Dayton Allen - Definition and Overview

Dayton Allen (September 24, 1919-November 11, 2004) was a comedian and voice actor born Dayton Allen Bolke. His brother Bradley Bolke was also a voice actor. He was one of the "men in the street" on the Tonight Show hosted by Steve Allen. His catch phrase was "Why not?" (pronounced "whooooyyy not!")

Dayton born and grew up in New York City. One of his school friends was Art Carney. Like Carney, Allen began his career in radio. In 1935 WINS hired him as a disc jockey. Allen was the voice of various New York-based children's television show characters, appearing on Winky Dink and You as "Mr. Bungle" for five years and playing "Flub-a-Dub" on Howdy Doody for four years. Dayton was also the voice of Deputy Dawg, Heckle and Jeckle, Fearless Fly and many early Terrytoons cartoon characters. He continued to be a voiceover performer through the 1990s.

He was best known as the "Why Not?" man. The catch-phrase began as a stalling ad-lib to an interview question. After it caught on. Allen used it for television commercials and saw novelty toys, a book and a record spin off the "Why not?" phenomena. In its day, fans were shouting "Why not?" as often as Mad Magazine's famous "What Me Worry?"

External links

• Voice Chasers profile (http://www.voicechasers.com/database/showactor.php?actorid=1015)