Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Ed Wynn and Buster Keaton in "Silent Television"

Ed Wynn was born on November 9, 1886, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania into a Jewish American family. His birth name was Isaiah Edwin Leopold, and he went by the nickname, "The Perfect Fool". His stage name came from turning his middle name Edwin into a first and last name.

Wynn began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was a star of the Ziegfeld Follies starting in 1914. He hosted one of the first network, comedy-variety television shows, on CBS, and won both a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award in 1949.

Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball, and The Three Stooges all made guest appearances with Wynn. This was the first CBS variety television show to originate from Los Angeles, which was seen live on the west coast, but filmed via kinescope for distribution in the Midwest and East, as the national coaxial cable had yet to be completed.Wynn was also a rotating host of NBC's Four Star Revue from 1950 through 1952.  

On this Throwback Thursday, here's a classic comedy sketch from 70 years ago with Ed Wynn and Buster Keaton, best known for his physical comedy in silent films, performing on "silent television."

Enjoy!

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