Danny Thomas was one of television's most beloved and enduring entertainers. His comedic talents were surpassed only by his shrewd production activities and his well-known philanthropy. Thomas began his career as the stand-up comic Amos Jacobs, developing his storytelling shtick into a familiar routine of lengthy narratives peppered with a blend of Irish, Yiddish, Lebanese, and Italian witticisms. Quite often these routines tended toward sentimentality, only to be rescued in the end by what Thomas called the "treacle cutter," a one-liner designed to elevate the maudlin bathos into irony.

     Like many early television comics, Thomas developed his routines touring in a variety of clubs. Restricted mostly to his home environs of the Midwest, he secured a three-year deal at Chicago's 5100 Club, where he was spotted by the powerful head of the William Morris Agency. "Uncle" Abe Lastfogel was to become Danny's mentor, overseeing his New York nightclub appearances, arranging a USO tour for him with Marlene Dietrich, and landing him a part on Fanny Brice's radio show. By 1945 Thomas was declared "best newcomer in radio" by the trade papers, and Joe Pasternak cast him in his film, The Unfinished Dance. Refusing the advice of three different studio heads to surgically alter his trademark nose, Thomas's film career was short-lived, but fairly respectable. In the early 1950s he left the film industry to good reviews for his co starring role in the Doris Day vehicle I'II See You in My Dreams (1951), and for his title role appearance in the 1953  Warner  Brothers  remake  of The Jazz Singer.

     Meanwhile, tired of the nightclub circuit, Thomas was anxiously pursuing a television series. His first television appearance was on NBC's Four Star Revue, where he costarred with Jimmy Durante, Jack Carson, and Ed Wynn. The variety-show format, with its fast-paced, three-minute sketches, was ill-suited to Danny's comedic style, which depended upon expository monologues and lengthy narratives. For the series' second season, the network ordered a format change wherein the four rotating hosts were replaced by a procession of headliners. With all the hosts except Ed Wynn departing, the program became the All Star Revue.

     Thomas obtained his own program when agent Abe Lastfogel pressured fledgling network ABC into accepting Thomas as part of their terms for acquiring the much-coveted Ray Bolger. ABC, familiar with Thomas's previously ill-received television performances, insisted upon a sitcom. It was during a prolonged brainstorming session with producer Lou Edleman and writer Mel Shavelson that Thomas inadvertently came up with the autobiographical premise that was to become Make Room for Daddy. As the three worked futilely into the night. Thomas grew impatient and pleaded that he simply wanted a series so that he could stay put with his family for a while. The result was Make Room for Daddy, a show that revolves around the absentee-father dilemmas of traveling singer-comic "Danny Williams." The title was suggested by Thomas' real-life wife, Rose Marie, who during Danny's frequent tours allowed their children to sleep with her. Upon her husband's return, the children would have to empty dresser drawers and leave the master bed to, quite literally, "make room for Daddy."

     Incorporating Thomas's singing and story-telling talents, the program was a blend of domestic  comedy and variety program (during Danny's fictionalized "nightclub engagements"). It became one of  television's most successful comedies, winning numerous awards, including best new show for the 1952-53 season. Despite its success, the program underwent a number of transformations, most notably when Jean Hagen, who played the part of wife Margaret. left the series to attend to her film and stage careers. For the fourth season, Danny played a widower, and a succession of guest stars appeared as potential replacement wives. In the 1956 season finale. Danny proposed to guest star Marjorie Lord, who, along with child star Angela Cartwright, joined the Williams family for the program's remaining seven years. The start of the 1957 television season also saw the program on a new network (CBS), after ABC president (and Hagen ally) Robert Kintner lost interest in the series. The newly titled Danny Thomas Show slid into the spot formerly occupied by CBS's mega-hit I Love Lucy, where it remained in the top ten until voluntarily leaving the network when the performers sought new avenues of creative expression.

     While starring  in Make  Room for Daddy, Thomas met Sheldon Leonard, a former gangster-type actor with aspirations to directing. Leonard took over as director of the program midway into its first season, eventually becoming executive producer. Together, Thomas and Leonard established Thomas-Leonard Productions, a powerhouse production  company based on the Desilu lot; their company was responsible for a multitude of successful series, including The Real  McCoys,  The  Andy  Griffith  Show, The Joey Bishop Show, The Bill Dana Show, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. In 1965, when Leonard left to develop I Spy, Thomas continued independently, producing The Danny Thomas Hour, an anthology series for NBC. and joining with Aaron Spelling to create and produce The Mod Squad and other programs. While a 1967 at­tempt to buy Desilu from Lucille Ball was unsuccessful, Thomas continued to create and  produce programs under the banner of Danny Thomas Productions.

     Thomas had an enormous and positive impact upon the growing medium. The off-camera stand-up routines he performed for the in-studio audience just prior to filming each episode of Make Room for Daddy were imitated on other programs and institutionalized as the now commonplace "warm-up." The Andy Griffith Show was the first real spin-off for network television, originating in a 1960 episode of The Danny Thomas Show: As a producer. Thomas read scripts and supervised a plethora of top-rated programs, and he was personally responsible for casting Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show. His influence as producer continued not only in his own projects but through the work of his children, notably daughter Marlo, who is a renowned actress, producer, and director, and his son Tony, who with partners Susan Harris and Paul Junger Witt is responsible for a veritable catalogue of 1970s and 1980s hit programs, including Soap and The Golden Girls.

     Danny Thomas's personal integrity was as well known as his acting and producing talents. In the 1950s he successfully protected two blacklisted writers who continued to write for his television series under assumed names. In 1983 he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his work in establishing the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, a cause he continued to promote and support until his death in 1991.