Talk:Robert Cummings

from VfD:
This article starts in style: Robert Mark Cummings (not to be confused with anyone else bearing the name for which the following description does not apply) and doesn't let up. It may deserve some sort of award. Unfortunately Mr Cummings doesn't seem particularly notable.

Oh, I dunno ... I must concede that (to my tired eyes) he's made to seem slightly more notable than are the dozens of anime voice actors (etc etc etc etc etc) that are reverently awarded articles on Wikipedia. (Not to mention "Sollog". Ack!) But the notability might just be that of this unintentionally (I presume) merry article. What do youse think? -- Hoary 07:10, 2004 Dec 19 (UTC)


 * PS I wholeheartedly approve of the new (and entirely unrelated) article. -- Hoary 09:30, 2004 Dec 24 (UTC)


 * Delete --Carnildo 07:11, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: DCEdwards1966 07:22, Dec 19, 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Note The Bob Cummings Show, starring a Robert Cummings for whom this one will never be mistaken. His nearly 70 Hollywood films and his sequence of '60s and '70s TV shows probably rate a bio article, to which the redirect should then be retargeted, but no rush for that.  (The existing text can be discarded without compunctions.) --Jerzy(t) 07:55, 2004 Dec 19 (UTC) [Cancelling this vote in order to cast a "Redirect and prohibit Dab" vote below. --Jerzy(t) 05:25, 2004 Dec 22 (UTC)]
 * What's wrong with anime? Oh, and btw, delete. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 17:28, Dec 19, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, vanity. Wyss 18:45, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirect to The Bob Cummings Show. My first thought on seeing this entry was that it was that Bob Cummings. The Carleton University graduate who developed BlobbieScript is not yet sufficiently notable to merit an article. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 01:52, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirect, as Jerzy said.  --fvw *  08:06, 2004 Dec 20 (UTC)
 * Redirects are cheap. Refer this to The Bob Cummings Show. [[User:GRider|GRider\talk]] 17:50, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirect. Eventually the Robert Cummings (actor) article should go here. This user has vandalized a dozen pages by un-wikilinking every mention of the actor. -Willmcw 01:15, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Redirect and Prohibit Dab. In addition to the reasons given in my cancelled vote above, the disruption of existing red links (see User:Willmcw's vote, presently directly above) calls for
 * at the least, noting that no one favored a Disambiguation page to accomodate the subject of Robert Mark Cummings, and
 * preferably saying as much more as the VfD-closer finds justified, in the direction of "future inclusion of Robert Mark Cummings in the WP article space should be summarily reverted, in the absence of a 7-day process on Talk:Robert Cummings (or on Talk:The Bob Cummings Show if Robert Cummings is still a redirect) that culminates in a consensus finding that circumstances have changed to make Robert Mark Cummings of encyclopedic interest."
 * --Jerzy(t) 05:25, 2004 Dec 22 (UTC)


 * neither delete nor redirect - I'd prefer the text be replaced with a stub article for the actor Robert Cummings, especially seeing as all the "what links here" refer to the actor, not the person in the current article. Rossrs 13:47, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Write the stub & i'll call it a rescue and vote with you. But don't vote on the basis of what could be if you don't find the stub worthy enuf to write. --Jerzy(t) 19:15, 2004 Dec 22 (UTC)
 * I thought it was worthy enough to write or I wouldn't have suggested it. I just didn't have the time to do it at that moment. Voting on the basis of what can be is perfectly valid as evidenced by the fact that someone with more free time than me came along and did what I suggested Rossrs 15:41, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I'll write a bio on the actor, and place it below the existing text. Once this VfD is settled the article can be edited appropriately. -Willmcw 22:01, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Done. -Willmcw 23:09, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I call that a rescue! Tnx. --Jerzy(t) 23:00, 2004 Dec 23 (UTC)
 * Ditto. A job very well done indeed. -- Hoary 09:30, 2004 Dec 24 (UTC) (yes, the original "plaintiff")
 * Thanks J. & H. And thanks to H. for catching the original problem. (I find that a lot of my contributions start as an attempt to smooth over an irritating bit - oyster editing. Many Wiki editors probably got their start, like I did, by seeing an article that was so bad it begged for rounding out. Here's to the bad articles!) Cheers, -Willmcw 09:35, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * a bit belated, but thank you - that's precisely the article I hoped someone would write, only a great deal better! now that first paragraph about the "other" Robert Cummings has gotta go.  Rossrs 12:57, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I agree, change to article on actor. Spinboy 04:39, 23 Dec 2004 (UTC)

end moved discussion

Bob's Photo
I replaced the photo from Dial M For Murder with a close-up of Bob from The Barefoot Mailman. I think this photo better represents Bob's image. I would have left both photos, but Wikipedia guidelines state that only one screenshot should be used per article. I find that the Dial M For Murder photo is more appropriate for the article on that film. SteveHopson 03:46, 16 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Good choice. Thanks for doing that. -Will Beback 19:27, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Robert Cummings was the birth name of Rob Zombie. that should get a mention somewhere —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.19.126.18 (talk) 21:52, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Correct birthdate
The correct birthdate should be: 09 June 1910.

There are two ways that I arrived at this date:

1) using the Social Security Death Index (SSDI): which lists 09 June 1910 and Sherman Oaks, CA as the last residence (which agrees with a NYT obituary).

2) The US Census of 1910 for Joplin, Jasper County, MO. Cummings parents can be found in Galena Township of Jasper County, in enumeration district 14, (sheet number is illegible on Heritage Quest images). Robert O. CUMMINGS (name given in the SSDI) does not appear. The enumeration was taken in April, 1910. His mother would have been pregnant, but that does not "count". Had Robert been born in 1908, he should have appeared with the age of "1". Another entry shows the mother "Ruth K." had not given birth to any children at this point in her life. The CUMMINGS are listed on lines 12/13; were noted as being married for 10 years; and were 44 and 34 years of age, respectively. The father was listed as aa "allopathic" (sp?) physician. [I suspect he was not a graduate MD.] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.243.207.8 (talk) 23:34, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

The above post is correct. Both the California Death Index (i.e. information gathered directly from death certificates issued in the state) and the Social Security Death Index give Mr. Cummings date of birth as June 9, 1910. 67.168.218.159 (talk) 23:30, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Rename article

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: no consensus for move. Favonian (talk) 14:42, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Robert Cummings → Bob Cummings – This actor is better known as Bob Cummings, including having both of his self-named shows called "The Bob Cummings Show". 24.149.45.52 (talk) 13:32, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Support move. We customarily list people by the commonly used name. See Ted Kennedy (Edward M. Kennedy) and Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter). •••Life of Riley (T–C) 01:44, 7 September 2011 (UTC)
 * ...and Bill Clinton. •••Life of Riley (T–C) 01:47, 7 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Oppose: He was billed in all his films as Robert (see the photo in our very own article, for example), and the world at large knows him as Robert. It's only American audiences who stand a chance of knowing him as Bob, from his TV shows, but apparently his most successful one ran in 1955-59, so those audiences have to be aged at least 65-70 now and do not represent the average viewer.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  09:25, 7 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Oppose: Cummings was billed as Bob Cummings in only 20 credits in his entire career, whereas he was billed as Robert Cummings in 85 credits.  Even though he went by Bob in the credits of two of his TV series (in which he played characters named Bob), his final TV series billed him as Robert (with him playing a character named Robert).  Virtually none of the Bob Cummings credits were on anything other than U.S. television, and to the world at large, his greatly larger recognition factor as Robert Cummings (based on his greatly larger output of material distributed around the world and still widely available, i.e., feature films) makes Robert the name of preference for Wikipedia.  A re-direct from Bob Cummings is sufficient for the comparatively lesser number of people who only know him as Bob. Monkeyzpop (talk) 07:01, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Additionally, see the obituaries cited in the article. They all, including the New York Times, use Robert rather than Bob in their headlines.Monkeyzpop (talk) 07:18, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Robert Cummings vs Bob Cummings
For the record, subject was known exclusively as "Robert Cummings" from his first billed on-screen appearances in the 1935 films The Virginia Judge and So Red the Rose until 1951 when, in TV appearances, he introduced himself as "Bob". Between 1951 and 1957, he was billed intermittently as "Robert" (for all theatrical film roles, dramatic TV roles and, in 1952, for his first sitcom My Hero) and as "Bob" (for his second sitcom, starting in 1955, and other TV comedic roles). His final billing as "Robert" was in the March 24, 1957 episode of General Electric Theater. After March 1957, until his death in 1990, he was always billed and introduced as "Bob", a name he used for all of his performances, both in films and TV, and both dramatic ("Bomber's Moon" (1958) on Playhouse 90, "King Nine Will Not Return" (1960) on The Twilight Zone, Stagecoach (1966 film)) and comedic (My Living Doll, 1964–65).&mdash;Roman Spinner (talk) 02:26, 7 February 2012 (UTC)
 * To amplify my earlier comments (directly above), Cummings' listing at Find a Grave, depicts his burial place nameplate as "CUMMINGS Robert O." The AFI Catalog lists him as Robert Cummings as do IMDb (Robert Cummings) and AllMovie (Robert Cummings). IBDb, on the other hand, lists him as Bob Cummings and indicates that in each of his four Broadway appearances, he used a different stage name — Blade Stanhope Conway in 1931, Brice Hitchens in 1934, Robert Cummings in 1951 and Bob Cummings in 1966.
 * One sentence in his IMDb biographical write-up ("In dramatic films he was billed in the credits as Robert Cummings; in lighter fare, often as Bob Cummings") perpetuates the mistaken notion that he used the two names interchangeably. In fact, until the end of 1954, he was billed exclusively as "Robert" (including in his 1952–53 sitcom My Hero, although in the (end) credits of at least one of its episodes, May 30, 1953, he is billed as "Bob").
 * 1954 was the final year in which his billing was consistently indicated as "Robert Cummings". For his Emmy-winning dramatic performance in the live production of "Twelve Angry Men" as well as two theatrical features, Lucky Me (a musical comedy) and Dial M for Murder (a Hitchcock thriller), the on-screen credits (as well as those indicated on posters) specify "Robert Cummings" but, his subsequent theatrical feature, the following year's How to Be Very, Very Popular, depicts the on-screen and poster billing as "Bob Cummings", a practice followed in all of his remaining theatrical features, whether dramatic (1964's The Carpetbaggers, 1966's Stagecoach) or comedic (1963's Beach Party, 1965's Promise Her Anything).
 * On January 2, 1955, the premiere episode of his popular sitcom The Bob Cummings Show was broadcast on NBC, with the opening credits specifying, "starring Bob Cummings". From that point, for the remainder of his career, virtually all of his credits indicated "Bob". The only known instances after January 1955 in which he was billed as "Robert Cummings" occurred in a couple of half-hour western episodes of Four Star Productions' anthology series General Electric Theater (March 24, 1957) and Zane Grey Theater (November 24, 1960). Other than those two exceptions, his stage name remained "Bob Cummings" from January 1955 until his death in December 1990. &mdash;Roman Spinner (talk)(contribs) 00:21, 1 July 2016 (UTC)
 * A correction within my penultimate sentence, above: while Zane Grey Theater was produced by Four Star Productions, General Electric Theater was not, having been a production of Universal Television's Revue Studios. &mdash;Roman Spinner (talk)(contribs) 03:59, 7 August 2016 (UTC)

Robert Cummings
I have seen conflicting information about his fourth wife, whom you have listed as Wong but other sources list as Young. The first names are not similar either. Thought you would like to know. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:301:7743:E050:E575:8D17:D335:7CCC (talk) 01:09, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

Vivian Janis
This 1938 article by Cummings in Flying states that he and Janis were married in 1935 in Akron. Don't have access to the source that gives 1933, so I can't say if this is a reference conflict, typo, or edit snafu. Cummings didn't seem to have a problem inventing identities, so maybe he made it up... Richigi (talk) 18:50, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

Unusual errors
Unusual amount of misplaced letters, words and sentences.