Wonderful Smith
{{Short description|American comedian (1911–2008)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Wonderful Smith
| image = Wonderful Smith 1947.jpg
| image_size = 235px
| alt =
| caption = Smith in 1947
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|06|21}}
| birth_place = Arkadelphia, Arkansas
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|08|28|1911|06|21}}
| death_place = Northridge, California
| death_cause =
| nationality = American
| education =
| occupation = Actor, comedian
| years_active =
| known_for =
| awards =
}}
Wonderful Smith (June 21, 1911{{spaced ndash}}August 28, 2008) was a comedian and actor from Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
Early and personal life
Wonderful Smith was born Floyd Smith in 1911 in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, to parents Sam Smith, Sr., a farmer, and his wife Mattie. Smith left home to go to Los Angeles at the age of 16. According to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Smith married three times but had no children.
''Hello, Mr. President''
As a comedian, he was most notable for his routine, "Hello, Mr. President" which was an imaginary conversation with American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that lampooned the New Deal and World War II preparations. The routine appeared in Duke Ellington's satirical revue "Jump for Joy". No complete copy of the routine exists, although most of the routine appeared in the 1941 movie Top Sergeant Mulligan, performed by Smith, and was later re-released on the Smithsonian's Jump for Joy LP in 1988.
Radio
He was a member of Red Skelton's radio shows in the early and mid-1940s. Others in the cast during this time were Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. Smith served in the U.S. Army during World War II where he worked as a disc jockey for Armed Forced Radio.[https://web.archive.org/web/20210210214930/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-15-me-smith15-story.html Edgy comedian helped break racial molds] Los Angeles Times via Internet Archive. Retrieved April 9, 2023. When he left the service, he found that his role in the show had been changed, along with the program's format. Smith claimed racial and veterans' discrimination. The radio show's sponsor responded that his contract had been honored because, while his role in the show was smaller than it had been previously, he was not written out with his contract paid off.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_RkEAAAAMBAJ&dq=red+skelton&pg=PT11|title=Seeds Denies Racial Bias in Smith Return to Skelton Program|date=26 October 1946|publisher=Billboard|accessdate=27 May 2011}}
Television
Smith also made numerous appearances as an extra in various television series and movies, such as the head chef in The Bold Ones: The New Doctors and a janitor in the cavernous backstage scene in This is Spinal Tap.
Personal appearances
Smith was a member of the "Wild" Bill Davis musical trio, which also included Davis and "Crazy Chris" Columbus. The group disbanded in 1956, and Smith became part of a larger group, the Swingin' Gentlemen, headed by Columbus.{{cite news|title=Wild Bill Davis Trio Breaks Up|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Courier |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3112947/the_pittsburgh_courier/|agency=The Pittsburgh Courier|date=August 11, 1956|page=21|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = August 29, 2015}} {{Open access}}
Legacy
Smith was the inspiration for the name of a Chicago-based indie rock group.{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00079ZAJU?pc_redir=1397460739&robot_redir=1|title=Hello It's Wonderful (Audio CD), Wonderful Smith|accessdate=April 19, 2014}}
Partial filmography
- Top Sergeant Mulligan (1941) – Wonderful
- Over My Dead Body (1942) – Wonderful
- Howzer (1973)
- A Piece of the Action (1977) – Daniel McLean
- Oh, God! (1977) – Court Clerk
- This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – Janitor
- To Sleep with Anger (1990) – Preacher
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite news |first=Valerie J. |last=Nelson |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |title=Edgy comedian helped break racial molds |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-15-me-smith15-story.html |date=September 15, 2008 |access-date=March 30, 2014}}
{{cite news |newspaper=Boston Globe |title=Wonderful Smith, 97; comic with Ellington nudged boundaries of race |url=http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/09/16/wonderful_smith_97_comic_with_ellington_nudged_boundaries_of_race/ |date=September 16, 2008 |accessdate=March 30, 2014}}
}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0810373|name=Wonderful Smith}}
- {{FAG}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Wonderful}}
Category:Male actors from Arkansas
Category:People from Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:20th-century American comedians
Category:American military personnel of World War II
Category:African-American male comedians
Category:African-American comedians
Category:American male comedians
Category:African Americans in World War II