Sid Silvers (January 16, 1901 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York – August 20, 1976 in Brooklyn) was an American actor, comedian, lyricist, and writer. Silvers began his career in

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 ...

in the early 1920s as a comedy partner of Phil Baker. As part of their act, Silvers would heckle Baker from the audience. The Baker/Silvers act was later used as the basis for the 1951 Martin and Lewis film '' The Stooge''. The duo continued to perform together up through 1928. In 1925 Silvers made his Broadway debut in the revue ''Artists and Models''. He also appeared in the revue '' A Night in Spain'' in 1927 and contributed lyrics to the musicals '' The Song Writer'' (1928) and '' Pleasure Bound'' (1929). He wrote the book for the 1931 musical '' You Said It''. He returned to the Broadway stage in 1932 to portray Louie Webb in the musical '' Take a Chance''. He later wrote the music and lyrics to the review '' New Faces of 1936''. Silvers made his film debut in the 1929 feature '' The Show of Shows'' and then went on to play supporting roles in such films as '' Dancing Sweeties'' (1930), '' Bottoms Up'' (1934), '' Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round'' (1934), '' Born to Dance'' (1936), and '' Broadway Melody of 1936'', notably also serving as a scriptwriter on the latter two films. He often contributed special comedy material to some of the larger MGM productions, including '' The Wizard of Oz'' in 1939. In the 1940s Silvers was mainly active as a performer on the stage and on radio. He made his final film appearance in 1946, playing a featured comic role in '' Mr. Ace''. In the 1950s, he was a writer for '' The Mickey Rooney Show''.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Silvers, Sid 1901 births 1976 deaths American male comedians American male film actors American lyricists American radio personalities American male screenwriters American vaudeville performers Jewish American screenwriters Jewish American comedians 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters Jewish male comedians 20th-century American Jews