Bert Lahr

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Bert Lahr

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Bert Lahr 1895-1967, American comic actor, b. New York City, originally named Irving Lahrheim. Lahr first performed in burlesque and vaudeville, where he became known for his morose facial expression. After his Broadway debut in Harry Delmar's Revels (1927), he appeared in numerous Broadway shows, in films, and on television. His performance in Waiting for Godot in 1956 is considered the high point of his career, but he is probably best remembered as the Cowardly Lion in the film The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Bibliography: See biography by his son John Lahr (1969).

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Lahr, Bert

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | | © The Oxford Companion to American Theatre 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Lahr, Bert [né Irving Lahrheim] (1895–1967), comic actor. The rubber‐faced, caterwauling comedian, famous for his “gnong‐gnong” and “Some fun, eh kid?,” began his career in vaudeville and burlesque. His first Broadway assignment was in Delmar's Revels (1927), but it was his clowning as the punch‐drunk Gink Schiner in Hold Everything! (1928) that made him a star. Appearances followed in Flying High (1930), Hot‐Cha! (1932), George White's Music Hall Varieties (1932), Life Begins at 8:40 (1934), George White's Scandals of 1935, The Show Is On (1936), Du Barry Was a Lady (1939), and Seven Lively Arts (1944). In 1946 he was praised for his performance as Skid in a revival of Burlesque, then, after appearing in Two on the Aisle (1951), he won further laurels for his portrayal of Estragon in Waiting for Godot (1956), a role he claimed he never understood. Lahr's later performances included Boniface in the farce Hotel Paradiso (1957), the revue The Boys Against the Girls (1959), a number of quick‐change roles in The Beauty Part (1962), and, his last Broadway appearance, the sly miser Foxy (1964). His son is critic and author John LAHR (b. 1941) who was born in Los Angeles and educated at Yale and Oxford University. After working as a dramaturg for some regional theatres, he started writing reviews in Evergreen Review, the Village Voice, and later The New Yorker. Among his many books is a biography of his father, Notes on a Cowardly Lion, 1969.

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Lahr, Bert." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Oxford University Press. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Jul. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Lahr, Bert." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Oxford University Press. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (July 10, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-LahrBert.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Lahr, Bert." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Oxford University Press. 2004. Retrieved July 10, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-LahrBert.html

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Lahr, Bert

The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre | 1996 | | © The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Lahr, Bert [ Irving Lahrheim] (1895–1967), American vaudeville and burlesque player, who became a leading actor in both musical shows and straight plays. Basically a clown, he first played the vaudeville circuits at the age of 15, and within a few years had developed his own solo act. After serving in the Navy during the First World War he teamed up in a double act with Mercides Delpino, later his wife, and made his Broadway début in the revue Delmar's Revels (1927), his first outstanding success being the prizefighter Gink Schiner in the musical Hold Everything (1928). During the 1930s he was in a number of musical shows, including the revue Life Begins at 8.40 (1934) and the Cole Porter musical Du Barry was a Lady (1939). In 1939 he also became internationally famous for his performance as the Cowardly Lion in the film The Wizard of Oz. His subsequent stage career included Skid, a passéburlesque comic, in a revival of Burlesque in 1946, Gogo (Estragon) in Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1956), and Boniface in Hotel Paradiso (1957), based on a farce by Feydeau. He gave fine performances as Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream in the American Shakespeare Festival production of 1960, and in Foxy, a musical version of Jonson's Volpone, in 1964.

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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Lahr, Bert." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Jul. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Lahr, Bert." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (July 10, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-LahrBert.html

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Lahr, Bert." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved July 10, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-LahrBert.html

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Magazine article from: USA Today (Magazine); 1/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...to stick, and one came courtesy of Bert Lahr. The setting is the poppy field just...Judy Garland) and the Cowardly Lion (Lahr). While the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger...summer storm. Awakening from his snooze, Lahr gifts viewers with an inspired ad-lib... Read more
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Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 1/24/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...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... Read more
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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
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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
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Magazine article from: National Review; 10/13/1989; ; 374 words ; ...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... Read more

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