Lester Allen

Lester Allen was born on November 17, 1891, in Utica, New York.Hess & Dabholkar, p. 206 The son of Russian immigrants Raphael Allen (1855 – October 21, 1923, Chicago) and Ida Bobin (1858– February 1948),Lester Allen

in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007; SSN 549186139 his family was Jewish.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiznAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Lester+Allen%22+%22Ziegfeld%22&pg=PA349|title=The Infinite Variety|first=Heyman|last=Zimel|page=349|journal=B'nai B'rith Magazine|date=July 1928|volume=XLII|number=10}} He began his career in entertainment as a child, running away from home to become a circus acrobat at the age of nine.{{cite news|date=February 7, 1929|title=Lester Allen, Comedy Star of "Three Musketeers", Turned Tables on Ziegfeld; Rejected From Part Then Triumphed In It; Began Career by Running Away From Home at Age of 9 to Become Circus Acrobat|work=Cincinnati Times Star|page=20|last=Stiegler|first=William G.}} He was employed by the Barnum and Bailey Circus in the first years of the twentieth century. After leaving the circus, he became a performer in first minstrel shows and then burlesque and vaudeville, working as a dancer, singer, comedian, and actor.{{cite journal|journal=Variety|title=Obituaries: Lester Allen|date=November 9, 1949}}

Allen made his Broadway debut as the bridegroom in the 1907 musical Miss Pocahontas at the Lyric Theatre.Bloom, p. 740 In 1908 he toured with the vaudeville act Lawrence & Healey, performing the role of 'Jake, the Jew Kid' in their musical sketch "Stage Struck Kid".{{cite news|title=Musical Treat Next Week|work= Moline Mail And Journal|date=October 31, 1908|page= 3}} He returned to Broadway in 1909, portraying Oliver Hartford in Roy McCardell's play The Gay Life at Daly's Theatre.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1909/04/20/archives/the-gay-life-is-very-sad-a-nondescript-piece-at-dalys-which-has-not.html|title="THE GAY LIFE" IS VERY SAD; A Nondescript Piece at Daly's Which Has Nothing to Recommend It. COLLECTION OF SKETCHES Occasional Bright Line Does Not Redeem the General Vulgarity -- Most of Acting Poor.|work=The New York Times|date=April 20, 1909|page= 9}} That same year he toured in the vaudeville sketch series Napanese with a cast led by Harry W. Fields.{{cite news|title=At the Bijou|work=Dubuque Telegraph Herald|date=March 15, 1909|page= 3}}{{cite news|title=The Columbia Program|work=Cincinnati Commercial Tribune|date= May 3, 1909|page= 4}} In 1911 he toured in a vaudeville act in which he did a variety of celebrity impersonations.{{cite news|title=At the Lyric|newspaper=Muskogee Times Democrat|date=May 22, 1911|page=7}} In 1913 he toured the vaudeville circuits as a member of Joe Oppenheimer's Fay Foster Company, appearing in the burlettas "Yankees in Japan" and "Abe".{{cite news|title=Detroit Times|date=October 27, 1913|page= 3}} In 1915 he toured with the burlesque organization Million Dollar Dolls.{{cite news|title=Notes on the Stage|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 28, 1915}}

Allen achieved success on the Broadway stage as a dancer and acrobat in musical revues during the 1910s and early 1920s; including performances in several of the George White's Scandals and in the Ziegfeld Follies.{{cite news|work=The San Francisco Examiner|date=November 8, 1949|page=6|title=Lester Allen, Dancer Killed}} His gift for comedy was mixed with his gift for dancing and acrobatics, most notably in a highly praised comedic take on the apache dance in the 1922 George White's Scandals.Suriano, p. 9 Likewise a review in the Boston Sunday Post of the Scandals of 1919 stated about Allen that, "He is quite an acrobat, he can play his features like an artist, and can wring a laugh from the audience which is quite spontaneous. He is unique."{{cite news|title=Under the Spotlight|work=Boston Sunday Post|date=December 2, 1919|page= 36}} He, along with several other performers from the George White's Scandals, were cast in the original production of George Gershwin's one act jazz opera Blue Monday (1922), playing the role of the café worker and custodian Sam in blackface.Pollack, pp. 270–271 In the Scandals of 1924 he and actress Winnie Lightner sang a duet which parodied the comedy Abie's Irish Rose.Fields, p. 174

As he aged, Allen's Broadway career shifted emphasis from dancing and acrobatics towards comedic acting. He starred in several musical comedies on Broadway, including the roles of Sandy in Florida Girl (1925), both Señor Tostado and Mr. Brown in Rufus LeMaire's Affairs (1927), Planchet in The Three Musketeers (1928), Elmer Peters in Top Speed (1929), and Al Darcy in Shady Lady (1933).Taylor, p. 55 In Top Speed he sang the show's hit song, "Keep Your Undershirt On", with Ginger Rogers who was making her Broadway debut in this show.Dietz, p. 557 On the vaudeville stage during the 1920s and 1930s, he appeared in a double act with Nellie Breen and also emceed at the Palace Theatre.Laurie, Joe, Jr. Vaudeville: From the Honky-tonks to the Palace. New York: Henry Holt, 1953. p. 230, 489. In 1926 he toured in the musical revue Hello Paris with Sophie Tucker as his co-star.{{cite news|title=News from Chiacago|first=Walter|last=Harvey|page=15|date=June 4, 1926|work=The Vaudeville News and New York Star}}

In 1929 Allen starred in his first screen role, portraying the title part in the 1929 short film The Pusher-in-the-Face. In 1930 he starred in the film Leave it to Lester, a work directed by Frank Cambria and named for him. The film co-starred the Broadway torch singer Evelyn Hoey who was later tragically murdered in 1935.Newton, p. 166 After the decline of vaudeville in the 1930s, Allen transitioned into work as a film actor. He appeared in more than 15 films released from 1941 to 1950. One of his notable film roles was the recurring character of Geoduck in the Ma and Pa Kettle film series in which he partnered with actor Chief Yowlachie (as Crowbar) to form a comedic duo of Native Americans.Hilger, p. 79 He portrayed Judy Garland's uncle in Vincente Minnelli's 1948 film The Pirate. Garland wore a clown costume in one scene in this film that was previously made for Allen for his performances in the Broadway musical Rufus LeMaire's Affairs.

Allen was killed after being struck by a motor vehicle in North Hollywood on November 6, 1949.

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|page=740|title=American Song: A-S|first=Ken|last= Bloom|year= 1996|publisher=Schirmer Books|isbn=9780028645735}}
• {{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2019|isbn=9781442245280|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRmGDwAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book|title=Women Vaudeville Stars: Eighty Biographical Profiles|page=174|chapter=Lightner, Winnie|first=Armond|last= Fields|year= 2006 |publisher=McFarland & Company}}
• {{cite book|page=206|title=The Cinematic Voyage of THE PIRATE: Kelly, Garland, and Minnelli at Work|first1=Earl J.|last1= Hess|first2= Pratibha A.|last2= Dabholkar|year= 2014|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=9780826273185}}
• {{cite book|title=The American Indian in film|first=Michael|last= Hilger|year= 1986|isbn=9780810819054|publisher=Scarecrow Press}}
• {{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes|first= Michael|last= Newton|year=2009|publisher=Facts On File, Incorporated|isbn=9781438119144}}
• {{cite book|title=George Gershwin: His Life and Work|first= Howard|last= Pollack|year= 2007|publisher= University of California Press|isbn=9780520933149}}
• {{cite book|title=Gershwin in His Time: A Biographical Scrapbook, 1919-1937|year=1998|publisher=Gramercy Books|isbn=9780517201985|first=Gregory R.|last= Suriano}}
• {{cite book|page=55|title=Helen Kane and Betty Boop: On Stage and on Trial|first=James D.|last= Taylor|year= 2017|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=9781628942996}}

{{Portal|Biography}}

• {{IMDb name|0020763}}
• {{IBDB name|7302}}
• {{Find a Grave|8002}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Lester}}

Category:1891 births

Category:1949 deaths

Category:American male stage actors

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male musical theatre actors

Category:American vaudeville performers

Category:Film directors from New York (state)

Category:Jewish American male actors

Category:Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Category:Male actors from New York (state)

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent

Category:Road incident deaths in California