Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Please click here to update your account with a username and password.

Hello. Some features on this site require registration. Please click here to register for free.

Hello and thank you for registering. Please complete the process by verifying your email address. If you can't find the email you can resend it here.

Hello. Some features on this site require a subscription. Please click here to get full access and no ads for $1.99 or less per month.

Dinah Shore

She is somewhat forgotten in 2022, which is unfortunate. She had a long, incredible, entertainment career as a successful recording artist, stage performer, talk-show host, golfer and lover to Burt Reynolds.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 208August 15, 2025 12:14 PM

Not everyone can be as ubiquitous as the Pyramids of Egypt, OP...

by Anonymousreply 1July 9, 2022 2:49 PM

Maybe a beachfront community can rename itself to Dinah Shore, NC or Dinah Shore, CA, etc...

by Anonymousreply 2July 9, 2022 2:51 PM

Not forgotten, OP. There’s a major golf tournament/lesbian party weekend as well as a major road named after her in Palm Springs.

by Anonymousreply 3July 9, 2022 2:53 PM

Pale Lez Negress with a pale voice to match.

by Anonymousreply 4July 9, 2022 2:54 PM

A nice lady who liked nice ladies.

by Anonymousreply 5July 9, 2022 3:01 PM

I Love her

by Anonymousreply 6July 9, 2022 3:02 PM

[quote]Not forgotten, OP. There’s a major golf tournament/lesbian party weekend as well as a major road named after her in Palm Springs.

This was the last year for the tournament in PS. Moving to Texas next year.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 7July 9, 2022 3:04 PM

Is it true that she was secretly a lesbian and had many relationships with women?

by Anonymousreply 8April 18, 2023 3:02 PM

Did Burt know?

by Anonymousreply 9April 18, 2023 3:13 PM

Dinah Shore was where we vacationed when we lived in New Jersey

by Anonymousreply 10April 18, 2023 3:23 PM

pitchy

by Anonymousreply 11April 18, 2023 4:37 PM

She's a dim memory for me from watching her talk show with my grandmother.

by Anonymousreply 12April 18, 2023 4:41 PM

I once dined on the shore.

by Anonymousreply 13August 9, 2025 6:11 PM

My mother thought she was the height of sophistication until Dinah hooked up with that gigolo, then we never watched.

by Anonymousreply 14August 9, 2025 6:16 PM

[quote]She is somewhat forgotten in 2022, which is unfortunate. She had a long, incredible, entertainment career as a successful recording artist, stage performer, talk-show host, golfer and lover to Burt Reynolds.

"Lover of Burt Reynolds" is a career?

by Anonymousreply 15August 9, 2025 10:29 PM

I liked her but I'm not overly fond of her sound. I do like her on duets though.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 16August 9, 2025 10:35 PM

I could have sworn she was a lesbian.

by Anonymousreply 17August 9, 2025 10:35 PM

See the USA in a Chevrolet.

America is asking you to call.

Good night, everybody!

Mmmmwaaaa!

by Anonymousreply 18August 9, 2025 10:40 PM

I watched her show when I was young. I also watched Steve Allen, Michael Douglas, and Merv Griffin.

But my favorite was Dark Shadows.

by Anonymousreply 19August 9, 2025 10:45 PM

Groovy as a movie...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 20August 9, 2025 11:20 PM

Loved her, but also loved Hollywood Squares when Paul Lynde was asked "Burt Renoldys said he never knew anyone who could throw herself into a what as much as she did" - he said a headboard. hysterical.

by Anonymousreply 21August 10, 2025 2:28 AM

She's referenced in an old cartoon as Dinah Saur.

by Anonymousreply 22August 10, 2025 3:09 AM

She’s been dead for a long time. She was the first woman to headline her own variety show and quietly provided one of the few showcases for Black performers. She managed to stay on tv for three decades with different formats, specials, and innumerable commercials for your gas company, S&H Green Stamps, Purex soap and God knows what else. She was a pleasant presence who stemmed to get on well with just about everyone.

by Anonymousreply 23August 10, 2025 3:16 AM

She pings for me. Very masculine vibe.

by Anonymousreply 24August 10, 2025 3:19 AM

When Dinah Shores Ruled the Earth

by Anonymousreply 25August 10, 2025 3:20 AM

One segment I remember from her daytime show had a seamstress as a guest and she was teaching Dinah how to use a sewing machine. Dinah was so cute when she started to get the hang of it and gleefully declared, "Oh look! Honey, I'm sewin'!"

by Anonymousreply 26August 10, 2025 3:25 AM

See the USA in your Chevrolet! 🎼🎶🎵

(Did she really have a black baby and gave it up for adoption?)

by Anonymousreply 27August 10, 2025 3:29 AM

Maybe her black baby, given away, had a black daddy with a big black dick.

by Anonymousreply 28August 10, 2025 3:36 AM

My grandmother and I would watch her talk show. It was old school but a lesser show than Merv or Mike Douglas.

Then she'd get up and sing. Every show she did a number that was always bad. Her voice was long gone.

From that clip I see she really could sing at one point.

Even my 75 year old grandmother knew that woman had never seen Burt Reynolds naked. And, like Carol Channing, there were always rumors about her "background" , code for black ethnicity. It was nonsense of course.

by Anonymousreply 29August 10, 2025 3:38 AM

She fucked both Burt Reynolds and George Montgomery, who, during their marriage, was even hotter than Burt!

Google him, bitches!

by Anonymousreply 30August 10, 2025 3:52 AM

I always liked Dina. Ahe looked great, had a nice demeanor and a pleasant slightly Southern accent.

by Anonymousreply 31August 10, 2025 4:08 AM

She and her talk show were very calming.

by Anonymousreply 32August 10, 2025 4:14 AM

I never knew about her big network variety show for Chevrolet because I wasn't born yet. So I knew the later, "Dinah" morning talk show.

She had many hits, had several radio shows. She could never make it as a movie star. She was super appealing but I didn't like her singing.

by Anonymousreply 33August 10, 2025 4:39 AM

Sinatra and Dinah on his radio show:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 34August 10, 2025 4:41 AM

She was a graduate of Vanderbilt, she majored in sociology.

by Anonymousreply 35August 10, 2025 4:45 AM

She also was great hosting Loretta on Mary Hartman2 when Loretta said she couldn't believe that Jews were the ones that killed our Lord.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 36August 10, 2025 4:52 AM

Maybe a dingo ate her black baby.

by Anonymousreply 37August 10, 2025 4:53 AM

Dinah sings, Previn plays is an album recorded in 1960. I love listening to it.

by Anonymousreply 38August 10, 2025 4:56 AM

When she first did her TV show in the early 50s, she was criticized for milking the audience's affection for her too much. This was parodied in the "Midnight with Madelyn" sequence with Dolores Gray in the film "It's Always Fair Weather."

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 39August 10, 2025 5:05 AM

I meant to mention Dinah in the "celebrities you didn't know were Jewish" thread.

by Anonymousreply 40August 10, 2025 5:20 AM

[quote] "Lover of Burt Reynolds" is a career?

R15 Yes, it’s called a “Professional Beard.” Sally Field and Judy Carne had the same career when they were with Reynolds.

by Anonymousreply 41August 10, 2025 5:25 AM

R41 What was I? Chopped liver?

by Anonymousreply 42August 10, 2025 5:28 AM

It's good Dinah and Sally could pick up a little extra money on the side being Burt's professional beards.

by Anonymousreply 43August 10, 2025 5:31 AM

Dinah was one of the most famous, most admired women of the 1950s.

by Anonymousreply 44August 10, 2025 1:20 PM

I OBJECT!

by Anonymousreply 45August 10, 2025 1:28 PM

Dinah had a HUGE number of songs that charted in the '40s and '50s.

by Anonymousreply 46August 10, 2025 1:50 PM

Dinah got polio when she was less than 2 years old. Her mother gave her the massages and care necessary to recover, but she always walked with a slight limp, according to what you read online anyway.

by Anonymousreply 47August 10, 2025 1:54 PM

I would mix Dinah and Dorris Day up as a kid. My mother corrected me and thought my mistake was laughable.

by Anonymousreply 48August 10, 2025 2:06 PM

Dinah was one of the women Sinatra had an off-and-on thing with for years.

by Anonymousreply 49August 10, 2025 2:09 PM

What about Jo Stafford?!

by Anonymousreply 50August 10, 2025 2:18 PM

I was forced to watch her show with my Grandmother and my spinster Aunt. I found it horribly boring. Granny baby sat me and used the TV as a distraction. So I remember watching shorts of Peggy Lee. My mother always enjoyed Martha Rae. Now she was hilarious. Then there was Sid Caesar and Imogene Coco, and Milton Berle too. Carl Reiner got his start back then. TV in the 50's was fun. And a lot of it was live.

by Anonymousreply 51August 10, 2025 3:10 PM

R51, BORING is a requirement for a TV host.

by Anonymousreply 52August 10, 2025 3:15 PM

My mom always liked her in the movies and on TV. My parents went to see her at the Frolics, a club that used to be in Salisbury Beach (MA). My mother was really disappointed, said her act was "filthy." That was probably in the '50s.

by Anonymousreply 53August 10, 2025 3:16 PM

(Martha Raye, not Dinah Shore.)

by Anonymousreply 54August 10, 2025 3:16 PM

My mother watched her talk show everyday when I was a baby. My first word, spoken from the crib, was “Dinah.”

That should have been her first clue but she still acted shocked and appalled when I came out.

by Anonymousreply 55August 10, 2025 3:26 PM

Dinah and George Montgomery were close friends with Alexis Smith and Craig Stevens.

by Anonymousreply 56August 10, 2025 3:34 PM

Burt always said Dinah was the great love of his life.

by Anonymousreply 57August 10, 2025 3:35 PM

I liked her but her voice was always more intention than accomplishment.

by Anonymousreply 58August 10, 2025 3:36 PM

Burt was so full of shit.

by Anonymousreply 59August 10, 2025 3:37 PM

She was a groomer.

by Anonymousreply 60August 10, 2025 3:40 PM

Remember George Montgomery did those TV ads for furniture restorer? I think Mad magazine or some other humor magazine did a parody with "George Gaunt Mummery."

by Anonymousreply 61August 10, 2025 3:42 PM

I liked her when I was a kid because I loved dinosaurs and her name sounded like “dinosaur.”

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 62August 10, 2025 3:42 PM

In the movie On the Town, the sailors and their girls manage to knock down the dinosaur skeleton at the Museum of Natural History. Two cops are listening to the radio and there's a bulletin that the dinosaur collapsed at the museum, and one cop says to the other, "That's too bad. She's my favorite singing star, that Dinah Shore."

by Anonymousreply 63August 10, 2025 3:47 PM

Didn’t she die of the cancer?

by Anonymousreply 64August 10, 2025 3:47 PM

[quote]I never knew about her big network variety show for Chevrolet because I wasn't born yet.

You only know about the events that happened since you were born, r33?

by Anonymousreply 65August 10, 2025 3:58 PM

R65 Her daytime talk show was on TV when I was young. I didn't know anything about the history of television before my birth, at that time. Was that unusual?

by Anonymousreply 66August 10, 2025 4:04 PM

I don't know how anything came about or who was in the world or what they did because I wasn't born yet with my IQ of 64.

If only there was a way to know anyfing.

by Anonymousreply 67August 10, 2025 4:04 PM

r2, I was her BFF.

by Anonymousreply 68August 10, 2025 4:07 PM

Perhaps her early bout with polio is what gave her huge thighs. That's why she wore slacks and long dresses all the time. She was embarrassed to be seen in shorty whites when playing tennis. She never wore a skirt even close to the knees on her talk show.

by Anonymousreply 69August 10, 2025 4:13 PM

R67 I didn't say I don't know anything now about her show in the '50s. Obviously, I do. Twice now I've said that when I was a kid and watched her daytime show, I didn't know at that time she'd had a previous TV show in the 1950s. There's no reason why I would have. I do now. What don't you get? Troll.

by Anonymousreply 70August 10, 2025 4:19 PM

It does look like they had to be carefully posed, r69.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 71August 10, 2025 4:25 PM

She probably wore long dresses on TV to mask that she had a limp. And if she limped, she may have not had a perfect frame, either.

by Anonymousreply 72August 10, 2025 4:34 PM

[quote]I *never* knew about her big network variety show for Chevrolet because I wasn't born yet.

by Anonymousreply 73August 10, 2025 4:38 PM

R73 Give up.

by Anonymousreply 74August 10, 2025 4:41 PM

It’s amazing how much old TV variety and other shows from the 50s and early 60s are posted on YouTube to discover — they’ve helped my education on stars from early TV. Always a treat to find clips or complete shows in color (from NBC, trying to sell those incredibly expensive RCA color sets). Dinah was a huge enough star at the time to have her show broadcast in color and even recorded on color videotape, starting in late 1958 — the clip [R16] posted is an excellent example. Not that many Americans actually saw her or other shows in color as few had color sets until the later 60s or early 70s. But being able to see Dinah and other big names of the time at their peak (Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin, Andy Williams, et al) in living color is quite an enjoyable time capsule.

by Anonymousreply 75August 10, 2025 5:19 PM

[Paraphrase] she quietly provided a showcase for Black performers

Ed Sullivan featured Billie Holiday, Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald, Della Reese, Sammy Davis Jr, Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, etc.

Jack Parr, Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett were inclusive as well.

by Anonymousreply 76August 10, 2025 5:24 PM

R75 I used to love to be parked at my aunt and uncle's house when my parents needed them to babysit me because they had a big color TV set, in the '60s. I remember watching The Match Game in color @ 1965. Too bad more of the YouTube clips aren't as sharp as they looked on TV but I guess they're better than nothing.

by Anonymousreply 77August 10, 2025 5:29 PM

Born in 1949 I think of myself as the same age as television. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, we never had a color TV in our house, nor did our neighbors. It was just considered an unnecessary luxury. I didn't even own a color TV until sometime in the mid-80s.

by Anonymousreply 78August 10, 2025 6:58 PM

My folks bought a color TV @ Xmas 1970 and one of the first things I remember watching on it was the first TV showing of Ben-Hur.

by Anonymousreply 79August 10, 2025 7:01 PM

Another duet...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 80August 10, 2025 7:11 PM

I guarantee you never saw this. Tina and Dinah doing Proud Mary. You can thank me afterwards.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 81August 10, 2025 7:40 PM

lunch ladies

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 82August 10, 2025 7:49 PM

Oscar-winning song that was a hit for her...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 83August 10, 2025 8:19 PM

R16 Thank you, that’s a wonderful color TV clip of Dinah and Peggy Lee from 1959! The YouTube video has been upscaled, but the source video still had to have been better than anything I’ve ever seen from 1959 color TV.

by Anonymousreply 84August 10, 2025 8:22 PM

Dinah & Julie...gorgeous.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 85August 10, 2025 8:27 PM

I have a vague childhood memory in the late 1970s being at a friend’s house and something came on the radio about Dinah Shore involved in some sort of shoplifting charge. My friend’s mother went on and on about it. Saying things like, “Can you believe it? Celebrities, all that money and success and she’s stealing!” I never forgot the moment. I think…

I was in like the 4th or 5th grade and could be remembering it wrong. Or it could have been some small or incorrect story that got buried over time. But I can’t find anything about it online.

This is a long shot, but does anyone on DL remember this? It was probably 1978.

by Anonymousreply 86August 10, 2025 8:41 PM

I have some lesbian friend that still go to Dinah Shore weekend.

by Anonymousreply 87August 10, 2025 9:00 PM

[quote]She’s been dead for a long time. She was the first woman to headline her own variety show and quietly provided one of the few showcases for Black performers.

That's not true.

Actually the first woman to host her own TV Variety Show was a black woman, The Hazel Scott Show in 1950 on Dumont..

A day later The Joan Edwards Show debuted.

Both before Dinah Shore.

And black performers were often on the Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show. among others.

The Ed Sullivan Show loved Pearl Bailey. 23 appearances. The first was in 1948.

Pearl in 1955:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 88August 10, 2025 9:07 PM

[quote]Actually the first woman to host her own TV Variety Show was a black woman, The Hazel Scott Show in 1950 on Dumont.

Nobody cares about Hazel Scott, r88. I started this thread in February and sadly there was little interest in it.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 89August 10, 2025 9:12 PM

R89 Agreed. Unfortunately forgotten.

by Anonymousreply 90August 10, 2025 9:19 PM

A color clip of Dinah and Frank from a 1959 NBC TV Tribute special called “Some of Manie’s Friends” (Manie Sacks, who died in 1958, had been a recording executive for many of the established singers of the era). While broadcast live in color, a lot of the show was prerecorded on color videotape. Amazing the quality difference, in sound and video, between color videotape and B&W kinescope (even with Youtube compression). Somebody posted the version of the special on YouTube that had the many color segments in it. Now I can only find the B&W kinescope version (somebody must still be making a buck on it!)

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 91August 10, 2025 9:20 PM

[R91] here. I should have said that Sacks “had been a recording executive who helped in the success of many of the established singers of the era”. Sometimes your brain thinks the right words, but the fingers don’t type them out. 😏

by Anonymousreply 92August 10, 2025 9:28 PM

^ Actual adults!

by Anonymousreply 93August 10, 2025 9:28 PM

^ That's in reference to the video at R91.

by Anonymousreply 94August 10, 2025 9:29 PM

I'm old enough to remember all of the evening TV variety hours regularly featuring Black guest stars. Dinah, Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, Garry Moore, Perry Como, Andy Williams, et. al. would have Nat King Cole, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis Jr, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Diahann Carroll, Johnny Mathis, Eartha Kitt and a few other well-known recording artists.

Lawrence Welk was an exception, of course.

But what was rare to see back then was a Black performer in their resident singing and dancing ensembles. Maybe by the mid-late 1960s on shows like Hullabaloo. I think that was around the time Black actors also suddenly, if occasionally, appeared in commercials. This may have been directly following MLK's assassination.

by Anonymousreply 95August 10, 2025 9:31 PM

Dinah and Pat Boone in a nice crisp copy of a '59 Chevy advertisement. In Living Color. This would have been broadcast in the fall of 1958.

Both huge TV stars at the time. I love Dinah's 1958 on-trend sack dress silhouette. And Pat's shark skin suit.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 96August 10, 2025 9:38 PM

[quote]But what was rare to see back then was a Black performer in their resident singing and dancing ensembles.

Leslie Uggams ...Sing Along with Mitch

by Anonymousreply 97August 10, 2025 9:40 PM

This thread is making me thirsty.

by Anonymousreply 98August 10, 2025 9:44 PM

This shows Dinah singing her famous "See the USA in your Chevrolet" from her show in the early 50s. It shows both the sugariness of her onscreen persona (which people adored) that Dolores Gray parodies in the clip upthread, and it also shows that when he was younger Dinah was able to sing much better than she did in her later years.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 99August 10, 2025 9:45 PM

I was going to mention Leslie Uggams but I think of her as more of a featured performer, albeit regularly, on Sing Along with Mitch, not ever part of an ensemble or chorus.

I wonder if there were any Black men in the singing ensemble. I don't think so, even though IIRC they were all middle-aged ordinary looking guys.

by Anonymousreply 100August 10, 2025 9:46 PM

Astounding to see the difference in styling of the 1953 and the 1959 Chevys! It's like 20 years had past but it was only 6.

Also, Dinah's legs and ankles look pretty great in that sack dress at r96. Her knees are covered but, of course they would be in any cocktail dress of the 1950s.

by Anonymousreply 101August 10, 2025 9:51 PM

I liked Leslie's variety show, r100.

by Anonymousreply 102August 10, 2025 9:52 PM

As posted upthread, r101, Dinah's problem area was her thighs.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 103August 10, 2025 9:54 PM

Sing Along with Mitch didn’t debut until after Shore was cancelled.

by Anonymousreply 104August 10, 2025 10:48 PM

MGM Dinah

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 105August 10, 2025 10:59 PM

[quote] I'm old enough to remember all of the evening TV variety hours regularly featuring Black guest stars. Dinah, Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, Garry Moore, Perry Como, Andy Williams, et. al. would have Nat King Cole, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis Jr, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Diahann Carroll, Johnny Mathis, Eartha Kitt and a few other well-known recording artists.

[quote] He had dancer Arthur Duncan staring in 1964. I'm old enough to remember all of the evening TV variety hours regularly featuring Black guest stars. Dinah, Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, Garry Moore, Perry Como, Andy Williams, et. al. would have Nat King Cole, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis Jr, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Diahann Carroll, Johnny Mathis, Eartha Kitt and a few other well-known recording artists.

[quote] Lawrence Welk was an exception, of course.

R95 Welk didn't usually have guest stars. But he did have black dancer Arthur Duncan. Duncan was the first African American regular on a variety TV show, from 1964 to the '80s.

by Anonymousreply 106August 10, 2025 11:47 PM

[quote]Sing Along with Mitch didn’t debut until after Shore was cancelled.

Shore's variety show ran on NBC until 1963. First as The Dinah Shore Show, then as The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, then back again to the original name.

Sing Along With Mitch debuted in 1961

Anyway, what's your point?

by Anonymousreply 107August 10, 2025 11:51 PM

Did she ever officially come out back in the days of her talk show? I hate the "everyone knew BS" excuse for not doing that.

by Anonymousreply 108August 11, 2025 12:00 AM

This Could Be the Start of Something Big

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 109August 11, 2025 12:14 AM

R109 Dinah in a floor-length gown again.

Even if that was the only hit song Steve ever wrote, it's a great one.

by Anonymousreply 110August 11, 2025 12:31 AM

Clearly, Dinah isn't limping, floor-length gown or not.

by Anonymousreply 111August 11, 2025 12:39 AM

I love Ann Sothern!!!!

by Anonymousreply 112August 11, 2025 12:40 AM

^ It's a terrific melody.

by Anonymousreply 113August 11, 2025 12:41 AM

[quote]Clearly, Dinah isn't limping, floor-length gown or not.

She was on wheels.

by Anonymousreply 114August 11, 2025 12:43 AM

Her right leg was crippled, she had a raised arch on her foot. Maybe she was able to compensate for it.

by Anonymousreply 115August 11, 2025 12:46 AM

r115 and any other naysayers, please have a look at the clip at r96 of Dinah dancing around VERY CLEARLY in high heels and knee length skirt.

by Anonymousreply 116August 11, 2025 12:53 AM

Like Lucy, "B" actress Ann Sothern transitioned successfully to TV with 2 hit series during the 1950s.

by Anonymousreply 117August 11, 2025 12:56 AM

For the Pat Boone of 1958, I also would have dancing around VERY CLEARLY in high heels and knee length skirt.

by Anonymousreply 118August 11, 2025 12:58 AM

Shows you how fickle is the public. Dead, soon forgotten. Remembered only by older gays on DL.

by Anonymousreply 119August 11, 2025 1:04 AM

R119 She's been dead for 30 years. People of today, don't even know who Katherine Hepburn was, do you expect them to know Dinah Shore? The world moves on. But let older people reminisce.

by Anonymousreply 120August 11, 2025 1:10 AM

[quote]For the Pat Boone of 1958, I also would have dancing around VERY CLEARLY in high heels and knee length skirt.

He probably would have had a lovely gift for you, r118.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 121August 11, 2025 1:22 AM

Is it true she had lesbian flings?

by Anonymousreply 122August 11, 2025 1:55 AM

[quote] Shows you how fickle is the public. Dead, soon forgotten. Remembered only by older gays on DL.

That's always been the way. Who in Dinah Shore's day remembered the famous singers of seventy, eighty years past?

Popular culture is and always has been disposable.

by Anonymousreply 123August 11, 2025 2:57 AM

[quote]My mother watched her talk show everyday when I was a baby. My first word, spoken from the crib, was “Dinah.”

I'm older than you. My mother told me when I was in my high chair watching the Dinah variety show, I would always blow a kiss when Dinah did it.

by Anonymousreply 124August 11, 2025 3:07 AM

I remember watching her last show in 1963. The show ended with a long compilation of her end-of-show kisses.

by Anonymousreply 125August 11, 2025 3:43 AM

And now, her Nibs...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 126August 11, 2025 4:23 AM

She was okay I guess. I never felt impressed by her. The most interesting tv person to me back in the day was Groucho Marx.

by Anonymousreply 127August 11, 2025 5:47 AM

R81 thanks for that one. There are no words.

by Anonymousreply 128August 11, 2025 6:05 AM

I enjoyed her talk show but by that time her singing voice was gone. She couldn't sing but still did...unfortunately.

by Anonymousreply 129August 11, 2025 7:09 AM

Even as a small child, her accent annoyed me.

by Anonymousreply 130August 11, 2025 11:23 AM

I remember looking at her show on channel 11 in the early afternoon when there were no cartoons on to watch.

by Anonymousreply 131August 11, 2025 11:35 AM

Once she had Hal Linden on. She asked what year Barney Miller was in. He answered and she replied "if that ever goes off the air I'll cry."

I always remembered that.

by Anonymousreply 132August 11, 2025 11:39 AM

At 50:45, Burt coaxes Dinah to sing an impromptu song for her. Jack Lemmon winds up playing piano. This should be DL catnip. It feels very performative on Burt's part. Dinah seems extremely uncomfortable.

There's another video of them reuniting on their cooking show. ZERO sexual chemistry.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 133August 11, 2025 11:47 AM

"Will you be having dinner on board the ship?"

"No, I prefer to dine ashore."

by Anonymousreply 134August 11, 2025 11:52 AM

R107: Shore had Black guests on the 50s when it was quite unusual, esp. with a big sponsor concerned with sales in the South like Chevrolet. Bringing up shows from the 60s makes no sense.

by Anonymousreply 135August 11, 2025 12:01 PM

R134 how dare you.

by Anonymousreply 136August 11, 2025 12:08 PM

In the 40s it was rumored Dinah was half black. Started by another female singer. Both parents were Jews who emigrated from Russia.

by Anonymousreply 137August 11, 2025 12:16 PM

R116 Yeah, polio still left her with a deformed, high arch on one foot. Look it up, don't be intentionally stupid.

by Anonymousreply 138August 11, 2025 12:48 PM

r138, I never said she didn't have polio (or a deformed foot!). I said that she had no limp, great legs (from the knees down, anyway) and danced in high heels with no apparent problem.

by Anonymousreply 139August 11, 2025 12:57 PM

R139. Okay, and I'm not a "naysayer." I said she was probably able to compensate for her problem.

by Anonymousreply 140August 11, 2025 1:02 PM

r137: It's generally believed the other female singer was Kate Smith. All through the 1930s, Smith was radios beloved "Songbird of the South" - she had a fantastic voice (better than Shores) and a homey, warm persona. Dinah came along in the early '40s and almost immediately stole Smith's audience and "Songbird of the South" persona plus her sponsorship deals were far more lucrative. Plus, she was young, sexy with a trim, buxom figure. She completely eclipsed the matronly Smith.

TIME gave a rundown on her success in October 1942 under the headline of "DYNAMIC DINAH" (see link)

She was always known as a complete pro, always easy to deal with and a very shrewd businesswoman. NBC offered its three big variety stars, Dinah, Perry Como and someone else (can't recall who it was) the option to get tapes of their shows - poor-quality kinescopes were free but color footage was soimnewhere between $25-35,000, Dinah was the only star who paid for color. And NBC color was far better than any other network - her shows from 1956 - 1963 look like vibrant 1940s Technicolor.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 141August 11, 2025 1:39 PM

Dinah, Janis Paige, Peter Lawford and Gene Barry in color from 1958. Cornball as hell, but the quality of color film looks like it was filmed yesterday.

Thank you, r91 for that fantastic clip of her and Frank.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 142August 11, 2025 1:57 PM

Dinah has hundreds of clips from her television specials, talk shows, and albums on YouTube for those who care to see it.

It could be argued that these old time entertainers live on now in a way they never could in the past.

by Anonymousreply 143August 11, 2025 2:03 PM

[quote]It could be argued

It could...but why?

by Anonymousreply 144August 11, 2025 3:55 PM

Moms Mabley on Dinah: They said she's half black but she isn't. She's Jewish but she don't talk about that anymore.

by Anonymousreply 145August 11, 2025 4:22 PM

*3* GIRLS *3*

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 146August 11, 2025 4:27 PM

No Dinah Shore thread is complete without this.

Apologies if this has already been posted.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 147August 11, 2025 6:41 PM

Lucy wanted to see Dinah, but Gary talked her out of it.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 148August 11, 2025 6:43 PM

Who'd have thought Dinah Shore would get this much attention in 2025?

by Anonymousreply 149August 11, 2025 10:14 PM

[quote]Shore had Black guests on the 50s when it was quite unusual, esp. with a big sponsor concerned with sales in the South like Chevrolet. Bringing up shows from the 60s makes no sense.

You're wrong about that,

Black guests were actually frequent on 1950s variety shows. As has been discussed above.

[quote[Shore had Black guests on the 50s when it was quite unusual, esp. with a big sponsor concerned with sales in the South like Chevrolet.

What are you talking about? In the 1950s Ed Sullivan had on plenty of black guests and his show was sponsored by Ford Motor Company's Mercury and Lincoln.

by Anonymousreply 150August 11, 2025 10:34 PM

R149, I don’t disagree but this is DL and Arlene Francis is still a person of interest. They actually had much in common in their always charming and elegant appearance. Except Dinah was much more talented and didn’t kill people with flower pots.

by Anonymousreply 151August 11, 2025 11:21 PM

[quote]Shore had Black guests on the 50s when it was quite unusual, esp. with a big sponsor concerned with sales in the South like Chevrolet. Bringing up shows from the 60s makes no sense.

It really is disturbing when people who know nothing about our pop culture past, either get it wrong out of ignorance or try to rewrite history.

Dinah Shore?

Hon, take a look at The Steve Allen Show 1956-1960 on NBC. Sponsored by Chrysler's Plymouth division.

During its run, African American guests included:

Sammy Davis (four times

Count Basie (three times)

The Tympany Five

Fats Domino

The Will Maston Trio

Billy Ekstine

Lionel Hampton (twice)

The Harlem Globetrotters (three times)

Olga James

Duke Ellington & Orchestra

Archie Moore

Floyd Patterson

Charlie Shavers

Sugar Ray Robinson (three times)

Pearl Bailey (three times)

The Four Step Brothers (three times)

Diahann Carroll (twice)

Erroll Garner (twice)

Abbey Lincoln (twice)

The Coasters

The Treniers (twice)

Mahalia Jackson

Sam Cooke

Lena Horne

John Bubbles, (twice)

Carmen McRae

Louis Armstrong (twice)

Barbara McNair

Teddy Wilson

Earl Grant

Harry Belafonte & The Belafonte Singers

Eugene Wright

Joe Williams

Clara Ward & Her Gospel Singers

Roy Hamilton

Hank Jones

Earl Hines

Sarah Vaughan

Miriam Makeba

Curtis Fuller

Nat 'King' Cole

And shall I start on the Frankie Lane Show?

I love this clip:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 152August 11, 2025 11:57 PM

r152. Thats very interesting. I'd love to know which TV variety shows were all white. My father told me Kate Smith never had Jewish stars on her show, but I don't know how true that was.

There apparently was an unspoken "rule" in these shows that white performers were never to touch their black guests, and Dinah received criticism for putting her arm around Nat King Cole while he played piano and Eddie Cantor for wiping the brow of Sammy Davis, Jr. with his handkerchief. Both Cantor & Shore ignored the "rule" and Later Cantor was instrumental in Davis conversion to Judaism.

CBS brass in 1963 criticized Judy Garland's touching her guests on her variety show.

by Anonymousreply 153August 12, 2025 1:05 AM

But she couldn’t sing to save her life.

by Anonymousreply 154August 12, 2025 1:08 AM

r154: Not the greatest voice by a long shot, but people liked her.

I was surprised to learn that this was a her biggest hit. Ten weeks at #1 in 1948.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 155August 12, 2025 1:33 AM

[quote]There apparently was an unspoken "rule" in these shows that white performers were never to touch their black guests,

Yes, it's true, no touching in a suggestive way, but touching certainly happened. See the link below. And black and white performers were singing and dancing to together in the 1950s variety shows.

Jane Russel and Nat King Cole. Go to 24:00

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 156August 12, 2025 1:42 AM

[quote]There apparently was an unspoken "rule" in these shows that white performers were never to touch their black guests,

I guess Perry Como didn't get the message:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 157August 12, 2025 2:07 AM

^ BTW Lena Horne's favorite singing partner was Perry. She was a frequent guest on his shows. Note the great chemistry between them. Lena whose performances could seem cold and detached and even kind of aggressive had a very different demeanor singing with him. They were a great couple together.

by Anonymousreply 158August 12, 2025 2:12 AM

Re Buttons & Bows, those post WWII years were filled with those kind of silly happy-go-lucky non-romantic, novelty songs like How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?, Put Another Nickel in (in the Nickelodeon), C'mon a My House, Papa Loves Mambo, Shrimp Boats Are a Comin', Wheel of Fortune, and so many more. All the top singers had at least one of them. Teresa Brewer made a career of them.

Buttons & Bows was first heard in the huge Bob Hope/Jane Russell 1948 comedy The Paleface and even won an Oscar for it. And then it was reprsied in the sequel, Son of Paleface, sung by Roy Rogers.

by Anonymousreply 159August 12, 2025 3:23 AM

As long as Segregation /Jim Crow was the law of the land Sponsors and the suits at all the networks had to enforce the no touching rule and anything else necessary to allow their shows to be seen on markets in the Southern parts of the country. The same was true with movies. In fact there was always the option of cutting out the Black scenes when the movies were shown down south unless the Black characters were subservient.

by Anonymousreply 160August 12, 2025 1:51 PM

She lost control of her voice but she kept singing.

by Anonymousreply 161August 12, 2025 7:02 PM

You can see so many great black performances from 1950s TV on YouTube:

I love this one with a very young Leslie Uggams on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 162August 13, 2025 1:56 AM

She had a remarkably varied, long-lived career.

I never knew she failed auditions with Benny Goodman and Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey before going out on her own.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 163August 13, 2025 1:31 PM

DL experts, correct me if I'm wrong.....but weren't most or all of Dinah's few film appearances at MGM in the 1940s cameos in which she'd sing a song and then off she'd go. The studio didn't seem to trust her acting a role.

by Anonymousreply 164August 13, 2025 1:41 PM

Well, I got somewhat of an answer at the wiki linked just above my post but it only mentions the titles of her films, nothing about what she did in them. And it looks like at least a couple might have been made for studios besides MGM. Was she the belle of the Yukon in The Belle of the Yukon??

by Anonymousreply 165August 13, 2025 1:43 PM

I hope she didn't use any coffee tables.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 166August 13, 2025 1:49 PM

"Introducing Melissa Ann Montgomery".

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 167August 13, 2025 1:51 PM

r164: Her one appearance at MGM was in TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY where she sang "The Last Time I Saw Paris" .

Gypsy Rose Lee was the Belle in the Yukon. Dinah had the ingenue role and sand "Sleighride in July".

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 168August 13, 2025 1:51 PM

She also sang "They Didn't Believe Me" in TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 169August 13, 2025 2:02 PM

Robert Altman wanted her for A Wedding but she wouldn't return his calls (or something) and he went with Carol Burnett. One of Dinah's regrets.

by Anonymousreply 170August 13, 2025 4:11 PM

Dumb Dinah commercials from the 1980s. On my TV constantly at that time.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 171August 13, 2025 4:19 PM

The thing about Dinah that worked for her was that it was always her show, but she tended not to be the one who was the greater performer. Unlike, say, The Judy Garland Show, where they finally went with concert-style shows, because she was the talent and the attraction. Dinah could never have done a whole show revolving around her, concert-style. She was the nice, laid-back hostess who had people on her show like Sinatra and Ella, and she held her own with them, yet she didn't dominate her own show.

by Anonymousreply 172August 13, 2025 6:57 PM

[quote]She was the nice, laid-back hostess who had...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 173August 13, 2025 7:03 PM

Does anyone know where I can buy a copy of her show Dinah!/Dinah & Friends?

by Anonymousreply 174August 13, 2025 8:26 PM

The early years of television were filled with ladies like Dinah who could actually hold an engaging and intelligent and spontaneous conversation with other personalities. Conversation was an art. Arlene Francis, Fay Emerson, Betsy Palmer, Kitty Carlisle and the lesser-known Jinx Falkenberg and Maggi (sic) McNellis made careers out of nothing much more than charm and chat.

I don't now if there is a female equivalent to a raconteur, but that's largely what they were. And they knew how to bring out the best in their companions.

by Anonymousreply 175August 13, 2025 8:29 PM

Wasn't her husband George Montgomery hot?

by Anonymousreply 176August 13, 2025 10:14 PM

She was pretty much the Joy Behar of her day!

by Anonymousreply 177August 13, 2025 10:18 PM

Dinah had a variety show in the early days of TV. The chat show came later in the '70s.

by Anonymousreply 178August 13, 2025 11:29 PM

R176, him sure was...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 179August 13, 2025 11:36 PM

More George...why did Dinah divorce him? She always seemed to be quite driven. Burt Reynolds said that one of the reasons they broke up was because Dinah was quite the control freak.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 180August 13, 2025 11:38 PM

But even in her variety hour of the 1950s, Dinah knew how to chat up a guest, r178.

by Anonymousreply 181August 14, 2025 12:27 AM

There's a major street named after her in Palm Desert. It's bit disconcerting to hear "there's been a rear-ender on Dinah Shore" on the traffic report.

by Anonymousreply 182August 14, 2025 12:33 AM

On what days do they collect the trash on Dinah Shore?

by Anonymousreply 183August 14, 2025 12:36 AM

Dinah Shore--Bette Davis, All in the Family cast, Jean Stapleton sings, 1978 TV

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 184August 14, 2025 12:38 AM

What hasn't been mentioned yet here is her remarkable death which seemed to come out of nowhere. One day healthy, the next day gone, at least as far the public knew. Or had she been quietly ill and suffering and managed to keep it all a secret?

Sort of the same with Florence Henderson.

At least they both avoided ever really growing old and decrepit in the public eye.

by Anonymousreply 185August 14, 2025 12:38 AM

[quote]What hasn't been mentioned yet here is her remarkable death which seemed to come out of nowhere.

The coroner was unable to determine if it was the shoofly pie or the apple pan dowdy.

by Anonymousreply 186August 14, 2025 12:42 AM

According to her wiki upthread, besides Sinatra, she also had long affairs with Laugh In's Dick Martin, Eddie Fisher and ROD TAYLOR!!!!

by Anonymousreply 187August 14, 2025 12:47 AM

OMG ROD TAYLOR.

by Anonymousreply 188August 14, 2025 12:54 AM

Dinah loved a hairy chest!

by Anonymousreply 189August 14, 2025 12:56 AM

R189 I guess Sinatra must have been the exception.

by Anonymousreply 190August 14, 2025 12:59 AM

r185: Loretta Youngs last interview ( in PALM SPRINGS LIFE, December 1995 ) mentions this.

"I remember the pictures of Dinah Shore on the covers of Palm Springs Life. I loved Dinah, I thought she was a darling woman. Big loss. She was warm and kind to everybody. I'll never understand why she felt she had to keep that serious a matter [Ms. Shore succumbed to cancer in 1994] to herself because there were so many people who could have given her comfort. I have a feeling that it was another part of her innate kindness; she didn't want to burden people with her problems."

by Anonymousreply 191August 14, 2025 7:03 PM

Dinah and Jane Russell perform "The Ladies Who Lunch". She credits Sondheim.

Dinah including him on her afternoon chat show is pretty neat. Dinah is sweet, Jane is terrific.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 192August 14, 2025 7:41 PM

Damn. Jane Russell was excellent. She had just the right level of sarcasm. And she looks like a burnout. Like she's over it. Dinah OTOH, had no energy. No emotion. Just a very melodic voice.

by Anonymousreply 193August 15, 2025 12:08 AM

She took over on Broadway when Prince sent Elaine out on the tour.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 194August 15, 2025 12:32 AM

A full-figured Joanne...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 195August 15, 2025 12:39 AM

I wonder why Jane Russell never played Carlotta in FOLLIES? She would have been perfect.

Did Steve not like her?

by Anonymousreply 196August 15, 2025 12:43 AM

R184 that's such an odd thing having Bette Davis as a special correspondent to cover All in the Family.

by Anonymousreply 197August 15, 2025 2:12 AM

I always though Dinah Shore and Doris Day had very similar voices and singing styles.

They both recorded "Sentimental Journey". Doris had a hit with it.

So it's Doris vs. Dinah. Who did it better?

"Sentimental Journey" - Doris Day

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 198August 15, 2025 2:25 AM

"Sentimental Journey" - Dinah Shore

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 199August 15, 2025 2:26 AM

(Dinah vs. Doris. God bless Datalounge.)

by Anonymousreply 200August 15, 2025 2:29 AM

The Misty Miss Christy

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 201August 15, 2025 3:31 AM

Was George Montgomery also gay?

by Anonymousreply 202August 15, 2025 3:45 AM

R202 I remember reading reports of him being abusive, and being a 'ho. Apparently he was jealous of her, and very overbearing. Maybe he was in the closet.

by Anonymousreply 203August 15, 2025 4:03 AM

He liked working with wood. He was quite accomplished at it.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 204August 15, 2025 4:27 AM

He beat Dinah? Off with his head!

by Anonymousreply 205August 15, 2025 10:45 AM

I can’t believe he was abusive. I thought they stayed pals after they split

by Anonymousreply 206August 15, 2025 11:19 AM

George was the star of a successful TV western that ran for a few years in the 50s. And there's a great What' My Line? clip of Dinah and George appearing together as Mystery Guests somewhere out there........

by Anonymousreply 207August 15, 2025 12:12 PM

Rosemary Clooney had a similar catch in her voice to Dinah. I'd say Miss Clooney was more comparable than Doris, though a far better stylist than Dinah ever was..

by Anonymousreply 208August 15, 2025 12:14 PM
Loading
Need more help? Click Here.

Yes indeed, we too use "cookies." Take a look at our privacy/terms or if you just want to see the damn site without all this bureaucratic nonsense, click ACCEPT. Otherwise, you'll just have to find some other site for your pointless bitchery needs.

×

Become a contributor - post when you want with no ads!