Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz (January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991), known professionally as Danny Thomas, was an American entertainer, producer, and philanthropist. After launching his career in the 1940s in radio and cinema, he created and starred in the 1953–1964 television sitcom Make Room for Daddy / The Danny Thomas Show, and went on to produce a number of successful television programs. In 1962, he leveraged his celebrity status to establish St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a leading center in pediatrics research and treatment, with a focus on pediatric cancer. He was the father of Marlo Thomas, Terre Thomas, and Tony Thomas.
One of 10 children, Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz (Arabic: أموس مزيد يعقوب كيروز) was born on January 6, 1912, in Deerfield, Michigan, to Charles Yaqoob Kairouz (Arabic: تشارلز يعقوب كيروز) and his wife Margaret Taouk (Arabic: مارغريت طوق كيروز). His parents were Maronite Catholic immigrants from what is now Bsharri, North Governorate, Lebanon.
Thomas was raised in Toledo, Ohio, attending St. Francis de Sales Church and Woodward High School.
Bishop Samuel Stritch of Toledo performed Thomas' confirmation in the Catholic Church in 1921. Stritch, a native of Tennessee, was a lifelong spiritual advisor to Thomas, and would later advise him to locate the St. Jude Hospital in Memphis.
In 1932, Thomas began performing on radio in Detroit at WMBC on The Happy Hour Club. Thomas first performed under his anglicized birth name, "Amos Jacobs Kairouz".
In 1936, a week after his 24th birthday, Thomas married Rose Marie Cassaniti, a singer who worked under the name Rose Marie Mantel, and was often credited by this stage name.
In 1940, after he moved to Chicago, Thomas did not want his friends and family to know he had gone back to working in clubs where the salary was better, so he came up with the pseudonym "Danny Thomas", after two of his brothers.
Thomas first reached mass audiences on network radio in the 1940s playing shifty brother-in-law Amos in The Bickersons, which began as sketches on the music-comedy show Drene Time, starring Don Ameche and Frances Langford. Thomas also portrayed himself as a scatterbrained Lothario on this show. His other network radio work included a stint as Jerry Dingle the postman on Fanny Brice's The Baby Snooks Show. In the early 1950s he made several appearances on the popular NBC variety program The Big Show hosted by stage legend Tallulah Bankhead.
Thomas also had his own radio program, The Danny Thomas Show. The 30-minute weekly variety show was on ABC from 1942 to 1943 and on CBS from 1947 to 1948.
After his two late 1940s films with Margaret O'Brien, Thomas appeared with Betty Grable in the musical Call Me Mister (1951). He portrayed songwriter Gus Kahn opposite Doris Day in the 1951 film biography I'll See You in My Dreams. He then starred in The Jazz Singer opposite the popular contemporary vocalist Peggy Lee, a 1952 remake of the 1927 original.
In 1952, Thomas recorded several Arabic folk songs with Toufic Barham for a Saint Jude Hospital Foundation fundraiser record. The songs later appeared on the re-issue album The Music of Arab-Americans: A Retrospective Collection.
It was reported in the 28 October 1967 issue of Billboard that Thomas was on the International Tape Cartridge Corporation roster. A series of releases had begun with six cartridges of lush orchestral music that he was to select. According to ITCC president Larry Finley, the releases, "Danny Thomas Presents the Satin Strings" would be in both 8-track and 4-track formats would be in stores in a month's time. Releases on reel to reel would be available in the near future. On such example was "Danny Thomas Presents the Satin Strings", It's Easy to Remember on Itco Stereo Records L-98-2100.
Make Room for Daddy (The Danny Thomas Show)
Thomas enjoyed a successful 11-year run (1953–1964) on Make Room for Daddy, later known as The Danny Thomas Show. Jean Hagen, Sherry Jackson, and Rusty Hamer were his first family. The Hagen character died offscreen in 1956 and was replaced by Marjorie Lord; Angela Cartwright also joined the cast at this time playing Danny's stepdaughter. Sherry Jackson left the series in 1958, and Penney Parker replaced her in the 1959–1960 season. Parker was written out of the series with her marriage to the character Patrick Hannigan, played by comedian Pat Harrington, Jr.
On January 1, 1959, Thomas appeared with his other Make Room for Daddy child stars, Angela Cartwright and Rusty Hamer, in an episode of NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.
The show was produced at Desilu Studios, where Lucille Ball was appearing alongside Desi Arnaz in I Love Lucy, and it featured several guest stars who went on to star in their own shows, including Andy Griffith (The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry RFD), Joey Bishop, and Bill Bixby (My Favorite Martian and others). He also scored a major success at the London Palladium, in the years when many big American stars appeared there. In 1963, in an episode called "Oh, the Clancys," the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem appeared as Marjorie Lord's Irish cousins and sang "Brennan on the Moor."
In 1970, the program was revived for a season under the title Make Room for Granddaddy.
Angela Cartwright (who spoke about her on- and off-camera relationship with her television stepfather, Danny Thomas, on a groundbreaking ABC TV show, Make Room for Daddy) said: "I thought Danny was hilarious and he was always cracking me up. He was loud and gregarious, nothing like my real dad who is far more reserved than that. So, it was fun to be able to make smart remarks and get away with it. I would never have talked to my real parents that way, but in the make-believe world of the Williams family I got away with that." Cartwright also added that by the time Thomas' show had ended, she wanted to join the cast of The Sound of Music: "I went on an interview for the part of Brigitta. I was still filming The Danny Thomas Show, but I knew the series was coming to an end. After several auditions, I was the first von Trapp cast. I asked Danny Thomas if he would let me out of my contract so I could be in the movie and he was very gracious to let me out of the last show of the season. He didn't have to do that and I am very grateful he did."