Jessel, George (Albert)

Jessel, George [Albert] (1898–1981), comic actor and producer. Born into a poor Jewish family in the Bronx, he took to the stage in 1907 to help support his sick father. Jessell formed a vaudeville act with Jack Wiener, who became a Hollywood agent, and Walter Winchell, the renowned columnist. Later Winchell and Jessel joined Gus Edwards's famous schoolchildren act, performing alongside Georgie Price and Eddie Cantor, and by 1920 Jessel was producing his own miniature revues for vaudeville. About the same time he first did his most celebrated turn, his monologue that pretended to be a phone call to his demanding mother. In it he swore he knew nothing about the money missing from the cupboard, he hadn't eaten a piece of the cake she had baked for a charity affair, and no, that was not his cigar butt, since he didn't smoke. Jessel appeared on Broadway in the Shubert Gaieties of 1919, The Passing Show of 1923, Sweet and Low (1930), and High Kickers (1941). He co‐produced the latter as well as several other shows. On occasion Jessel also appeared in straight plays, most notably as Jackie Rabinowitz in The Jazz Singer (1925). His last years were spent as a Hollywood producer and as a celebrated after‐dinner speaker. Autobiography: So Help Me, 1943.