Bobby Breen

Breen was born Isadore Borsuk on November 4, 1927 (according to some sources he was born in 1928){{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/movies/bobby-breen-a-child-star-who-hit-a-high-note-in-the-1930s-dies-at-87.html |title=Bobby Breen, a Child Star Who Hit a High Note in the 1930s, Dies at 87 |access-date=September 24, 2016 |work=The New York Times|date=September 24, 2016 |last1=Grimes |first1=William }}{{cite news|last= Bergan|first= Ronald |title= Bobby Breen obituary

|url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/sep/27/bobby-breen-obituary|access-date= November 2, 2016|newspaper =The Guardian |date=September 27, 2016}} in Montréal, Canada, the son of Hyman (Chaim) and Rebecca Borsuk. His parents were poor Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. They, along with Breen's three older siblings (Gertrude, Sally, and Michael), migrated from Kyiv to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1927.Foster (2003) p. 37. Soon after, they relocated to Toronto. His singing talent as a boy soprano was discovered at age three by his sister Sally, herself an aspiring musical student who was several years his senior. While their parents did not show any particular interest, Sally decided to help him achieve stardom.{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/stream/THEBOBBYBREENSTORY/TheBobbyBreenStoryPdf#page/n5/mode/2up | title=Bobby Breen's Success Story | publisher=Unidentified | date=October 24, 1937 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | author=Shaffer, George | pages=6–7}} With the assistance from her music teacher, Breen got a chance to perform in front of an audience in a nightclub. Soon, he began winning prizes in theatre competitions, providing significant amount of income to the poor family. Due to his gained popularity, the two siblings decided to look for work and recognition in the United States. Financed by Sally, they traveled to Chicago by bus in 1934,{{cite news | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/montana/butte/butte-montana-standard/1938/01-09/page-59 | title=Coming soon: Hawaii Calls | newspaper=The Montana Standard | date=January 9, 1938 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=59}} where he began working with people such as Gloria Swanson and Milton Berle in local theater productions.{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/stream/THEBOBBYBREENSTORY/TheBobbyBreenStoryPdf#page/n7/mode/2up | title=Bobby Breen's Success Story | publisher=Unidentified | date=October 24, 1937 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | author=Shaffer, George | pages=8–9}} Breen later relocated to New York City.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/brownsville/brownsville-herald/1937/02-21/page-28 | title=Bobby Breen Is Vet Trouper At Age of 9 | publisher=Brownsville Herald | date=February 21, 1937 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=28}} The foreign-sounding last name of Borsuk had been anglicised to Breen (more gaelicised, as it is an Irish surname) prior to their arrival in the United States.

File:Let's Sing Again (1936) still 1.jpg in Let's Sing Again (1936)]]

Breen went to Hollywood in 1935, where he received singing lessons from a vocal coach. Film producer Sol Lesser, who had discovered Jackie Coogan, signed Breen to RKO Radio Pictures. Around this time, he became a regular performer on Eddie Cantor's weekly CBS radio show, "Texaco Town," in 1936,{{cite news | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/louisiana/monroe/monroe-news-star/1974/02-11/page-9 | title=Bobby Breen Now Florida Producer | newspaper=Monroe News Star | date=February 11, 1974 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | author=Breen, Bobby | page=9}} where his talents as a boy soprano were appreciated by the listeners. Prior to the release of his first motion picture, Let's Sing Again, he was compared to other child stars of the era such as Freddie Bartholomew and Shirley Temple. In terms of his vocalist abilities, he was described as a combination of Allan Jones, Nelson Eddy and Al Jolson. His debut saw him being top-billed with Henry Armetta as his co-star.{{cite news | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/alabama/anniston/anniston-star/1936/10-04/page-11 | title=Young singing sensation is in Ritz treat | newspaper=Anniston Star | date=October 4, 1936 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=11}} He sang La donna è mobile, among other songs, in the movie.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/ames/ames-daily-tribune-and-times/1936/07-18/page-5 | title=Bobby Breen, boy radio star, in 'Let's Sing Again' | publisher=Ames Daily Tribune | date=July 18, 1936 | access-date=June 5, 2016 | page=5}} He also signed a contract with Decca Records and had moderate success with a series of 78 rpm records in the late 1930s.{{cite web|url=http://www.78discography.com/BB7000.htm |title=BLUEBIRD 78rpm numerical listing discography: 7000 - 7500 |website=78discography.com |access-date=March 2, 2020}} The title song from Let's Sing Again (Decca 798) would become a national hit, charting at #14 in the summer of 1936. By the 21st century, Breen was the only male artist with a pre-World War II hit record still living (Rose Marie, who charted as an eight-year-old in 1932 with "Say That You Were Teasing Me", died in 2017, a year after Breen).

Satisfied with his debut for the studio, RKO signed a deal with him for three additional movies. He was cast in another musical later the same year called Rainbow on the River, co-starring May Robson and Alan Mowbray. He sang Ave Maria and the film's title song Rainbow on the River.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/cedar-rapids/cedar-rapids-gazette/1936/12-26/page-4 | title=Bobby Breen wins audiences in Iowa | publisher=Cedar Rapids Gazette | date=December 26, 1936 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=4}} Kurt Neumann, who had directed Breen in his first two pictures, worked with him for the last time in Make a Wish in 1937. His co-star was Basil Rathbone.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/altoona/altoona-mirror/1937/09-02/page-21 | title=Bobby Breen to sing at Olympic | publisher=Altoona Mirror | date=September 2, 1937 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=21}} In a 1938 article, he was referred to as one of the rare cases of child actors succeeding in an adult-dominated industry.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/utah/ogden/ogden-standard-examiner/1938/10-23/page-30 | title=What Are Your Child's Chances in Hollywood? | publisher=Ogden Standard Examiner | date=October 23, 1938 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | author=Tildesley, Alice | page=30}}

By the time he had completed filming Escape to Paradise in 1939, his voice was gradually changing due to puberty.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/west-virginia/bluefield/bluefield-daily-telegraph/1944/01-05/page-12 | title=Eddie Cantor brings back two proteges | publisher=Bluefield Daily Telegraph | date=January 5, 1944 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | author=Thomas, Elsia | page=12}} As a result, he retired from the film industry, despite being originally contracted for two additional movies,{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/utah/ogden/ogden-standard-examiner/1939/12-02/page-2? | title=Bobby Breen quits as voice changes | publisher=Ogden Standard Examiner | date=December 2, 1939 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | page=2}} and instead focused on his education at Beverly Hills High School. He described the sudden voice change in a 1977 article:

{{Blockquote|quote=When you've been a child star and suddenly find yourself with a husky voice, it's hard to convince agents that you're not over the hill. I stopped singing at 16 because of the huskiness and took up the piano. I had the knack for it, but never wanted to be a concert pianist. I just wanted to be back in the world I'd known all my life.}}

His popularity did not immediately wane during his hiatus, receiving mail from numerous fans across the United States and United Kingdom.{{cite news | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/mason-city/mason-city-globe-gazette/1942/08-27/page-18 | title=Veterans of Movies, Still in High School, Reminisce About the "Good Old Days" | newspaper=Mason City Globe-Gazette | date=August 27, 1942 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | author=Othman, Frederick | page=18}} He briefly returned to the screen in 1942 to appear as himself in Johnny Doughboy, starring Jane Withers.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/albert-city/albert-city-appeal/1942/09-10/page-3 | title=Star Dust | publisher=Albert City Appeal | date=September 10, 1942 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | author=Vale, Virginia | page=3}}{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/ca/alberta/medicine-hat/medicine-hat-daily-news/1942/11-11/page-6 | title=Bobby Breen big boy now | publisher=Medicine Hat News | date=November 11, 1942 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=6}}{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/paris/paris-news/1942/10-25/page-3 | title=Romantic twosomes | publisher=The Paris News | date=October 2, 1942 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | author=Quirk, Florence | page=3}} As an adult, he expressed skepticism about children working in the entertainment industry.{{cite news | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-mexico/albuquerque/albuquerque-journal/1967/12-27/page-20 | title=Around New Mexico | newspaper=Albuquerque Journal | date=December 27, 1967 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | page=20}}

Breen enlisted in the infantry in the U.S. Army during World War II. He and fellow Hollywood actor Mickey Rooney were soon assigned to entertain the troops, despite him having retired from show business.{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/stream/THEBOBBYBREENSTORY/TheBobbyBreenStoryPdf#page/n15/mode/2up | title=Bobby @Breen Bounces Back Into Stardom: Women Still Claim Him | publisher=The Journal| date=April 30, 1948 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | author=Lawrence, Larry| pages=18–19}} Breen was hospitalized in France in 1945 towards the end of the war.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/charleroi/charleroi-mail/1945/03-28 | title=Mickey Rooney And Bobby Breen Patients Of Local Soldiers | publisher=Charleroi Mail | date=March 28, 1945 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=9}} For his war efforts, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

After his discharge from the U.S. Army, in 1946, he initially struggled to find work as he returned to show business. He did some theatre work {{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/iowa/ames/ames-daily-tribune/1946/02-25 | title=Bobby Breen Will Make Appearance | publisher=Ames Tribune | date=February 25, 1946 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=8}} as well as some radio appearances in New York during this period.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/maryland/cumberland/cumberland-evening-times/1947/11-28/page-29 | title=Inside radio | publisher=Cumberland Evening Times | date=November 28, 1947 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | author=Luther, Paul | page=29}} Because of his voice having changed since becoming an adult, he took singing lessons to reinvent himself by adapting to a new tenor singing style.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/dubois/dubois-courier-express/1952/10-28/page-7 | title=Hollywood... | publisher=The Courier-Express | date=October 28, 1952 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | author=Johnson, Erskine | page=7}}

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he worked as a singer in nightclubs and as a musical performer in stock theatre, later serving as a guest pianist for the NBC Symphony Orchestra on radio, and hosting a local TV show in New York. He also recorded briefly for the Motown label, singing on two singles ("How Can We Tell Him" b/w "Better Late Than Never" and "You're Just Like You" b/w "Here Comes That Heartache"), and produced an unreleased album in 1964, called Better Late Than Never. Berry Gordy had hoped for Breen to become his first white contracted artist, but ultimately changed his mind because the singer did not suit the type of music Motown produced.Foster (2003) p. 50-51.{{cite web|url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/motown/motown.html |title=Motown Album Discography, Part 1 (1961-1981) |website=Bsnpubs.com |access-date=March 2, 2020}} In 1953, Breen appeared on ABC's reality show, The Comeback Story, to explain how his career nose-dived as he entered his teen years and how he fought to recover.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/amarillo/amarillo-daily-news/1953/10-02/page-20 | title=The Lyons Den | publisher=Amarillo Daily News | date=October 2, 1953 | access-date=July 5, 2016 | author=Lyons, Leonard | page=20}}

Since the 1970s, he and his wife Audrey had been working in Florida as entrepreneurs, booking agents and producers arranging musical shows performed by various entertainers at smaller, affordable venues. The business idea is called a "condominium circuit".{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/florida/port-charlotte/port-charlotte-daily-herald-news/1977/04-22/page-5 | title=New Concept Brings Stars To Audiences | publisher=Port Charlotte Daily Herald | date=April 22, 1977 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | author=Frame, Lanie | page=5}} In later years, it has focused on hiring aged stars of the past, including Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney and Ann Blyth.

In November 1948, he went missing while on a private flight from Waukesha, Wisconsin, to Hayward, Wisconsin.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/ca/alberta/medicine-hat/medicine-hat-daily-news/1948/11-23/page-4 | title=Former Boy Soprano Bobby Breen Lost In Plane | publisher=Medicine Hat News | date=November 23, 1948 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=4}} Several planes went searching for him for a day and a half before it was discovered that he had been staying at a hotel anonymously without telling anyone. He was fined 300 U.S. dollars.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/ohio/athens/athens-messenger/1948/11-24 | title=Bobby Breen Apologizes | publisher=The Athens Messenger | date=November 24, 1948 | access-date=July 4, 2016 | page=1}}

Breen married fashion model Jocelyn Lesh on November 9, 1952.{{cite web | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/ohio/defiance/defiance-crescent-news/1952/11-11/page-12 | title=It Happened Last Night | publisher=Defiance Crescent News | date=November 11, 1952 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | author=Wilson, Earl | page=12}} The couple had a son, Hunter Keith Breen, in 1954. Four years later, the marriage became unsustainable, with Jocelyn claiming that he had physically injured her. They went their separate ways, but the divorce was not finalized until February 1961.{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1630445/ | title=Bobby Breen Divorced | publisher=Lake Charles American-Press | date=February 17, 1961 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | page=19}} He married the president of the City of Hope National Medical Center, Audrey Howard, in around 1962.{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB94323171358086848 | title=Bobby and Audre Breen Give Aging Stars A Place to Shine on the Condo Circuit | newspaper=The Wall Street Journal | date=November 22, 1999 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | author=Gubernick, Lisa}}Foster (2003) p. 51.

He lived with his family in Tamarac, Florida, and worked as the owner/operator of Bobby Breen Enterprises, a local talent agency. Starting in 2002, he made occasional concert appearances.{{Google books |id=DTMY4TIpRogC |page=53 |title=Once Upon a Time in Paradise: Canadians in the Golden Age of Hollywood }}

His sister Sally died in 1999. That same year, he underwent bypass surgery due to blocked arteries in his heart.Foster (2003) p. 55.

He died of natural causes in Pompano Beach, Florida, on September 19, 2016, three days following the death of his wife.{{cite news|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bobby-breen-dead-soprano-singer-931949|title= Bobby Breen, Boy Soprano of 1930s Hollywood Musicals, Dies at 88

|date= September 22, 2016| access-date=September 23, 2016|work=The Hollywood Reporter}}

On February 12, 2012, he was the recipient of the "Forest Trace Honorary Octogenarian: Turn Back Time" award.{{cite web | url=http://tamaractalk.com/tamarac-resident-is-presented-with-honorary-octogenarian-award-4317 | title=Tamarac Resident is Presented with Honorary Octogenarian Award | publisher=Tamarac Talk | date=February 16, 2012 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | author=Baron, Sharon}}

File:Louise Beavers Bobby Breen Rainbow on the River.jpg in Rainbow on the River (1936)]]

• Breen was one of the people represented on the cover of The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.Julien (2009) p. 93. He found his inclusion on the album cover surprising.Foster (2003) p. 50.
• Lenny Bruce mentioned Breen in his comedy routine "The Palladium".{{cite web|url=http://puregarlic.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/chopped-garlic-obit-of-note-georgia.html|title=Chopped garlic An obit of note Georgia Gibbs|website=Puregarlic.blogspot.co.uk|date=December 12, 2006|access-date=September 27, 2016}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Foster |first=Charles |title=Once Upon a Time in Paradise: Canadians in the Golden Age of Hollywood |edition=1st |publisher=Dundurn Press |location=Ontario |year=2003|pages=35–55|isbn=978-1550024647 }}
• {{cite book|last=Julien |first=Olivier |title=Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today |edition=1st |publisher=Routhledge|year=2009 |isbn=978-0754667087 }}
• Holmstrom, John (1996). The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, pp. 153–154.
• Dye, David (1988). Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., pp. 25–26.

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• {{IMDb name|id=0106721}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20161025135856/http://www.afi.com/members//catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&retailCheck=&Type=PN&CatID=DATABIN_CAST&ID=23220&AN_ID=&searchedFor=Bobby_Breen_ Bobby Breen] at the American Film Institute

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Category:1927 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:Boy sopranos

Category:American male child actors

Category:Apex Records artists

Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States

Category:Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent

Category:Jewish American male actors

Category:Jewish Canadian male actors

Category:Jewish Canadian musicians

Category:National Recording Corporation artists

Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent

Category:Male actors from Montreal

Category:Musicians from Montreal

Category:People from Tamarac, Florida

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:Decca Records artists