Press & broadcasting / Comedy / Film & TV
Sonny Eliot
1920–2012 · TV weatherman, comedian, broadcaster
Detroit's joking TV weatherman for more than six decades, on WWJ-TV/WDIV from 1947 to 1980 and host of the long-running children's show At the Zoo.
- Born
- Died
aged 91- Birth name
- Marvin Schlossberg
- Detroit years
- 1940s–2010
- Field
- Press & broadcasting, Comedy, Film & TV
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Sonny Eliot, born Marvin Schlossberg, flew B-24 bombers in World War II and spent 18 months as a prisoner of war after being shot down. After the war he studied at Wayne State University and in 1947 began presenting Detroit's weather on WWJ-TV, Channel 4, one of the country's first television stations. For the next 33 years he turned the forecast into a comedy routine, famous for invented words such as 'shoggy' for showery and foggy, and Detroiters tuned in as much for the jokes as for the temperatures. He also hosted At the Zoo, a children's program filmed at the Detroit Zoo, for 17 years, and presented movies on WKBD. He moved to WJBK-TV from 1980 to 1983 and kept broadcasting on Detroit radio until 2010. He entered the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2005.
Highlights
- Weatherman on WWJ-TV/WDIV Detroit, 1947–1980
- Host of the children's show At the Zoo, filmed at the Detroit Zoo, for 17 years
- B-24 pilot and prisoner of war in World War II
- Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame (2005)
- On the air in Detroit from 1947 to 2010
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1950s–1970s
Detroit Zoo
Eliot's children's show At the Zoo was filmed here for 17 years.
Studied here · 1940s
Wayne State University
Eliot graduated from Wayne State; the university held a tribute to him after his death.