August 14 - Steve Martin

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On this day, in 1945, Stephen Glenn Martin was born in Waco, Texas. Steve’s father was a realtor and an aspiring actor, two professions that warranted a move to Southern California (even if the latter one never panned out). He did most of his growing up in Garden Grove with his sister, Melinda. Steve’s association with the Walt Disney Company started way back in 1955, when he was just ten years old. On weekends (and full time during the summer, labor laws were obviously much different then), he sold guide books at the entrance to Disneyland. There’s even some documented proof of his employment. In 1956, the Barstow family of Wethersfield, Connecticut won a trip to California that included a stop at Disneyland. The Barstow’s took extensive home movies of their vacation that were eventually edited into a short subject film called Disneyland Dream (which has since been included in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress). If you’re watching closely at just past the twenty minute mark, little Steve Martin makes his film debut in a top hat, dark vest and pink striped shirt as he strolls through the frame hawking his guide books.

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Steve spent three years as a guide book salesman, but that wasn’t the only thing he was doing in the park. He spent a lot of time in the magic shop, learning sleight of hand tricks and the importance of presentation to customers. He was also striking up a friendship with the Legendary Wally Boag, a performer at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon who would become a big influence on Steve’s stand-up comedy. By 1960, Steve had a full time job in the magic shop, where he honed not only his skills at magic but perfected his juggling act and balloon animal talents, often receiving tips for his ability to entertain guests. He stayed there throughout his teens, balancing his shifts with his school work and the cheerleading he did for Garden Grove High School.

After graduating, Steve moved on to Santa Ana College and began developing his stand up comedy routines. He was part of a troupe at Knott’s Berry Farm for a while and became romantically involved with a young woman who convinced him to transfer to the University of California, Long Beach to be a philosophy major. The relationship didn’t last (she went to UCLA and they drifted apart) but the philosophy classes would have a profound impact on the rest of Steve’s life. He began creating purely conceptual stand-up routines using concepts like if there wasn’t ever a punchline, what would happen with all the tension he was building?

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As he began trying his ideas out on actual audiences, the reviews for Steve’s act were initially mixed but he began to build a following. It helped that he was able to wrangle a job writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967. Not only did the show give him his first television appearance in 1968, but he won an Emmy in 1969 as part of the shows writing team. Steve went on to write for The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, all while building his stand-up career to a level usually reserved for rock stars. In the mid-Seventies, Steve became a regular on NBC’s new late night show Saturday Night Live but, contrary to popular belief, never actually became part of the cast. He was happy to guest host 15 times (and make several other appearances) but didn’t really need to make it a full time gig. His stand-up sets were literally selling out stadiums. Back-to-back Grammy winning, platinum selling comedy albums in 1977 and 1978 didn’t hurt either. And then, in 1981, with no fanfare and no warning, he stopped doing stand-up altogether and moved on to what had been his goal all along: movies.

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Steve’s first big screen appearance was a small role in 1972 in a political satire produced by Bob Epstein, another writer for the Smothers Brothers, called Another Nice Mess. Five years later, he wrote and starred in a short film, The Absent Minded Waiter, which was nominated for an Academy Award. His breakout role came in 1979 when he played Navin R Johnson in The Jerk, a film he also gets a writing credit for. Since then he’s been seen in four dozen more films, twelve of which he wrote himself or helped write with one or two others. Highlights of his career so far include a cameo in The Muppet Movie  (1979), All of Me (1984), Three Amigos (1986), Roxanne (1987), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Parenthood (1989), L.A. Story (1991), The Prince of Egypt (1998), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) and The Pink Panther (2006).

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Steve has spent as much of career writing material as he has performing it. In 1993 he finished his first full length play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which had successful runs in several cities across the country. In 2002, his adaptation of a 1910 German play, The Underpants, had an off-Broadway run and continues to be staged by various regional and collegiate theaters today. Then, in 2015, Steve collaborated with Edie Brickell on the musical Bright Star, which had its Broadway debut the following year and was nominated for numerous awards, winning a Drama Desk Award and two Outer Circle Critics Awards. Steve followed Star up with a play, Meteor Shower, which nabbed Amy Schumer a Tony nomination in 2018.

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Throughout the years, Steve has maintained a working relationship with Disney that has evolved beyond balloon animals and souvenir brochures. In 1991, he starred in the hit remake of Father of the Bride for Touchstone Pictures and returned for the sequel in 1995. He wrote, produced and starred in Touchstone’s 1994 drama A Simple Twist of Fate, based on the classic tale Silas Marner. He was one of the hosts in Fantasia 2000, introducing the Pines of Rome segment. In 2003, Steve starred opposite Queen Latifah in the hit Touchstone comedy Bringing Down the House. Two years later, he again wrote, produced and starred in Shopgirl, an adaptation of a novella he’d written earlier. The same year, just to bring things full circle, Steve hosted the short documentary that replaced Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln for a while, Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years. While Abe has been back in action since 2009, you can still catch Steve and his co-host, Donald Duck, in the lobby before each show.

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In recent years, Steve has virtually stopped acting in order to focus on his musical career. That’s right. The stand-up comedian who filled stadiums turned into an actor who filled movie theaters and has now morphed into a Grammy winning musician. But it isn’t because Steve Martin has decided to cut a few records. It’s because a guy named Steve Martin happens to be really good at playing the banjo. He first picked one up at the age of seventeen, incorporated it into his act (see his Muppet Show appearance for a good example) and has been working on his skills ever since. He is the real deal when it comes to playing bluegrass; this isn’t something he started doing a few years ago on a whim. His final comedy album in 1981 was routines on side A and live recordings of him playing with a bluegrass band on side B. In 2001, Steve played with Earl Scruggs on a recording of Foggy Mountain Breakdown. That song won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance. In 2009, he released his first all music album, The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo. That album won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. In 2013, he released an album with Edie Brickell, his collaborator on Bright Star, called Love Has Come for You. The title track from that album won a Grammy for Best American Roots Song. In addition to their album and Broadway musical, Steve and Edie have done extensive touring together, released a second collaborative album and appeared in the award winning documentary The American Epic Sessions together. In 2010, Steve established the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass to bring attention to the genre and highlight current artists within it. The annual prize involves $50,000, a bronze statue and maybe even the chance to perform with him.

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Among all the accolades that Steve has accumulated over the years, he was officially declared a Disney Legend in 2005 for his decades long relationship with the company. Currently, he’s actually made a return to stand-up, doing a bit of touring in a two-man show with fellow funny man Martin Short. And his next project is another one for Disney and again brings his life full circle. He wrote the story for the comedy Magic Camp, about a camp for budding magicians, which will be released on the company’s new streaming service, Disney+, later this year.