Portrait of Sid Caesar
name: label: depicted
content: Caesar, Sid
label: maker
content: Smith, Merritt
notes: label: Description
content: Portrait of Sid Caesar in black wood frame.
label: Description
content: Comedian Sid Caesar (1922-2014) was an influential and acclaimed comedian best known for his pioneering work on television, especially Your Show of Shows, a comedy variety show which aired from 1950-1954. Caesar helped to create the vocabulary and style of television comedy in his work as a writer and performer. Caesar's sketch comedy was topical and relatable, poking fun at everyday life and relationships, satirizing newsworthy events and personalities, and parodying popular culture. Recurring characters on Your Show of Shows included bickering newlyweds The Hickenloopers, frustrated suburbanites The Commuters, and Caesar's German Professor, used to mock the pretentiousness of media experts and satirize intellectual fads. He helped nurture the careers of a generation of comedians who he employed as writers and actors, including Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Imogene Coca, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, and Woody Allen.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Comedy
label: referenced
content: Television
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Sid Caesar
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0172.07
label: accession number
content: 1989.0172
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0172.07
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Portrait
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paint, oil (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint, acrylic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (frame material)
label: Physical Description
content: canvas (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 37 1/2 in x 31 3/4 in x 3 in; 95.25 cm x 80.645 cm x 7.62 cm