Barto and Mann: Dewey Barto (né Stewart Steven Swoyer; June 10, 1896 – January 31, 1973) and George Mann (December 2, 1905 — November 22, 1977), known as the "laugh kings" of

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

, were a comedic dance act from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. Their acrobatic, somewhat risqué, performance played on their disparities in height; Barto was 4'11" and Mann was 6'6".

Fanchon and Marco

Initially dancing as singles in Fanchon and Marco's ''Variety Idea'' and ''Dancelogue Idea'', Barto and Mann began dancing together as a comedic dance team in 1926 in Fanchon and Marco's ''Comic Supplement Idea'', where they portrayed the

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

comic strip characters, "

Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' is a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched wikt:tinhorn, tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept o ...

". By the end of 1926, they were well known throughout California as Barto and Mann.

Playing the Palace

Bypassing the lengthy path of seasoning on the vaudeville circuits usually required to “play the Palace” on Broadway (at 47th) in New York, William Morris of the

William Morris Agency The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best-known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent ...

booked Barto and Mann “cold” into the

Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including: Australia *Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria *Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales Canada *Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, Mo ...

for March 14, 1927. ''Zit's Theatrical Newspaper'' reported of their performance, “Ten minutes before they went on at the Palace last Monday afternoon nobody thought very much about Barto and Mann; ten minutes after they came off stage, the whole Broadway world was talking about them ... Acts like these only come along once in a while”. They were an immediate sensation. The Keith-Albee Theatre Circuit, the

Orpheum Circuit The Orpheum Circuit was a chain of vaudeville and movie theaters. It was founded in 1886, and operated through 1927 when it was merged into the Keith-Albee-Orpheum corporation, ultimately becoming part of the Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) corporatio ...

, the

Pantages Theatre Circuit Alexander Pantages (, ''Periklis Alexandros Padazis''; 1867 – February 17, 1936) was a Greek American vaudeville impresario and early motion picture producer. He created a large and powerful circuit of theatres across the Western United Stat ...

, Loew's Inc., all of the picture houses, and several productions made offers. They accepted a contract with the Orpheum Circuit.

Earl Carroll's Vanities

Barto and Mann performed in New York, throughout the mid-West, and on the West Coast of the United States and Canada on the Orpheum Circuit until August 1928, when they joined the 7th edition of the

Earl Carroll's Vanities ''The Earl Carroll Vanities'' was a Broadway revue presented by Earl Carroll in the 1920s and early 1930s. Carroll and his show were sometimes controversial. Distinguishing qualities In 1923, the ''Vanities'' joined the ranks of New York's o ...

in New York, which included W.C. Fields on the bill. After a successful season with ''Vanities'', the duo started touring again in February 1929 and began headlining for Fanchon and Marco's ''Fantasma Idea'' in April 1929. Barto and Mann were the highest paid dancing team in show business. They toured Europe in 1931 and 1934, were on the inaugural program of

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

in 1932, and appeared in the 1933 film
''Broadway Through a Keyhole''

Hellzapoppin

In October 1927, ''

The Jazz Singer ''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American part-talkie musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland and produced by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music and lip-synchronous ...

'', the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, opened at th
Warners’ Theatre
heralding the beginning of the end for vaudeville as a popular mode of American entertainment. Barto and Mann were headliners in theaters and clubs throughout the late 1920s and the 1930s, increasingly sharing their performances with

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

s. As vaudeville wound down in the 1930s, they joined

Olsen and Johnson John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen (November 6, 1892 – January 26, 1963) and Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson (March 5, 1891 – February 26, 1962) were American comedians of vaudeville, radio, the Broadway theatre, Broadway stage, motion pictures and televis ...

's hit Broadway show, '' Hellzapoppin'' from 1938 to 1941 and continued in the show on the road in 1942. The duo dissolved the team in December 1943. Barto and Mann reunited briefly in late 1946 and early 1947. Dewey Barto and George Mann were listed as appearing as "Mitch and Irv" in a program at the Manchester Avenue School in Los Angeles on March 12, 1956.

Post Barto and Mann partnership

Barto, father of actress

Nancy Walker Nancy Walker (born Anna Myrtle Swoyer;Often mistranscribed as "Smoyer" May 10, 1922 – March 25, 1992) was an American actress and comedian of stage, screen, and television. She was also a film and television director (lending her talents to ''Th ...

, continued to perform on stage and also became active in the

American Guild of Variety Artists The American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) is an American entertainment union representing performers in variety entertainment, including circuses, Las Vegas showrooms and cabarets, comedy showcases, dance revues, magic shows, theme park ...

(AGVA) about the time the organization was formed in the late 1930s following the demise of the

American Federation of Actors The American Federation of Actors (AFA) was an early actors union in the United States. The union had a complex history. It originated as the White Rats' Union, which was founded and chartered by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1900. ...

(AFA). He became head of the AGVA in the late 1940s. George Mann acted in small roles in several movies, but primarily devoted himself to making a living with photography, an activity he had pursued actively while in vaudeville. Toward the end of his life he was the image on the box and character actor for the breakfast cereal, King Vitaman.

References

External links

Barto and Mann in ''Broadway Through a Keyhole''.

Loew's State Theatre Marquee, 1935

King Vitaman commercial with George Mann
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barto and Mann American comedy duos American vaudeville performers 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American comedians