Gallagher and Shean

Gallagher and Shean, comedy team. Edward Gallagher (1873?–1929) and Al Shean (1868–1949) were one of the greatest and most popular of vaudeville teams, although their career together was surprisingly short. The American‐born Gallagher was relatively tall, slim, and bespectacled and sported a minimoustache, while the German‐born Shean, whose real surname was Schonberg, was stockier and clean‐shaven. Gallagher was a superb straight man who had spent much of his early career in partnership with Joe Barrett, generally performing comic military sketches. Shean began his career in vaudeville in 1890 as a member of the Manhattan Comedy Four. This group disbanded in 1900, after which Shean teamed with Charles L. Warren for several seasons. Gallagher and Shean joined ranks in 1910, appearing in vaudeville and in the 1912 Broadway musical The Rose Maid, before splitting for reasons never divulged. Both then played single turns in vaudeville, while Shean also appeared in such Broadway musicals as The Princess Pat (1915) and Flo‐Flo (1917). They were reunited in 1920 through the good offices of Minnie Marx, Shean's sister and mother of the Marx brothers. Because their new act initially was called “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean in Egypt,” Gallagher thereafter wore a straw hat and Shean a fez. Sometime during the next year they first sang the song that helped make them famous, “Mister Gallagher and Mr. Shean,” with its celebrated tagline, “Positively, Mr. Gallagher—Absolutely, Mr. Shean.” The team at first claimed authorship of the song but later became entangled in litigation over it. Although Gallagher then claimed Ernest Ball assisted in the composition, the real author was apparently Bryan Foy, son of Eddie Foy. The song was reprised when the pair appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1922. They later continued in vaudeville and performed in the Greenwich Village Follies of 1924. In 1925 the team split for good. Gallagher briefly developed another vaudeville act before suffering a nervous breakdown and dying shortly thereafter. Shean continued in vaudeville, Broadway shows, and films for many years.