Harry Delf (August 28, 1892 – February 7, 1964) was an American comedian, stage actor, playwright , both a screen writer and director of short films , theatrical producer, and lyricist and composer for musicals . He is best remembered as the author of the play The Family Upstairs (1925) which has been staged on Broadway twice and adapted into a film multiple times. As a comedian and stage actor he performed in vaudeville and on Broadway .
19-465: Mystery Mansion may refer to: Mystery Mansion a 1928 horror two reel short (film) written and directed by Harry Delf Mystery Mansion (video game) , a late 1970s text-based adventure video game Mystery Mansion (film) , a 1983 family movie Mystery Mansion (board game) , a board game first offered by Milton Bradley in 1984, then updated and released by Parker Brothers as an electronic version in
38-538: A 1958 roast for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz , singer Tony Martin decided to sing " There's No Tomorrow " while Einstein was being carried off stage. In 2008, the Friars Club began a stand-up comedy competition, "So You Think You Can Roast!?". On October 24 of that year, the winner performed at the Friars Club roast of Matt Lauer . The inaugural Friars Club Comedy Film Festival was held in September 2009, opening with
57-481: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Harry Delf Born in New York City, Delf was educated at Columbia University . He began his career as a comedian in vaudeville; performing on all of the major vaudeville circuits during his career. A Jewish comedian , he taught Fanny Brice how to speak with a Yiddish accent; a skill she frequently employed on
76-606: The Cohan and Harris revues and the Earl Carroll's Vanities . Delf diversified his career into film beginning with the Fox Movietone short The Family Picnic (1928) which he both directed and served as screenwriter. He wrote and directed several more short films, including Mystery Mansion (1928) starring Sumner Gretchel, Toy Gallagher and Ford West, Meet the Family (1929), At
95-816: The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission proposed designating the Martin Erdmann House as a New York City landmark. The clubhouse was designated as a landmark in November 2016. On June 30, 1988, the club approved Liza Minnelli , after applying for regular membership, and after the club’s board of governors changed its constitution to allow female members. The club’s board of governors also elected Barbara Sinatra , Lucille Ball , Carol Burnett , Eydie Gorme , Barbra Streisand , Elizabeth Taylor , Dinah Shore , Phyllis Diller and Martha Raye , to honorary membership. In 2021,
114-687: The Press Agents' Association to exchange lists of people who were fraudulently receiving complimentary passes to shows. The group regularly met at Browne's Chop House . Shortly thereafter it began its tribute dinners to theatrical celebrities, the first being Clyde Fitch . The impresario Oscar Hammerstein was toasted in 1908, the year in which the Friars moved into a clubhouse at 107 West 47th Street . The first Friars Frolics were held in 1911, with Abbot George M. Cohan working with Will Rogers , Irving Berlin , who wrote " Alexander's Ragtime Band " for
133-528: The 1960s, the Friars Club, the Lambs Club, and The Players were often confused. The columnist Earl Wilson put it this way in 1964: "Long ago a New Yorker asked the difference between the Lambs, Friars, and Players, since the membership was, at the time, predominantly from Broadway." It was left to "a wit believed to have been George S. Kaufman " to draw the distinction: "The Players are gentlemen trying to be actors,
152-461: The 1990s Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Mystery Mansion . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mystery_Mansion&oldid=1236410395 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
171-686: The American premiere of the Coen Brothers ' A Serious Man . In its debut year, the festival featured the US premiere of the Coen brothers’ Academy Award –nominated film A Serious Man . Other festival highlights include screenings of Christopher Morris ’s Four Lions , and the Oscar -winning short God of Love . In 2011, Jerry Lewis and Russel Simmons presented a comedy achievement award to Brett Ratner . In 2012,
190-524: The Friar's Club trademark lapsed, and was subsequently cancelled. In May 2023, it was reported that the club was facing foreclosure on the Martin Erdmann House due to a building flood, the COVID-19 pandemic and financial irregularities. In October 2024, a foreclosure auction was scheduled for the building; the auction was later rescheduled for November. Frederick F. Schrader is credited with suggesting "Friars" as
209-519: The Lambs are actors trying to be gentlemen, and the Friars are neither trying to be both." In 1999, Cinemax aired Let Me In, I Hear Laughter: A Salute to the Friars Club directed by Dean Ward . It featured previously unseen footage of roasts and interviews with Friars such as Milton Berle , Buddy Hackett , Sid Caesar , Steve Allen , Henny Youngman , Jeffrey Ross , Larry King , Ed McMahon , and Phyllis Diller . It revealed that after comic Parkyakarkus (Harry Einstein) collapsed and died at
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#1732858399898228-675: The Photographer's (1929), Bring on the Bride (1929), and Hot Tips (1929). For a time, Delf was dean (equivalent to vice president) of the New York Friars Club and was instrumental in helping the organization obtain their current premises at 57 East 55th Street in 1957. He was roasted by the Friar's Club in 1951. Delf died of a heart attack at his home in Manhattan on February 7, 1964. New York Friars Club The Friars Club
247-459: The event, and Victor Herbert . The money generated by the Frolics enabled them to purchase 106-108-110 West 48th Street. Under Abbot Cohan, they laid a cornerstone on the building in 1915. In 1924, Walter Donaldson wrote the music for " My Blue Heaven " one afternoon while waiting in the club for his turn at the billiard table. In 1950, Sam Levenson and fellow comedian Joe E. Lewis were
266-768: The first members of the New York Friars Club to be roasted. The club has roasted a member every year since the inaugural roasting. Friars Club roasts were first televised in the late 1960s, first as part of the Kraft Music Hall series. From 1998 to 2002, Comedy Central broadcast the roasts. Comedy Central then began organizing its own annual roasts . The Friars Club moved into its current headquarters in 1957, an English Renaissance mansion built for Speyer & Company investment banker Martin Erdmann by architects Alfredo S. G. Taylor and Levi in 1908. In 2013,
285-686: The organization's name. Following the theme, their monthly newsletter is the Epistle . Officers of the Club, as distinct from the Friars Foundation, are given monastic titles: In 2006, Larry King was the dean, Freddie Roman was the Dean Emeritus. Jerry Lewis was the Abbot, named during a roast in New York City. Previous abbots have included Alan King , Frank Sinatra , Ed Sullivan and George M. Cohan . In
304-481: The play The Family Upstairs , had its first run on Broadway in 1925 and was revived again in 1933. It was adapted into the silent film The Family Upstairs (1926) by the writer Gordon Rigby , and the sound films Harmony at Home (1930) and Stop, Look and Love (1939). His other plays include The Unsophisticates (1929) and She Lived Next to the Firehouse (1931). As a writer he also wrote sketches for
323-410: The role of Jerry Jackson in the 1923 musical Sun Showers for which Delf composed the music and wrote the lyrics and book; and the role of Elmer in the 1928 play Atlas and Eva for which Delf was both producer and playwright. As a playwright, Delf's first work to reach Broadway was the 1918 musical Some Night! for which he composed the music and authored the lyrics and book. His most enduring work,
342-662: The stage. In 1914 Delf made his Broadway debut as Pierre in the Sigmund Romberg and Harold Atteridge revue The Whirl of the World . His other Broadway credits as a performer included The Midnight Girl (1914, as Francois), The Cohan Revue of 1916 (1916, as Billy Holliday, Potter, Soldier), The Rainbow Girl (1918, as Ernest Bennett), The Greenwich Village Follies of 1919 (1919), Jimmie (1920, as Milton Blum), and Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1926 . He also performed in some works on Broadway which he had written. This included
361-670: Was a private club in New York City . Famous for its risqué roasts , the club's membership is composed mostly of people who work in show business . Founded in 1904, it is located at 57 East 55th Street , between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue , in the historic Martin Erdmann House, now known as the Monastery. The organization traces its roots to 1904, when representatives of the Broadway theaters working with New York publicists organized
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