Draft:Ernie Stanton

Ernest George Burch was born on August 23, 1890 in England, UK to Walter Stanton and Annie Burch. He came from a theatrical family, as his parents were both in the stage business and both of their parental and maternal relatives as well. Ernie started his career at a very young age in 1898 at just 8 years old. He and his family sailed across the sea and immigrated in Chicago in 1898 and settled there for about 2 years until moving and settling in New York. His father tutored him and his brother Val Stanton very religiously in the performing arts. Not only were Val and Ernie his students, he also tutored the legendary Charlie Chaplin.{{cite news |title=Cinesound at prince |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1149632607/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |publisher=The Daily News}} Ernie received his theatrical training at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London in several Weber and Fields shows. Stanton was the family's stage name. Everyone used it except his mother as she kept "Tina Corri". It was also his father's middle name. They used it so much they usually had their names end with "Stanton Burch".

Ernie started boxing professionally around the age of 6 in Boston, Philadelphia, and home in London and as well as other locations. He was known in the ring as "George Ernie" or "Young George Ern". He was said to be one of the best known welterweights from the east. He was welterweight champion for all the New England states. He boxed against and defeated many famous names including Pedlar Palmer, Billy Plimmer, Thomas Sawyer, Bill MacKinnon, Joseph Thomas (boxer), William "Honey" Mellody, Sailor Burke, Frank Mantell, and many others. He was also a sparring partner with Jack Britton and Mike Gibbons (boxer). Ernie never took the sport seriously. It was rare that he'd train hard before a fight. Boxing was a hobby; he always kept himself in good condition.{{cite news |title=Eastern Champion Appears on Stage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/350711324/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |publisher=The Butte Daily Post}} According to a news article, later in his life he reconnected with a old opponent of his, Bill "Wild Bill" Fleming who Ernie described as "one of the most powerful punchers ever to lace on the leather mittens".{{cite news |title=Recalls battles with Bill Fleming |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1106473781/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |publisher=Commercial}} According to another article that came out many years later, Ernie's wife Flo Stanton said that keeping Ernie from going to boxing matches was her biggest worry.

Ernie played professional baseball in 1912 for the Detroit Tigers. He was a pitcher and utility man when the Tigers were in the American League and the Boston Braves in 1914 when they were in the National League (baseball). He then played for the Oakland Oaks (PCL), Sacramento Solons, San Francisco Seals (PCL) and the Los Angeles Angels all of the Pacific Coast League.{{cite news |title=Ernie Stanton Who comes here Sunday is Famous Athlete |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/300156547/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |publisher=The Daily Times}} He also played with the Utica Blue Soxs, Providence Grays, and Montreal Royals. He was versatile. He played pitcher, left-field and out-field. He made his debut with the San Francisco Seals (PCL) in 1923. He even played in the Lake Shore League in 1922. Also in 1922, he and Val organized the National Vaudeville Artists Baseball Club also nicknamed the N.V.A. Ernie was both a player and the team's manager. He took it very seriously. Other vaudeville artists that were involved in it besides Val and Ernie were Fred Stone who was the president of the club, Ben Hilbert who was coach and many artists that were in the lineup were Howard Smith (actor), Bill Robinson, Bill Palmer, Ed Foley, Ray Burke, Paul Morton and many more. It became so legendary that even New York Yankee Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Waite Hoyt were also members of the N.V.A.{{cite news |title=A trio of popular N.V.A's |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/897761135/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |publisher=The Vaudeville News}} Ernie and Hoyt were best friends. Ernie was the one responsible for getting Hoyt's career started in the MLB by getting him his first job with the New York Giants (baseball).{{cite news |title=How Hoyt got started |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/863967593/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |publisher=Omaha world-herald}} In 1923 the New York Yankee's invited him to play with them while he had two weeks of free time before his New Orleans engagement.{{cite news |title=Vaudeville actor plays with yankees |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/544042452/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |publisher=Times union}} According to articles, he'd work out every summer with the New York Yankees and with the New York Giants (baseball). He participated in the Chicago Cubs spring training in 1927 preparing to play in an N.V.A season.{{cite news |title=Ernie Stanton in Lineup |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/897749459/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |publisher=The Vaudeville News and New York Star}} He and Val were also excellent golfers and they could do any course in America between 90 and 100.

Ernie, with is brother, Val Stanton teamed up for their vaudeville careers. They made there first vaudeville appearance together in 1909 in a typical English music hall sketch of a red nose variety, which was written by Val called "Who Stole the Shoes?" They both received offers to do productions alone but they both refused. They described themselves as "The Men Who Laugh and Make the World Laugh With Them" They

were also known as "The English Boys from America". The Stanton brothers were vaudeville-circuit comedians.

In 1925 they recorded an eight-minute short in London which was an early Vitaphone project. In 1928 they preformed in the Vitaphone Varieties films produced by Warner Bros. The two shorts were, English as She is Not Spoken and Cut Yourself a Piece of Cake. In their act, Ernie played the harmonica, and Val played the ukulele. They were photographed together.{{Cite web|url=https://vaudeville.library.arizona.edu/items/ernie-stanton-and-performer/|title=Ernie Stanton and Val Stanton – The American Vaudeville Archive — Special Collections}} They were described as being "Undoubtedly one of the best comedy talking acts in vaudeville."vaudevilleamerica.org/performance/val-ernie-stanton-2/

Ernie would go on to play many roles in films but was most famous for The Case of the Black Parrot (1941), Stage Struck (1936), and Flippen's Frolics (1936). During his film career, he got to work alongside many famous legends including, Bela Lugosi, Errol Flynn, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., and Ralph Bellamy to name a few. Ernie also got to play with George M. Cohan in Harold's Vanities and on the Keith-Orpheum Circuit.

Ernie's life was mostly filled with his career's as a actor and athlete. However, in 1911 he married Mary Callan. Unfortunately, divorced a couple of years later. Then, in the 1920's he met actress Florence Holt who was nicknamed "Flo Holt" on the KGU show. Ernie and Florence got married in 1928 and had no children during their 16 year marriage.

Ernie passed away on February 6, 1944. It was that afternoon, Val and Ernie were scheduled to perform a show at the Orpheum Theater. Before the show, they went to eat dinner at a restaurant near 20th street and Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, California. Coincidentally, earlier that day, Ernie told his wife that he was feeling "funny". It was at the restaurant, around 6 p.m. that Ernie suffered a stroke and fell unconscious in his chair.{{cite news |title=Ernie Stanton dies of Stroke |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/637203310/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |agency=Fort Worth Star-Telegram}} He was rushed to the hospital while Val accompanied him in the ambulance. Upon their arrival to Highland Hospital (Oakland, California) he was pronounced dead. He was only 53 years old. In the word's of Val "The show must go on". As the new hour approached, Val arrived at the theater and preformed without Ernie. Among the hundreds of spectators who filled the theater to capacity, none of them knew the burden resting on Val's shoulders. He was still able to make the people laugh and smile. After the show, Val made the arrangement's to send Ernie's body to a local mortuary. Then he fainted.{{cite news |title=Actor carries on after brother dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380691662/ |access-date=17 April 2025 |work=The Los Angeles Times}} Ernie's funeral was held in Los Angeles. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) where currently stars such as, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Michael Jackson, Walt Disney and many more are laid to rest.{{cite web |title=Ernie Stanton Memorial |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138001959/ernie-stanton |website=FindAGrave |access-date=17 April 2025}}

Besides himself and his brother, His father Walter Stanton was was a famous rooster chanticleer impersonator nicknamed "The Giant Rooster" and his mother, Annie nicknamed “Tina Corri” was a male impersonator because her voice was so deep. She was also a member of the Corri family of opera singers from Dublin and for many years a member of the Tony Pastor Company. Not only were his parents famous on the stage, his great-grandfather Haydn Corri was a famous organist in Dublin and his father Domenico Corri a famous Italian composer. Along with that, on of his cousins Eugene Corri was a famous boxing referee in London. Along so many more in the Corri Family.

• Here's the Gang (1935) as Ernie Stanton - Master of Ceremonies (writer)
• Flippen's Frolics (1936) (script writer)
• Sing, Baby, Sing (1936) as Mac's Friend (uncredited)
• Stage Struck (1936 film) (1936) as Marley
• Thank You, Jeeves! (1936) as Mr. Snelling
• 15 Maiden Lane (1936) as Charles - Peyton's Butler (uncredited)
• Hats Off (1936 film) (1936) as Secretary
• After the Thin Man (1936) as Thug at Nick's Table (uncredited)
• Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937) as Reporter (uncredited)
• The Prince and the Pauper (1937 film) (1937) as Guard (uncredited)
• Scrappy's Music Lesson (1937) as Petey Parrot (uncredited)
• The Devil's Saddle Legion (1937) as Reggie
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) as Outlaw (uncredited)
• Mickey's Parrot (1938), a Disney animated film, as parrot (voice)
• Mysterious Mr. Moto (1938) as Sidewalk Artist (uncredited)
• Hell's Kitchen (1939 film) (1939) as Nick (uncredited)
• Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939) as Burton
• Pride of the Blue Grass (1939 film) (1939) as Roberts (uncredited)
• Foreign Correspondent (1940 film) (1940) as a secondary role
• A Dispatch from Reuters (1940) as Cockney News Vendor (uncredited)
• South of Suez (1940) as Private Detective (uncredited)
• Hit the Road (1941 film) (1941) as O'Brien - First Guard (uncredited)
• Cracked Nuts (1941 film) (1941) as Ivan the Robot (Shemp Howard's stunt) double{{Cite web|url=https://threestooges.net/cast/actor/1582|title=Cast Member : Ernie Stanton|website=threestooges.net}}
• The Case of the Black Parrot (1941) as Colonel Piggott
• Free and Easy (1941 film) (1941) as Duke's Horse Groom (uncredited)
• Desert Bandit (1941) as Sheriff Warde
• International Squadron (film) (1941) as Ground man (uncredited)
• Private Nurse (1941) as Winton Butler (uncredited)
• Moonlight in Hawaii (1941) as Truck Driver (uncredited)
• The Wolf Man (1941 film) (1941) as Philips (uncredited)
• Obliging Young Lady (1942) as Cedric (uncredited)
• The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) as Constable (uncredited)
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) as Waiter (uncredited)

• English as She is Not Spoken (1928)
• Cut Yourself a Piece of Cake (1928)

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/138001959/ernie-stanton Findagrave entry]
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMvF78qD44U&t=156s
• https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/166378
• https://mubi.com/en/cast/ernie-stanton
• https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=VVN19200917.1.4&
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3t7F0zdR-A