Morey Amsterdam

Moritz Amsterdam (December 14, 1908 – October 28, 1996) was an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. Between 1948 and 1950, he hosted his own TV sitcom The Morey Amsterdam Show. He played Buddy Sorrell on CBS's The Dick Van Dyke Show from 1961 to 1966.

Amsterdam was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of the three sons of Max and Jennie (née Finder) Amsterdam, Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary.^{[citation needed]}

He began working in vaudeville in 1922 as the straight man for his older brother's jokes. He was a cellist, a skill he used throughout his career. By 1924, he was working in a speakeasy operated by Al Capone.

After being caught in the middle of a gunfight, Amsterdam moved to California and worked writing jokes.

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 on WMGM in New York City.

Amsterdam had a program on CBS that ended in early 1949.

In 1950, he briefly hosted the comedy-variety show Broadway Open House, TV's first late-night entertainment show, on NBC. One of the pioneering TV creations of NBC president Pat Weaver, it demonstrated the potential for late-night programming and led to the later development of The Tonight Show.

In February 1952, Amsterdam made his dramatic TV debut on an episode of the DuMont Television Network series Not for Publication. Also in 1952, he was host of Breakfast With Music, a 9 a.m. Monday-Friday program on WNBT-TV in New York City.