Shaw, Oscar

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | 700+ words | Copyright

Shaw, Oscar [né Schwartz] (1889–1967), actor and singer. Born in Philadelphia and educated at the University of Pennsylvania, the pleasant‐looking song‐and‐dance man with the slicked‐down black hair and the toothy grin began his theatrical career as a chorus boy in The Mimic World (1908). During the next four years he appeared in important secondary roles in musicals. After some time in England, he was noticed as Dick Rivers in Very Good Eddie (1915), in which he introduced “Some Sort of Somebody.” He was rarely idle for the next seventeen years, his hits including Leave It to Jane (1917), Two Little Girls in Blue (1920), Good Morning Dearie (1920), Music Box Revue (1924), Oh, Kay! (1926), The Five O'Clock Girl (1927), and Flying High (1930). In 1932 Shaw toured as John T. Wintergreen in the road company of Of Thee I Sing, after which his career faded away. His last roles were in nonmusicals, the most important being his replacement of Dennis King as the lead in Petticoat Fever (1935).

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Shaw, Oscar." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Shaw, Oscar." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-ShawOscar.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Shaw, Oscar." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-ShawOscar.html

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