Sam Bernard (born Samuel Barnett, 5 June 1863 – 16 May 1927) was an English-born American

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

comedian who also performed in musical theatre,

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a n ...

and

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

and appeared in a few

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

Life and career

Bernard was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, England, and moved to the United States as a child. He began performing a song and dance act with his brother Dick in variety houses in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

, changing their stage name from Barnett as they considered the name Bernard more "ethnic". Sam went solo in 1884, and joined B. F. Keith's theatre company in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

. After a brief tour in England, he returned to the U.S., performed in the Night Owls comedy troupe, and then became the part-owner and leading comedy actor in the French Folly Company. He was friendly with Joe Weber and

Lew Fields Lew Fields (born Moses Schoenfeld, January 1867 – July 20, 1941) was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager, and producer. He was part of a comedy duo with Joe Weber. He also produced shows on his own and starred in come ...

, and in 1890 agreed to manage their troupes, the Russell Brothers Comedians and then the Vaudeville Club touring company, in which Bernard also starred. Frank Cullen, ''Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America'', Psychology Press, pp.100–101
/ref> Harvard Theatre Collection - Sam Bernard and Hattie Williams TCS 1

Harvard Theatre Collection - Sam Bernard and Hattie Williams TCS 1

In 1896, Bernard became the star performer in the newly-formed Weber & Fields Music Hall company, and appeared in many of their classic theatre sketches, often performing with Weber and Fields. He remained with the company until 1902, except for a period in 1899–1900 when he starred with

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Great Depression, Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-lengt ...

in the

musical Musical is the adjective of music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact def ...

''The Man in the Moon''. After 1902, he worked primarily in

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

s, including '' The Girl from Kays'' (1903), in which he created his character Mr Hoggenheimer and starred with

Hattie Williams Hattie Williams (March 17, 1870 - August 17, 1942) was an American stage actress, comedian and vocalist from Boston. She was a popular player in vaudeville and with Charles Frohman's theatrical company at the turn of the twentieth century and ap ...

. His later successes included '' The Rollicking Girl'' (1905), ''The Rich Mr Hoggenheimer'' (1906), ''The Girl and the Wizard'' (1909), ''He Came From Milwaukee'' (1910); ''All for the Ladies'' (1910); ''The Belle of Bond Street'' (1914); and ''The Century Girl'' (1916). He began to explore acting in motion pictures in 1915, after he was signed to the

Triangle Film Corporation Triangle Film Corporation (also known as Triangle Motion Picture Company) was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in July 1915 in Culver City, California and terminated 7 years later in 1922. History The studio was founded in July ...

. His movies included ''Fatty and the Broadway Stars'' (1915, with

Fatty Arbuckle Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (; March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked w ...

), ''

Poor Schmaltz ''Poor Schmaltz'' is a lost 1915 American comedy silent film directed by Hugh Ford and written by Mark Swan. The film stars Sam Bernard, Robert Broderick, Conway Tearle, Dick Bernard, Ruby Hoffman and Leonore Thompson. The film was released on A ...

'' (1915), ''The Great Pearl Tangle'' (1916), and ''Because He Loved Her'' (1916). He returned to stage

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own du ...

s in ''Friendly Enemies'' (1918), ''As You Were'' (1920), and

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

's '' Music Box Revue'' (1921), and wrote and starred in ''Nifties of 1923''. Sam Bernard died of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleed ...

while aboard the after its departure from New York en route to Europe.Sam Bernard Dies On Atlantic Liner
'' The Gazette, Montreal'', 19 May 1927 via Google News Archive. Retrieved 2011-01-22.

Acting credits

Theatre

Selected plays: * ''The Man in the Moon'' (1899) * ''

The Belle of Bohemia ''The Belle of Bohemia'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts which opened on Broadway in 1900 before having a run on the West End of London in 1901. It was one of a series of musicals with ''Belle'' in the title that were popular on both ...

'' (1900) * ''Hoity Toity'' (1901) * '' The Girl from Kays'' (1904) * '' The Rollicking Girl'' (1905) * ''The Rich Mr. Hoggenheimer'' (1906) * ''Nearly a Hero'' (1908) * ''The Girl and the Wizard'' (1909) * ''He Came from Milwaukee'' (1910) * ''All for the Ladies'' (1912) * ''The Belle of Bond Street'' (1914) * ''The Century Girl'' (1916) * '' Friendly Enemies'' (1918) * ''As You Were'' (1920) * ''Music Box Revue'' (1923)

Films

Some of the movies in which he was featured include: * '' A Janitor's Wife's Temptation'' (1915) * ''Because He Loved Her'' (1915) * ''

Fatty And The Broadway Stars ''Fatty and the Broadway Stars'' is a 1915 American short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle. Cast * Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle * Ivy Crosthwaite * Mack Sennett * Joe Weber * Lew Fields * Sam Bernard * William Collier Sr. * Joe J ...

'' (1915) * ''

The Great Pearl Tangle ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'' (1916) * ''Call A Cop'' (1921)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Sam 1863 births 1927 deaths Vaudeville performers English male stage actors People who died at sea British emigrants to the United States Comedians from Birmingham, West Midlands