Ignace Levkovitch ( Lewkowitz; April 6, 1903 – September 1, 1986), known as Eddie Vitch, was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

-born comic entertainer and caricaturist.

Biography

Levkovitch was born in

Skierniewice Skierniewice () is a city in central Poland with 45,184 inhabitants (2023), situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. It is the capital of Skierniewice County. Through the town runs the small river Łupia, also called Skierniewka. Located in the hist ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

at the time). He first performed cabaret in Paris as a

mime artist A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

, before making his way to the USA. In 1931, after changing his name to Eddie Vitch, he approached the Hollywood

Brown Derby Brown Derby was a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and best known was shaped like a derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was opened by Wilson Mizner in 1926. The chai ...

owner, Robert H. Cobb, and offered to draw caricatures of the famous patrons who dined at the restaurant. In a very short time, Vitch drew hundreds of pictures of Hollywood stars, and the Brown Derby became famous for the caricatures which adorned its walls. For aspiring actors, having their caricature on the walls of the Brown Derby meant they had finally 'made it' in Hollywood. For Eddie Vitch it was to become his ticket into the world of entertainment. In 1934 he returned to Europe, and appeared as a comic mime performer in cabaret alongside such stars as

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven f ...

and

Josephine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...

. He was performing in Paris at the start of the Second World War and - despite using his Jewish surname on contracts - began performing regularly in Berlin. Gregory Gutterman Scruggs, "As jester to Göring and Goebbels, was this Jewish comic a Nazi collaborator?", ''Times of Israel'', 27 October 2017
Retrieved 10 June 2024 By the 1940s, he was performing all over Occupied Europe and Scandinavia. His career took off during this time and he performed with the

Folies Bergère 150px, Stanisław Julian Ignacy Ostroróg">Walery, 1927 The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the arc ...

, Paris, in the

Berlin Wintergarten theatre The Berlin Wintergarten theatre was a large variety theatre in Berlin-Mitte. It opened in 1887 and was destroyed by bombs during the Second World War. The Skladanowsky brothers showcased the first short film presentation at the theatre in 189 ...

, the

Hippodrome, London The Hippodrome is a building on the corner of Cranbourn Street and Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, London. The name was used for many different theatres and music halls, of which the London Hippodrome is one of only a few survi ...

and the

Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli (), is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Kla ...

in Copenhagen.Stage and Cinema Magazine, November 20, 1953. p.2 After the war, Vitch went on to perform his comedy shows in places as far off as South Africa and Australia. He appeared on TV and had guest appearances in several movies. In 1966 he retired from theater life and moved to Australia, where he died in 1986 at the age of 83.

Documentary

In 2015 work commenced on a documentary about Eddie Vitch's life, and the uncertainties over his wartime relationship with the authorities in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. The film, ''Vitch'', directed by

Sigal Bujman Sigal Bujman is a filmmaker who co-created the original travel series ''Fantastic Festivals of the World'' (2003-2010). ''Fantastic Festivals of the World'' was broadcast internationally on the Travel Channel and Discovery Network. Sigal writes, ...

, was released in 2017 and was shown in major festivals and cinemas around the world.

References

External links

*
Vitch Documentary Website

Review of ''Vitch''
by Dennis Schwartz {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitch, Eddie 1903 births 1986 deaths Polish emigrants to the United States American artists