- In his column, which was called "It Happened Last Night", he followed the self-imposed rule "never to print any gossip that would break up a marriage".
- His nightly journeys by taxi and telephone through the parties, cabarets and clubs of New York's entertainment world had crammed his notebooks with enough information, anecdotes and jocular observations to fill 11,424 columns.
- In The Fox Hunt (1956), when Lucy and Ricky are visiting in London, she attempts to impress royalty after being introduced to a baron. She casually mentions she knows "the Earl of Wilson," as a nod to their newspaper friend.
- Earned a journalism degree from Ohio State University and worked for newspapers in Columbus and Akron and for the International News Service before moving to "The Washington Post".
- Broadway gossip columnist.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 906-907. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
- He also worked with Irv Kupcinet and their fellow New York City gossip columnist counterpart Hy Gardner for a short 13-week stint in television, hosting the late-night talk show that replaced Steve Allen's popular The Tonight Show (1953) show on NBC in 1956. It was called America After Dark (1957) and it featured newspaper columnists from around the country making their nightly rounds to nightclubs and Broadway show openings for live segments. When this "fluid" format failed to work, it was Wilson who suggested Jack Paar step in to host what became The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1957).
- Billed as the "New York Post" newspaper's ''Saloon Editor,'' he prowled the city's cabarets, bars and other Broadway spots in search of tidbits for his column, which was titled ''It Happened Last Night'' for most of its run. His readers came to expect, and were usually rewarded by finding, the results of the columnist's copious research into the physical endowments of stage and film starlets.
- The veteran newspaperman and self-described "country boy from Ohio" objected to the tendency to label the fare he served as gossip. Describing gossip as rumor, he told an interviewer in 1976 that his column was "not gossip; it's factual.".
- In 1935 he made it to New York with the help of Ruth McKenney, who had been a colleague of his on "The Ohio State Lantern", and went on to work for "The New York Post" and later gained fame as the author of ''My Sister Eileen''.
- Was born into a farm family in Rockford, OH, and got a $15-a-week job as sports editor of "The Piqua Daily Call" by writing stories free while in high school.
- Died in a hospital in Yonkers, NY, in January 1987 after suffering from Parkinson's Disease for several years. He had been admitted to the medical center on Dec. 14 with pneumonia and subsequently suffered a stroke. The former columnist died at 4:30 pm.
- His chronicling of the Broadway theatre scene during the "Golden Age" of show business formed the basis for a book published in 1971, "The Show Business Nobody Knows". He signed his columns with the tagline, "That's Earl, brother." His nickname was "Midnight Earl". In later years the name of his column was changed to" Last Night With Earl Wilson". In his final years with the "Post", he alternated with the paper's entertainment writer and restaurant critic, Martin Burden, in turning out the column. Burden, who died in 1993, took over the "Last Night" column full-time upon Wilson's retirement.
- Wilson appeared in a few films as himself, notably Copacabana (1947), A Face in the Crowd (1957), College Confidential (1960), and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965). He also hosted the DuMont TV show Stage Entrance (1951) from May 1951 to March 1952.
- In the late 1960s his column was carried by 175 newspapers across the country. Accompanied by 'B.W.'.
- By the early '50s the Broadway gossip columns had become an important media outlet; columnists exercised a great deal of power in providing publicity for the celebrities of the day. However, gossip columnists as a group were not held in high regard, Wilson had the reputation of being different: he was a trained journalist who double-checked facts, he was much influenced by his Midwestern upbringing and avoided innuendo and sensationalism, and he sought to cover his stories as real news items. With a reputation for being fair and honest, he was trusted so much that celebrities willingly gave him their stories.
- Their only child, Earl Wilson Jr., a Grammy-nominated composer/lyricist and author, was born on 12/1/1942.
- Ms. McKenney found him quarters in a rooming house off Washington Square and it was there that he met Rosemary Lyons, a secretary from East St. Louis, IL.
- He worked an 18-hour day--much of it in the after-dark hours. Typically, he rose in the late morning at his West End Avenue apartment, telephoned news sources and took reports from several assistants. About 8:00 pm his work pace intensified when he set out for dinner at Toots Shor's or a similar theater-district restaurant, invariably accompanied by his wife, Rosemary, known to his readers as ''B.W.'' (for Beautiful Wife). The couple then made the rounds of night spots until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., when it was time to return home to the typewriter.
- The Beatles dedicated their first set on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) to him.
- He signed his columns with the tagline, "That's Earl, brother." His nickname was "Midnight Earl". In later years, the name of his column was changed to "Last Night With Earl Wilson".
- His column, which he took over from a writer who went off to war in 1942, was originally considered "filler." It eventually ran until 1983. As the column grew in popularity and importance, Wilson worked 18-hour days, typically arising in the late morning, telephoning news sources, and taking reports from several assistants. In the evenings he would set out for dinner at Toots Shor's or a similar theater district restaurant, accompanied by his wife, Rosemary, known to his readers as "B.W." (for Beautiful Wife). The pair made the rounds of night spots until the wee hours of the morning.
- He was much influenced by his Midwestern upbringing and avoided innuendo and sensationalism, and he sought to cover his stories as real news items. With a reputation for being fair and honest, he was trusted so much that celebrities willingly gave him their stories.
- Was an occasional panelist on the NBC game show Who Said That? (1948), in which celebrities tried to determine the speaker of quotations taken from recent news reports.
- Mentioned in On Stage (1956).
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