Host: Jesse L. Lasky, Guest Producer _______________________________________________________________________
The first reported event of providing dinner to soldiers was in New York City during December, 1918. It was a community effort for returning soldiers from WWI. Since then, the USO had organized and solicited to the community to take in soldiers for dinner. However, after the production of "Sunday Dinner for a Soldier" in 1944, the solicited goodwill of having service members for Sunday Dinner transformed into a Tradition. On February 19, 1945, the Host [Guest Producer] of the Lux Radio Theater, during his introduction of the radio broadcast version of "Sunday Dinner for a Soldier", stated that "...throughout the land, American homes have opened their doors and hearts to lonely service men on leave...". That tradition has since expanded to include Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day Dinner. The Host also extends the goodwill tradition to include sending gifts of needed items to our soldiers. And, in her movie Debut role in "Sunday Dinner for a Soldier", Connie Marshall played a major role in the evolution of the Tradition of welcoming Soldiers for Dinner. Another First! _______________________________________________________________________
Host Biography: The son of a shoe salesman, Lasky was born in San Francisco in 1880. As a young man he traveled to Alaska in search of gold. Attracted to the theater, he embarked on a tour of the America in a duo act with his sister Blanche (who later became the first wife of Samuel Goldwyn.
He worked his way into theatrical production and made a name for himself by 1913, when his brother-in-law Sam Goldwyn (then known as Goldfish) pursuaded him to form the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. They hired Cecil B. DeMille, a first time film director, to go out west to shoot their first feature. DeMille moved the Lasky company into a barn in a suburb of Los Angeles called Hollywood. Thus the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company became the first permanent feature film company actually located in the town of Hollywood.
From 1914 on, Lasky released his films through the Hodkinson distribution company called Paramount Pictures. In 1916, another Hodkinson production company Famous Players, merged with the Lasky Feature Play Company to form Famous Players-Lasky. The company took control of Paramount from Hodkinson, making Famous Players-Lasky to largest movie company at the time. Jesse Lasky, as vice-president in charge of production, was one of the most important executive producers in Hollywood during the silent era.
Famous Players-Lasky changed names several times, finally to be known as Paramount Pictures following a restructuring during the Depression. However, during the turmoil that threw Paramount into receivership, Jesse Lasky was forced to leave his job as head of production in 1932.
He began a new career as an independent producer releasing through various studios including Fox and RKO. He also partnered with Mary Pickford to form Pickford-Lasky Productions which made a few features in the mid-1930s. In 1941 he produced his most successful independent movie Sergeant York starring Gary Cooper and directed by Howard Hawks. Lasky briefly joined SIMPP at the end of World War II.
His autobiography, "I Blow My Own Horn," was published in 1957. He died January 13, 1958.
Credit: Wikipedia _______________________________________________________________________
