Sam Levenson

Samuel Levenson was an American humorist, writer, teacher, television host, and journalist whose public life moved through classrooms, books, nightclubs, and the early decades of television. He was born on December 28, 1911, and grew up in a large Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1934, married Esther Levine, and had two children, Emily and Conrad. Before he became a familiar face on television, he spent fifteen years teaching high school Spanish, including at Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn.

Levenson became best known to national audiences through television comedy and talk programs. From 1949 to 1954, he was a panelist on the CBS series This Is Show Business, appearing with George S. Kaufman and Abe Burrows. In 1952, he had The Sam Levenson Show on CBS television. In 1956, he hosted the game show Two for the Money, replacing Herb Shriner, and from 1959 to 1964 he hosted another version of The Sam Levenson Show. Over more than a decade, he appeared on Toast of the Town, also known as The Ed Sullivan Show, twenty-one times, and he often served as a substitute host on CBS’s Arthur Godfrey Time.

His career also reached into panel shows, film, clubs, and books. Levenson was a guest host on The Price Is Right and a panelist on programs including Password and What’s My Line? He had a cameo in the film A Face in the Crowd and appeared multiple times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson through the 1970s. In 1950, he and Joe E. Lewis became the first members of the New York Friars’ Club to be roasted. He also appeared often in the “Borscht Belt” hotels of the Catskill Mountains.

As an author, Levenson wrote Everything But Money in 1966, the bestseller Sex and the Single Child in 1969, In One Era and Out the Other in 1973, You Can Say That Again, Sam! in 1975, and You Don’t Have to be in Who’s Who to Know What’s What in 1979. He also wrote the poem “Time Tested Beauty Tips” for his grandchild, a poem that later became falsely attributed to Audrey Hepburn. His work grew from the same ground as his life: Brooklyn schools, immigrant family life, teaching, and the rhythms of American popular entertainment.

Levenson’s ties to education remained visible. In 1965, Samuel J. Tilden High School honored him with its Lefkowitz Award for distinguished service. In 1976, he returned as an honored guest to Franklin K. Lane High School, from which he had graduated in 1930, and gave a humorous speech at its rededication ceremony. After his death from a heart attack on August 27, 1980, at age 68, Brooklyn College named the 150-seat Sam Levenson Recital Hall for him in 1988, in gratitude for his donations to the Performing Arts Center. His line, “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going,” suits a man who moved steadily from classroom to stage to screen, carrying his humor with him.