Morey Amsterdam

Trivia

• In 1958 Morey appeared in the low-budget film Machine-Gun Kelly with Charles Bronson.
• He played Cappy, owner of the local nightclub, in the Beach Party movies of the 1960s.
• His best-known role was as comedy writer Buddy Sorrell on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66), a role suggested for him by his friend Rose Marie, who also appeared on the show.
• In 1957, he appeared as Jack Connors in the third episode entitled "The Pretenders" of the syndicated television sitcom, How to Marry a Millionaire, with Barbara Eden and Merry Anders.
• Beginning in 1948, he appeared on the radio show "Stop Me If You've Heard This One."
• By 1947, he was performing on three daily radio shows.
• In the early 1940s he was a screenwriter, contributing dialogue for two East Side Kids films.
• He copyrighted the popular "Rum and Coca-Cola," although the song was written by a Trinidadian calypso singer named Lord Invader.
• He also wrote songs, including "Why Oh Why Did I Ever Leave Wyoming."
• 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 read the machine's joke, although actually the paper was blank.