Close

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404703686.html" title="Facts and informations about Bert Lahr">Bert Lahr</a>

Bert Lahr

Bert Lahr

Bert Lahr (1895-1967) was a popular burlesque and vaudeville performer and an actor and comedian in musical comedy, film, and television.

Bert Lahr (Irving Lahrheim), born on August 13, 1895, in Yorkville, New York, was the son of Jacob Lahrheim, a German immigrant and third generation upholsterer, and his wife Augusta. His childhood years were filled with tension, largely due to his parents' poverty. He fled to the streets for escape and dropped out of school. Lahr schooled himself by reading and going to the theater— in particular, to vaudeville and melodrama. He joined the other boys on the street singing with his booming baritone voice.

Lahr also tried his hand at various jobs but did not hold any of them long. In 1910 a friend asked him to be a part of a burlesque act, "The Seven Frolics." (Although burlesque eventually developed into striptease shows, in that era it was similar to a variety show with a series of robust comic skits, singing, and dancing.) In this particular show, and in many to come, Lahr drew on his German-Jewish background in creating his character, the Dutch comedian. Although the show was not successful, Lahr had determined his career. For the next five years he played in many different burlesque houses, with shows such as Little Red School-house and Nine Crazy Kids. It was not until 1922, however, that he gained entry into a successful burlesque circuit and began his ascent to stardom. His talent was recognized by Blutch Cooper, a prominent producer, who put him in the popular vehicle, The Best Show in Town. Lahr continued developing his comic Dutchman, wearing pouches under his eyes, a mustache, and a fake, bulbous nose. Loud, acrobatic, and frivolous, this character was the basis for all of his future work. He was the common man with foibles, someone the audience could relate to. Lahr rose above his unhappy background with his desire to make people laugh.

Bert Lahr's dedication and talent caught on fast—he became the lead comic in shows such as Folly Town (1919), Roseland Girls (1920-1921), and his greatest burlesque success, Keep Smiling (1921-1922). In that show he met Mercedes, a dancer who became his partner and wife. The two moved to the vaudeville circuit Orpheum Time, considered a step above burlesque. It was at this time that Lahr created his famous sketch "What's The Idea?," which he would use many times in his future work. It involved Mercedes, playing a beautiful Spanish dancer, meeting Lahr, the dumb cop. Although the interaction of these two characters was the essential ingredient of the skit, the plot could be changed to fit into different productions.

Lahr's true stardom came in 1927 when he began his highly successful Broadway career with Harry Delmar's Revels. For several years he played the leading comic role in musical comedies such as Hold Everything (1928), in which he played a boxer; Flying High (1930), in the role of an aviator; Florenz Ziegfeld's last spectacle, Hot-Cha (1932); and George White's Music Hall Varieties (1933), Life Begins At 8:40 (1934), and Scandals (1936). In all of these shows Lahr played to great critical and audience acclaim.

Lahr's ambition for growth and success led him to Hollywood in 1938. He made five films that year, including Just Around the Corner with Shirley Temple and Zaza in which Lahr played Cascart, a vaudeville performer. This was his first dramatic part (and the first of several films and plays in which he played a vaudevillian), and its success was due to his intimate and personal understanding of the role. Yet his comedy, in general, was not effective on the screen. He was a broad comedian, used to playing to large audiences, and the subtlety demanded by the camera seemed to diminish his talents. During his career he made several more films, but only one stands out and displays his true abilities—it is the part he will always be remembered for: the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. It was different from his other films in that it relied on fantasy rather than romance and it gave Lahr a chance to shine. He used his popular boxing pose and his comic, inarticulate diction. He could finally be large and acrobatically comic on film. His performance in The Wizard of Oz was vibrant and sympathetic—the audiences related to him because they understood him as they had on stage. They saw the simple man whose fears and feelings they could share—and they laughed!

If Bert Lahr's popular success was The Wizard of Oz, the high point of his dramatic career was as Estragon in Samuel Beckett's existential classic, Waiting for Godot. Lahr played this part in the American premiére at the Cocoanut Grove Playhouse in Miami (1955). Billed as a comedy, the play was a failure. Yet when the play was later directed by Herbert Berghof, a famous acting teacher, it was a tremendous New York success and Lahr, in particular, was lauded for his poignant performance. Although he always claimed he did not understand the play, it was clearly his instinct for the part rather than his intellect that won over the audience. He was able to provide warmth and humor and ultimately bridge the gap between the play and the audience. He brought vulnerability and humor to Estragon—again the common man who sought the best in life and was disappointed. Theater critic Kenneth Tynan said that it was "one of the noblest performances I have ever seen."

Bert Lahr was one of the greatest comedians of modern times. He had the courage to challenge himself in many different areas of theater. Although self-educated, he was not afraid to take on the classics in television performances of Androcles and the Lion and The School for Wives (1956). At the American Shakespeare Festival he played Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), for which he received the Best Shakespearean Actor of the Year Award. In 1964 he won the Tony Award for Best Musical Actor in Foxy, a musical adaptation of Ben Jonson's classic, Volpone.

Lahr also made many appearances on television and in commercials. He fought hard to establish his career and he never quit. When he died on December 4, 1967, at the age of 75, he was in the midst of filming The Night They Raided Minsky's.

Bert Lahr had three children: Herbert, by his first wife; and John, a dramatic critic and author, and Jane, by his second wife, Mildred.

Further Reading

The most complete book on Bert Lahr is Notes on a Cowardly Lion, a biography of his work and personal life by his son, drama scholar John Lahr (1969, 2d ed. 1984). An insightful interview with Lahr is included in Actors Talk About Acting (1961), edited by Lewis Funke. Short biographies are also to be found in The Great Clowns of Broadway (1984) by Stanley Green; Famous Actors and Actresses on the American Stage, Vol. 2 (1975), by William C. Young (includes newspaper reviews); and Great Stars of the American Stage (1952) by Daniel Blum (includes photographs). □

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

	Wild card Nathan Lane. (actor)(Interview) Magazine article from: Interview; 3/1/1996; ; 700+ words ; ...Lisbon Traviata and Love! Valour! Compassioni, Lane has been the hilarious heart of the Great White Way. Like that cowardly lion Bert Lahr, or like Zero Mostel - whose role of Pseudolus Lane assumes this month in the new Broadway version of A Funny Thing Happened... Read more
	Hamlet's Dresser.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Audiobook Review) Magazine article from: Kliatt; 1/1/2004; ; 218 words ; ...a week, he was paid in other ways. He came to love Shakespeare's plays and to meet famous actors such as Katharine Hepburn, Bert Lahr, June Havoc, and John Houseman. Smith still loves Shakespeare, reading the plays with the elderly in New York City. His memoir... Read more
	Perfect fools. (stand-up comedy experience) Magazine article from: Commonweal; 10/23/1992; ; 700+ words ; ...anarchic spontaneity of the club act and translate it back into the older, stodgier world of the Broadway play.) But, from Bert Lahr and Ed Wynn through Bob Hope and Jack Benny to Robin Williams and Bob The Bobcat Goldthwaite, the art has a secret, hierophantic... Read more
	The siege of Narnia.(Faith matters) Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 1/24/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...subtext. Asian, for example, is much more thrilling and mysterious if you think of him as a superhero lion, not as Jesus in a Bert Lahr suit. Readers who dislike Lewis dislike him with a passion. Philip Pullman, the post-Inkling Oxford fantasist, called the Narnia... Read more
	Magical Movie Ad-Libs. Magazine article from: USA Today (Magazine); 1/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...Nevertheless, with a cast of witty former vaudevillians, an off-the-cuff comment was bound to stick, and one came courtesy of Bert Lahr. The setting is the poppy field just outside the Emerald City. Thanks to the wicked witch (Margaret Hamilton), the poppies... Read more
	Samuel Beckett, RIP. (obituary) Magazine article from: National Review; 1/22/1990; ; 525 words ; ...Directors, fans of the well-made, went up the wall. It was empty. It needed gimmickry. (The first U.S. gimmick was to cast Bert Lahr.) No. What you do is leave the hollow spaces hollow. (Would you putty up the gaps in Henry Moore?) Yet I've seen productions... Read more
	American Musical Theater - Shows, Songs, and Stars. Magazine article from: National Review; 10/13/1989; ; 374 words ; ...up the time frame and there is Walter Huston's September Song and Mary Martin's My Heart Belongs to Daddy ; Ethel Merman and Bert Lahr run through Friendship from DuBarry Was a Lady, a spoof to which I contributed part of a racy scene; Ethel Waters singing that... Read more
	Prick up your ears. Magazine article from: National Review; 5/22/1987; ; 700+ words ; ...all. Just what is the film trying to say? Atfirst, it uses a quasi-documentary structure, ostensibly chronicling how John Lahr (played by Wallace Shawn, who can't act but looks like Lahr, only worse) researches Orton's life to write the biography. Very sporadically... Read more
	Hit-and-run victim dedicated life to others.(Crime)(Friends say Lucy Lahr, who died Thursday after being hit by a truck, was accomplished in fighting for social justice) Newspaper article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR); 10/20/2007; 646 words ; ...before a judge ordered the county to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In addition to her public work, Lahr played baseball and volleyball, and took care of her ailing mother, Malito said. Police said Lahr had checked her mother into the... Read more

For more facts and information, see all related premium articles

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses

	Lahr, Bert Book article from: The Oxford Companion to American Theatre Lahr, Bert [ né Irving Lahrheim ] (1895–...a role he claimed he never understood. Lahr's later performances included Boniface in...1964). His son is critic and author John LAHR (b. 1941) who was born in Los Angeles and... Read more
	Bert Lahr Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition ...American comic actor, b. New York City, originally named Irving Lahrheim. Lahr first performed in burlesque and vaudeville, where he became known for his...film The Wizard of Oz (1939). Bibliography: See biography by his son John Lahr (1969). Read more
	Du Barry was a Lady Book article from: The Oxford Companion to American Theatre ...by B. G. De Sylva, Herbert Fields (book), Cole Porter (music, lyrics). [46th Street Theatre, 408 perf.] Louis Blore ( Bert Lahr ) is a nightclub washroom attendant. He loves the floor show's star, May Daley ( Ethel Merman ), who has eyes only for... Read more
	Coconut Grove Theatre Book article from: The Oxford Companion to American Theatre ...1920s movie palace, the new theatre had a prestigious debut, presenting the American premiere of Waiting for Godot with Bert Lahr and E. G. Marshall before it went to New York. José Ferrer was artistic director in the 1980s and the company continued... Read more
	Flying High Book article from: The Oxford Companion to American Theatre ...apartment balcony, his dithering mechanic “Rusty” Krause ( Bert Lahr ) attempts to escape the advances of hefty, lovelorn Pansy Sparks...produced and directed by George White , was a success largely because of Lahr's comic antics. Read more

See all related entries