{{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 = Floyd Smith | birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|06|21}} | birth_place = Arkadelphia, Arkansas, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|08|28|1911|06|21}} | death_place = Northridge, California, U.S. | death_cause = | education = | occupation = {{hlist|Actor|comedian}} | years_active = | known_for = | awards = }}
'''Wonderful Smith''' (June 21, 1911 – August 28, 2008) was an American actor and comedian.
==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.<ref name="bos080916"/> 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.<ref name="lat080915"/>
==''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.<ref name="bos080916"/> 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.<ref name="lat080915"/>
==Radio== Smith 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.<ref name="skelton1"/> Smith served in the U.S. Army during World War II where he worked as a disc jockey for Armed Forced Radio.<ref>[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.</ref> When he left the service, he found that his role in the show had been changed, along with the program's format.<ref name="bos080916"/> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
==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''.<ref name="lat080915"/>
==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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
==Legacy== Smith was the inspiration for the name of a Chicago-based indie rock group.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
==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= <ref name="skelton1">{{cite AV media |title=Red Gives a Party |author=Red Skelton |author-link=Red Skelton |work=The Raleigh Cigarettes Program |medium=Radio program |date=November 4, 1941}}</ref> <ref name="lat080915">{{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}}</ref> <ref name="bos080916">{{cite news |newspaper=Boston Globe |title=Wonderful Smith, 97; comic with Ellington nudged boundaries of race |url=http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/09/16/wonderful_smith_97_comic_with_ellington_nudged_boundaries_of_race/ |date=September 16, 2008 |access-date=March 30, 2014}}</ref> }}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0810373|name=Wonderful Smith}} * {{Find a Grave}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Wonderful}} Category:1911 births Category:2008 deaths 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 Category:21st-century African-American people Category:Comedians from Arkansas Category:Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery