"Why not?" catchphrase author died

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

This was in the last New York Sun. I don't know if Fred Shapiro has it or  id
interested.


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Subject: Dayton Allen; NY Sun obit
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Date: 2004-11-19 23:01:26 PST
Dayton Allen, 85, TV Voice Artist

BY Staff Reporter of the Sun

November 19, 2004







Dayton Allen, who died November 11 at age 85, was a cast

member of "The Howdy Doody Show," "Winky Dink and You," and

a regular on the "Steve Allen Show," where he was known for

his trademark "Why Not," delivered with manic intensity and

a finger pointed in the air.



In the 1960s, Allen's voice was nearly ubiquitous in such

Saturday morning cartoons as "Deputy Dawg," "Mighty Mouse,"

and "Heckle and Jeckle," for which he was the voice of both

of the madcap magpies.



To the public, he surfaced in occasional news stories about

his spectacular successes investing in penny stocks of

Canadian mining companies. He published some of his

investing theories in his memoir, "Why Not?"



Allen was born in New York and went to school with the actor

Art Carney, a lifelong friend. Always interested in

performing, he found work as a disc jockey at WINS in 1935

and also wrote comedy bits for Vaudeville.



He found work early in television as a voice of puppets,

starting at "The Buffalo Bob Show" in 1947. It was soon

renamed "Howdy Doody." He also worked on "The Adventures of

Oky Doky," which starred Bob Keeshan, later better known as

"Captain Kangaroo."



"I met Keeshan in a men's room," Allen said in the oral

history "The Box." "He said, 'You do a lot of voices. You'd

be great for us.'"



The show "was some piece of crap, but that's where I learned

to work with a puppet," he said. "That thing must have

weighed about a hundred pounds. I think it was made by King

Kong."



On "Howdy Doody," Allen was the voice of the mayor, Phineas

T. Bluster, as well as the odd mish-mash monster Flub-a-Dub.

Early TV played to Allen's strengths as an improviser. "You

could do anything, as long as you remembered who the stars

were, and the Peanut Gallery wasn't there," Allen told the

Miami Herald in 2000. "There was a script, but we never

stuck to it. [Buffalo] Bob was the greatest straight man.

He'd fall on his face whatever I said." Allen added that he

came close to being fired for risque ad-libs, and that

"Howdy Doody" was eventually taken off the NBC studio tour

because rehearsals got so "blue."



In 1953, he moved to "Winky Dink and You," where he was the

voice of the puppet Mr. Bungle. In 1956, he began work on

"Heckle and Jeckle," the first of hundreds of cartoons he

would eventually voice.



He also became a semi-regular on the "Steve Allen Show,"

appearing as a bogus expert or man on the street. In one

episode, Steve Allen introduced Dayton Allen as "Dr. Harvey

L. Dayton," a world-famous surgeon and headache expert.

Dayton: "Why not! Being a very famous surgeon, I have even

worked in hospitals. Sometimes I would aid in helping

around! Surgery to me is more than just a way to make a good

fast buck ..." and so on.



The "Why Not?" tag line got so famous that a writer for the

Los Angeles Times claimed in 1960 that it had subconsciously

become part of the language. Allen appeared in an

Off-Broadway musical revue called "Why Not?" in 1960 and

that same year released a comedy album called "Why Not?" He

also used the line in television commercials. The craze

lasted about a year then disappeared with barely an echo.



Allen moved to Hollywood Beach, Fla., in 1986, and, still in

excellent health, had just moved to Flat Rock, N.C., a week

before he suffered a massive stroke.



Allen was married to Elvi Brown in 1958; she had worked

briefly in television as hostess of the WPIX show "Gadget

Gallery," in which she demonstrated new kinds of tools, and

also as an NBC tour guide. Allen's brother, Bradley Bolke,

was the voice of Chumley on "Underdog."



Dayton Allen



Born Dayton Allen Bolke on September 24, 1919; died November

11 at Flat Rock, N.C., of a hemorrhagic stroke; survived by

his wife, Elvi, and brother, Bradley Bolke.