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood	Murray Fromberg
1977	The Chicken Chronicles	Max Ober
1977	The Night They Took Miss Beautiful	Marv Barker
1978	The Cheap Detective	Hoppy
1979	Racquet	Arthur Sargent
1980	The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood	William B. Warkoff
1980	There Goes the Bride	Psychiatrist

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1948	The Phil Silvers Arrow Show	Host-Performer	3 episodes^[35]
1955–59	The Phil Silvers Show	MSgt. Ernest G. 'Ernie' Bilko	143 episodes
1959	Keep in Step	Himself/Sgt. Ernest G. Bilko	Television movie
1959	The Ballad of Louie the Louse	Louie	Television movie
1960	The Slowest Gun in the West	Fletcher Bissell III The Silver Dollar Kid	Television movie
1962	The Jack Benny Program	Himself	Episode: "The Phil Silvers Show "
1963	Judy and Her Guests, Phil Silvers and Robert Goulet	Himself	Television special
1963–64	The New Phil Silvers Show	Harry Grafton	30 episodes
1966	Gilligan's Island	Harold Hecuba	Episode: "The Producer"
1966	The Lucy Show	Oliver Kasten	Episode: "Lucy and the Efficiency Expert"
1966	At Your Service	Performer	Unsold pilot
1967	Damn Yankees	Mr. Applegate	Television movie
1967–70	The Beverly Hillbillies	Shifty Shafer aka Honest John	6 episodes
1970	Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In	Guest Performer	Episode: #4.13
1971	Eddie	Eddie Skinner	unsold pilot
1971	Julia	Capt. Biestoff	Episode: "Swing Low, Sweet Charity"
1972	The Dean Martin Show	Performer	Episode: #7.24
1974	Kolchak: The Night Stalker	Harry	Episode: "Horror in the Heights"
1975	Get Christy Love!	Uncle Harry	Episode: "A Few Excess Love"
1975	S.W.A.T.	Russ Baker	2 episodes
1975	The Carol Burnett Show	Self	Episode: #8.23
1976	Bob Hope Special: Bob Hope in "Joys"	Self	Television special
1977	The Night They Took Miss Beautiful	Marv Barker	Television movie
1977	Charlie's Angels	Max Brown	Episode: "Angels on Ice"
1977	The Love Boat	Stubby/Morris Beckman	2 episodes
1978	Fantasy Island	Charlie Parks	Episode: "Carnival/The Vaudevillians"
1979	Goldie and the Boxer	Wally	Television movie
1980	Take Me Up to the Ball Game	Irwin	Voice; television movie
1981	Happy Days	Roscoe Piccalo	Episode: "Just a Piccalo"
1982	CHiPs	Herman Hinton	Episode: "Hot Date"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Project	Result
1956	Primetime Emmy Awards	Best Comedian	Phil Silvers	Won
		Best Actor in a Continuing Performance	The Phil Silvers Show	Won
1957		Best Continuing Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
1958				Nominated
1959				Nominated
1952	Tony Awards	Best Actor in a Musical	Top Banana	Won
1961			Do Re Mi	Nominated
1972			A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum	Won

• In 2000, Silvers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Notes

1. Or "Glad to see you". A 1944 musical titled Glad To See You was written with Silvers intended for the starring role, but he was contracted for the film Diamond Horseshoe and not available (and the musical closed during out-of-town tryouts and did not reach Broadway).^[36][37]

References

1. Silvers, Phil; Saffron, Robert (1973). This Laugh Is on Me: The Phil Silvers Story. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. p. 15. ISBN 0-13-919100-3.
2. "Phil Silvers". masterworksbroadway.com. from the original on November 8, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
3. Monush, Barry (2003). "Phil Silvers". Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 681. ISBN 1-55783-551-9.
4. Bordman, Gerald and Norton, Richard (2010). "Yokel Boy". American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. Oxford University Press. p. 575. ISBN 978-0-19-972970-8.
5. Suskin, Steven (2011). The Sound of Broadway Music. Oxford University Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-19-979084-5.
6. Crowther, Bosley."Movie Review: 'Hit Parade of 1941' at Loew's Criterion" 2012-03-10 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times, December 5, 1940
7. "Phil Silvers Filmography". Fandango.com. from the original on October 13, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
8. Frank Sintra : The Complete Guide. Google eBook. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
9. Andrews, Maxene; Gilbert, Bill (1993). Over Here, Over There: The Andrews Sisters and the USO Stars in World War II. Thorndike Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-7862-0094-8.
10. Gomery, Douglas. "Phil Silvers". museum.tv. The Museum of Broadcast Communications. from the original on December 4, 2010. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
11. Newcomb, Horace (2004). "Phil Silvers Show". Encyclopedia of Television, Volume 1 (2nd ed.). CRC Press. p. 1758. ISBN 1-57958-411-X. from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
12. "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". TCM.com. Turner Classic Movies. from the original on January 25, 2012. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
13. Crowther, Bosley (January 24, 1963). "Movie Review: '40 Pounds of Trouble'". The New York Times. from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
14. Munden, Kenneth White (1971). "Follow That Camel". The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures. University of California Press. p. 360. ISBN 0-520-20970-2. from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
15. Childs, Peter; Storry, Mike (1999). "Carry On films". Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture]. Taylor & Francis. p. 83. ISBN 0-415-14726-3. from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
16. Green, Stanley; Green, Kay (1996). "Do Re Mi". Broadway Musicals, Show By Show (5th ed.). Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 194. ISBN 0-7935-7750-0. from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
17. Green, Stanley; Green, Kay (1996). "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". Broadway Musicals, Show by Show. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 198. ISBN 0-7935-7750-0. from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
18. Cantor, Paul A. (2003). "The Courage of the Fearless Crew". Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 19. ISBN 0-7425-0779-3. from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
19. "Milton Berle Roast". classicfriarroasts.com. from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
20. "Phil Silvers: Biography" 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, TVGuide.com
21. Maslon, Lawrence and Kantor, Michael."Phil Silvers" 2016-05-08 at the Wayback MachineMake 'em Laugh: The Funny Business of America (2008), Hachette Digital, Inc., ISBN 0-446-50531-5
22. Moe, Albert Woods. Nevada's Golden Age of Gambling, Puget Sound Books, (2001), ISBN 0-9715019-0-4.
23. "Phil Silver's Illness Threatens 'Forum' Run", ("Mr. Silvers has been out of the cast since he was stricken a week ago and hospitalized".) The New York Times, August 8, 1972, p. 21
24. "Phil Silvers Rough Road Back" 2016-04-03 at the Wayback Machine The Prescott Courier, August 25, 1977
25. Brant, Marley."Jennie Piccolo" 2016-03-03 at the Wayback MachineHappier Days: Paramount Television's Classic Sitcoms 1974-1984 (2006), Random House Digital, Inc., ISBN 0-8230-8933-9, p. 59
26. Kerr, Peter. "Phil Silvers, TV'S Sergeant Bilko, Dead At 73", The New York Times, November 2, 1985, p. 32
27. Farah, Judy. "Kings of Comedy Mourn Funnyman Phil Silvers", The Associated Press, November 4, 1985.
28. TV Guide Guide to TV. Barnes and Noble. 2004. pp. 596. ISBN 0-7607-5634-1.
29. Best Sitcom 2007-02-21 at the Wayback Machine news.bbc.co.uk
30. . cartoonscrapbook.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-08. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
31. Weber, Bruce (December 22, 2009). "Arnold Stang, Milquetoast Actor, Dies at 91". The New York Times. from the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
32. The Official museum webpage 2019-01-15 at the Wayback Machine fargovillage.co.uk, accessed 17 January 2019
33. "Phil Silvers Listing" 2011-11-04 at the Wayback Machine InternetBroadwayDatabase, accessed November 25, 2011
34. "Phil Silvers Biography" 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine tcm.com, accessed November 25, 2011
35. "The Phil Silvers Arrow Show". Billboard. December 4, 1948. p. 10. from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
36. Bloom, Ken (2006). The Routledge Guide to Broadway. Routledge. p. 516. ISBN 9780415973809. from the original on January 2, 2022. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
37. Peter Filichia (23 April 2019). "Say Hi to High Button Shoes". Masterworks Broadway. from the original on July 18, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phil Silvers.

•  Biography portal

• Phil Silvers at IMDb  
• Phil Silvers at the Internet Broadway Database  
• Phil Silvers at the TCM Movie Database  
• Phil Silvers at AllMovie  
• The British Phil Silvers Appreciation Society
• Phil Silvers at Find a Grave