All Entries Tagged With: "Vaudeville"
Arthur Freed
Date of Birth: 9 September 1894 Birth Name: Arthur Grossman Mini Biography: Producer, songwriter and author, brother to Ralph Freed, Walter and Ruth Freed. He was educated at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and became associated with Gus Edwards musical acts. He performed in vaudeville with Louis Silvers, with whom he wrote revues for New York [...]
William Frawley
Date of Birth: 26 February 1887 Birth Name: William Clement Frawley Nickname: Bill Height: 5′ 7" (1.70 m) Mini Biography: William Frawley was born in Burlington, Iowa. As a boy he sang at St. Paul's Catholic Church and played at the Burlington Opera House. His first job was as a stenographer for the Union Pacific [...]
D.C. Douglas
Date of Birth: 2 February 1966 Height: 6′ 2" (1.88 m) Mini Biography: D.C. Douglas was born in Berkeley, California, but lived throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. With a family history that included the circus, vaudeville and burlesque, D.C. fell into theatre at an early age. After high school he moved to Los Angeles [...]
Winsor McCay
Date of Birth: 26 September 1871 Birth Name: Zenas Winsor McKay Mini Biography: Like many pioneers, the work of 'Winsor McCay' has been largely superseded by successors such as Walt Disney and Max Fleischer but he more than earns a place in film history for being the American cinema's first great cartoon animator. He started [...]
Ina Claire
Date of Birth: 15 October 1893 Birth Name: Ina Fagan Height: 5′ 4" (1.63 m) Mini Biography: Effervescent, blond star of sophisticated Broadway comedy in the 1920's. Born Ina Fagan, of Irish descent, she lost her father in a car accident four months before she was born. Without a breadwinner in the family, she was [...]
George Chandler
Date of Birth: 30 June 1898 Height: 5′ 8" (1.73 m) Mini Biography: After military service during the First World War, Chandler studied at the University of Illinois, financing his studies by playing jazz violin in a band. During the early 1920's, he returned to the vaudeville circuit and began in films from 1928. Most [...]
Betty Compson
Date of Birth: 19 March 1897 Birth Name: Eleanor Luicime Compson Height: 5′ 2½" (1.59 m) Mini Biography: A mining engineer's daughter, blond, blue-eyed Betty Compson began in show business playing violin in a Salt Lake City vaudeville establishment for $15 a week. Following that, she went on tour, accompanied by her mother, with an [...]
Jack Cardiff
Date of Birth: 18 September 1914 Nickname: Jack O'Lantern (for his "lighting" expertise) Height: 5′ 8" (1.73 m) Mini Biography: Almost universally considered one of the greatest cinematographers of all time, Jack Cardiff was also a notable director. He described his childhood as very happy and his parents as quite loving. They performed in music [...]