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Jack Oakie
Born: November
12th, 1903 Sedalia, Missouri Remarks: He borrowed his stage name from the state where he was grew up, made his stage debut in 1922 and his first film appearance in 1923. A popular ‘second banana’ in the 1940’s, Oakie got the label “The World’s Oldest Freshman” from the many campus comedy roles he played. Jack made over 90 films but would never wear make-up driving cameramen wild. He was nominated for a supporting Oscar for the role of Benzini Napaloni in Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” (1940). |
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Martha Raye
Born: August 27th, 1916 Butte, Montana Remarks: Born in a charity ward in Butte, Montana where her vaudeville Parents were stranded, Martha joined the family act at 3, became a specialty singer with a band at 13 and broke into films at 19. Her elastic mouth, forceful lungs and zany persona made her a favorite in movies, television and nightclubs. Ironically, her big mouth also made her a lot of money with a very popular commercial for denture toothpaste. An untiring entertainer for our troops, Martha Raye received the Freedom Medal from President Clinton just one year before she died. |
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Joe E. Brown
Born: July 28th, 1891 Holgate, Ohio Remarks: Joe, at 10 years old, actually got permission from his parents to run away with the circus as part of a tumbling act. From there it was on to vaudeville where his infectious wide mouth, infectious grin and athletic ability made him a natural for physical comedy. Joe made his first film in 1928. He was also known throughout the film community for tirelessly entertaining the troops after his son, Captain Don Evans Brown, was killed in a training accident. Brown made 53 filmsincluding “Showboat” in 1951 and “Some Like It Hot” in 1959. |
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Joan Davis
Born: June 29th, 1907 St. Paul, Minnesota Remarks: Joan began performing as a child. She then teamed up with hubby Sy Wills in 1931 in a vaudeville act and created the gangling, loose jointed character that became her trademark. In the 1950’s she produced the very successful television series “I Married Joan” with Jim backus as her husband and daughter Beverly as her sister. Joan Davis made 47 films including “Sun Valley Serenade” (1941) and “If You Knew Susie” (1948). |
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Chester Conklin
Born: January 11th, 1886 Oskaloosa, Iowa Remarks: Chester began in stock and vaudeville then became a circus clown before Mack Sennett hired him as a Keystone Cop in 1913. The walrus moustache became his trademark in the early Chaplin comedies and the “Ambrose-Walrus” comedy shorts he did with Mack Swain. Sound took the edge off his comedy style and his career was almost ended in 1950. By 1954 he was working as a department store Santa. In 1961 he went into a nursing home where he met and married \another patient. Chester Conklin made over 230 films. |
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Cass Daley
Born: July 17th, 1915 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Remarks: When she was a child, The other kids made jokes about her buck teeth and protruding backside. But Cass made assets out of her liabilities by taking them with her into comedy. Her first of 8 films was “The Fleet’s In” (1942) and she continued to make movies until her son was born in 1949. In 1967 she made a comeback on television and in nightclubs until her untimely death in 1975. |
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John Bunny
Born: September 21st, 1863 New York City, New York Remarks: The son of a British sea captain (ninth in his line) John was Hollywood’s first comic star. But he died before his art could be fully realized and most of his work has been lost. It was the rotund 300-pound Bunny who paved the way for Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. Much of his comedy involved his immense size and extramarital peccadillos with Flora Finch playing his wife. |
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Flora Finch
Born: June 17th, 1867 London, England Remarks: Flora came to America following a British stage career. But her key to success was as the scrawny, homely wife of John Bunny in a host of Vitagraph comedies. The two of them were the earliest film comedians to be listed by name.After Bunny died, her career went downhill and she turned to producing crude slapstick comedies. Later she did bits in feature films including “The Scarlet Letter”(1934) and “The Women” (1939). In all, she appeared in 230 films. |
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Leon Errol
Born: July 3rd, 1881 Sydney, Australia Remarks: One of Errol’s first film comedy sketches featured Tom Kennedy as a ventriloquist and Errol as his dummy in “The Baltimore Beauties”(1906). He later appeared with his wife as an eccentric dance team in “The Ziegfeld Follies of 1911” and four succeeding Follies films. Errol’s rubbery legs and slightly pickled or befuddled persona made him a popular comedian in in numerous Monogram films including the successful “Mexican Spitfire” series with Lupe Velez. |
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Lupe Velez
Born: July 18th, 1908 San Luis Potosi, Mexico Remarks: She was known more for her comedy than her dramatic roles but her wild romantic adventures offscreen often took center stage. The “Mexican Spitfire” series was written just for her as Carmelita Lindsay with the irascible Leon Errol. But a broken romance with Gary Cooper and a failed marriage with Johnny Weissmuller as well as other romantic relationships filled the gossip columns. Her last broken romance with Harold Raymond led to her suicide. She was pregnant when she died from an overdose of Seconal. |
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Ben Blue
Born: September 12th, 1901 Montreal Canada Remarks: The dancer-mime-comedian began on Broadway in the the chorus of “Irene” in 1919. He later toured America and Europe with a vaudeville circuit before landing in silent comedy shorts for Warner Bros. and Hal Roach. Many of his early films were lost. A few of the more memorable are “Panama Hattie” (1942), “Broadway Rhythm” (1944) and his feature role in “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (1963). Ben also owned and operated “Slapsie Maxie’s” nightclubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco plus a club under his own name in Santa Monica. |
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Virginia O’Brien
Born: April 8th, 1919 Los Angeles, California Remarks: Stage fright gave Virginia her unique brand of comedy. While the beautiful dark-haired actress was performing in a musical at 17,she suffered stage fright and delivered her solo frozen in place, completely devoid of expression and facial movement. The audience broke up! By the time she was 18, she had a 7 year contract with MGM. Two of her 17 films were “The Harvey Girls” (1946) and “Till the Clouds Roll By” (1946). Virginia was the sister of actress Mary O’Brien andthe niece of director Lloyd Bacon. |
