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Morey Amsterdam
Amsterdam in 1970
Born	Moritz Amsterdam (1908-12-14)December 14, 1908 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	October 28, 1996(1996-10-28) (aged 87) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery inHollywood Hills, California
Occupations	Actor comedian writer producer
Years active	1922–1996
Spouses	Mabel Todd ​ ​ (m. 1933; div. 1945)​ Kay Patrick ​ (m. 1949)​
Children	2

Moritz Amsterdam (December 14, 1908 – October 28, 1996) was an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. He played Buddy Sorrell onCBS'sThe Dick Van Dyke Show from 1961 to 1966.^[1]

Amsterdam was born inChicago,Illinois, the youngest of the three sons of Max and Jennie (née Finder) Amsterdam, Jewish immigrants fromAustria-Hungary.^{[citation needed][note 1]}

He began working invaudeville in 1922 as thestraight man for his older brother's jokes. He was a cellist, a skill he used throughout his career. By 1924, he was working in aspeakeasy operated byAl Capone.^[1]

After being caught in the middle of a gunfight, Amsterdam moved toCalifornia and worked writing jokes. His enormous repertoire, and his ability to come up with a joke on any subject, earned him the nicknameThe Human Joke Machine. He sometimes performed with a mock machine on his chest, hanging by a strap. He turned a hand crank and paper rolled out; he would then pretend to read the machine's joke, although actually the paper was blank.^{[citation needed]}

Amsterdam's reputation for humor preceded him.Hal Block tells of Amsterdam walking up Sixth Avenue inNew York City and meeting an old friend. "Where have you been?" the friend asked. "Sick," Amsterdam replied, "I've been in bed with a cold." His friend looked at him and asked, "What's so funny about that?"^[2]

In the late 1940s, Amsterdam had a program on CBS from 9:30 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and a daily program onWMGM in New York City.^[3]

Amsterdam had a program on CBS that ended in early 1949.^[3]

In 1950, he briefly hosted the comedy-variety showBroadway Open House, TV's first late-night entertainment show, onNBC.^[1] One of the pioneering TV creations of NBC presidentPat Weaver, it demonstrated the potential for late-night programming and led to the later development ofThe Tonight Show.^[4]

In February 1952, Amsterdam made his dramatic TV debut on an episode of the DuMont Television Network seriesNot for Publication.^[5] Also in 1952, he was host ofBreakfast With Music, a 9 a.m. Monday-Friday program onWNBT-TV in New York City.^[6]

In 1957, he appeared as "Jack Connors" in the third episode ("The Three Pretenders") of thesyndicated television sitcomHow to Marry a Millionaire, withBarbara Eden andMerry Anders.

In 1958, he appeared as saloon manager Lucien Bellingham in an episode of the CBS western seriesHave Gun, Will Travel entitled "The Moor's Revenge". He later guest-starred on the CBS sitcomPete and Gladys, withHarry Morgan andCara Williams.

His best-known role was as comedy writer Buddy Sorrell onThe Dick Van Dyke Show, a role suggested for him by his friendRose Marie, who also appeared on the show.^[7]

The show's creator,Carl Reiner, based the character on his old friendMel Brooks, with whom he worked on the writing staff ofYour Show of Shows. Like Amsterdam himself, Buddy had a ready quip for any situation, and one of the show's most popular running gags was his insult-laden feud with producer Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon). One scene had Mel walking into the writers' room asking "Well, what have you got for me?" Buddy immediately answered "Hatred!" Buddy was also one of the rare overtly Jewish characters on TV in that era, with one episode revolving around his belated decision to have a Bar Mitzvah. Amsterdam also wrote lyrics for the show's theme song, which were never heard on the air, but have been performed byDick Van Dyke in concert.^[8] Van Dyke sang those lyrics on the October 23, 2010, edition of the NPR showWait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.^[9] The composer of the tune, Earl Hagen, was made aware of the lyrics when David Van Deusen arranged it as a gift for Dick Van Dyke on his 70th birthday. Van Deusen, the other DVD, shared the story of the lyrics with Hagen after Amsterdam's death.^{[citation needed]}

In a November 1970 episode ofThe Partridge Family, titled "Did You Hear the One About Danny Partridge?", Amsterdam played the role of Ziggy Shnurr, a small-time joke writer, whom Danny found in theYellow Pages after deciding that the family music act needed some comedy during song breaks. The Amsterdam role echoed his Dick Van Dyke character. The episode also guested Hollywood veteranJackie Coogan.

In a November 1980 episode ofThe Littlest Hobo, entitled "Fast Freddie", The Hobo discovers a con man (Amsterdam) operating in a small town and tries to foil his plans to rob a doddering senior.

Amsterdam was an occasional panelist onMatch Game and the short-livedCan You Top This? (which he also executive produced) during the 1970s. He appeared as a small-time criminal in several episodes of the soap operaThe Young and the Restless in the 1990s. Amsterdam and Rose Marie later appeared as panelists onThe Hollywood Squares and guest-starred together in a February 1996 episode of the NBC sitcomCaroline in the City (his final TV appearance).^{[citation needed]}

In 1958, Amsterdam appeared in the low-budget filmMachine-Gun Kelly withCharles Bronson, and he did a notable dramatic turn in the 1960 noir classicMurder, Inc. as Catskill nightclub owner Walter Sage, the first victim (according to the film) of the newly minted Murder, Incorporated.

Amsterdam played Cappy, owner of the local nightclub, in twoBeach Party movies of the 1960s, which were produced byAmerican International Pictures, of which he was vice president.^[10][11] He and Rose Marie also co-starred in the 1966 filmDon't Worry, We'll Think of a Title, a comedy co-written and co-produced by Amsterdam. The film featuresRichard Deacon, their co-star onThe Dick Van Dyke Show, withcameos by the show's co-producerDanny Thomas and co-starCarl Reiner as well asSteve Allen,Milton Berle,Irene Ryan andMoe Howard of theThree Stooges. His later roles included appearances inThe Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968),Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976),When Nature Calls (1985) andSide by Side (1988).

Amsterdam married actressMabel Todd in 1933; they divorced in 1945 after twelve years of marriage.^[12] He married his second wife Kay Patrick in 1949; they remained married until his death in 1996.^[1]

In 1963, Amsterdam filed a $12,000 lawsuit againstHanna-Barbera forbreach of contract; he claimed that he had been cast and signed to the role ofGeorge Jetson onThe Jetsons. Although his contract stipulated that he would be paid $500 an episode, with a guarantee of twenty-four episodes (i.e., a full season) of work, he recorded only one episode before being replaced byGeorge O'Hanlon.^[13][14] Several sources claimed the change had occurred as a result of sponsor conflict with Amsterdam's commitment toThe Dick Van Dyke Show.^[15][16] The case had been closed by early 1965 and the court had ruled in favor of Hanna-Barbera.^[17][14]

Amsterdam died atCedars Sinai Hospital inLos Angeles, California, on October 28, 1996, at the age of 87, due to aheart attack.^[1][18]

• Hollywood Hobbies (1939)
• Kid Dynamite (1943) (additional dialogue)
• The Ghost and the Guest (1943) (screenplay)
• Bowery Champs (1944) (additional dialogue)
• The Morey Amsterdam Show (1948–1950) (3 episodes)
• Columbia Animal Cavalcade 1: Chimp-Antics (1952) (narrative)
• Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title (1966) (screenplay)

• The Morey Amsterdam Show (1949–1950) (2 episodes)
• Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title (1966)
• Black, Kloke & Dagga (1967) (uncredited)
• Can You Top This (1970–1971) (46 episodes)

• Keep Laughing. Citadel Press, 1959. ASIN B0007E665M
• Morey Amsterdam's Benny Cooker Crock Book for Drinkers. Regnery, 1977.ISBN 0-8092-8138-4

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMorey Amsterdam.

• Morey Amsterdam atIMDb
• Filmography of Morey Amsterdam atThe New York Times
• Catalogue of his shows in the radioGOLDINdex database

• 1908 births
• 1996 deaths
• 20th-century American comedians
• 20th-century American Jews
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• American male comedians
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• American radio personalities
• American vaudeville performers
• American people of Austrian-Jewish descent
• Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
• Comedians from Los Angeles
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• Jewish American male actors
• Jewish American comedians
• Jewish male comedians
• Jewish American musicians
• Jewish American comedy writers
• Male actors from Chicago
• Male actors from Los Angeles
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• American comedy writers

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