Gordon Dooley (born James Gordon Dooley, 13 August 1898 - 23 January 1930) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, and acrobat. A member of the Dooley family of performers, he grew up as a child performer in vaudeville in the early part of the 20th century. When the Dooley family act broke up in 1917, he ventured out as a solo performer and became a successful musical theatre actor, dancer, and singer active on Broadway from 1919 through 1928. He also performed in three silent films.
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Life and career
editBorn into the well known Dooley family of entertainers,[1] James Gordon Dooley, known as Gordon, was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania on August 13, 1898.[2][3] He was the son of Robert Roger Dooley (originally Dool), and his wife, Mary, both emigrants from Scotland.[4] His father was a famous circus clown.[5] His two brothers, William (1882-1921) and Johnny (1887-1928), and his two sisters, Ray (1891-1984) and May (1892-1947), were all performers.[1][4] Gordon was the youngest of the Dooley children and the only one not born in Scotland.[1]
Beginning very young, Gordon grew up performing in vaudeville as a member of Dooley's family's act. He and his brothers developed skills as comedic acrobats.[1] He also became a skilled eccentric dancer.[4] When May left the Dooley act to get married in 1917, the family act broke apart and the Dooley siblings went their own separate ways, although Gordon would occasionally perform with one or more of his siblings in other ventures.[1]
Gordon made his Broadway debut in 1917 at the Fulton Theatre as Whirlwind Inbad in Raymond Hitchcock and E. Ray Goetz's musical Words and Music.[6][7] In 1919 he returned to Broadway as Wilbur in Sigmund Romberg, Jean Schwartz, and Harold Atteridge's musical Monte Cristo Jr. in which he scored a hit with critics and the public in the "Apache Dance" which he performed with his brother William.[8] He was also featured in that musical singing the song "Are You Stepping Out Tonight?"[5] He subsequently appeared in the Broadway musical revues The Greenwich Village Follies (1921),[5] George White's Scandals (1925),[9] Honeymoon Lane (1926),[10] and The Earl Carroll Vanities (1928).[5] In George White's Scandals he gave a hilarious impersonation of George Gershwin,[11], and his funny pratfalling stunts in Honeymoon Lane were well received by audiences.[12]
On screen, Dooley played the doll in the charade scene of the 1922 feature-length silent film Beauty's Worth; a Paramount Pictures movie directed by Robert G. Vignola and starring Marion Davies.[13] He also appeared in two short films: A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair (1917)[14] and Palm Missed (1921).[1]
Gordon Dooley suffered a nervous breakdown in May 1929.[4] He died of pneumonia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the next year at age 31, and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania.[4]
References
editCitations
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fisher 2023, p. 176.
- ↑ J Gordon Dooley in the Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1973
- ↑ James Gordon Dool in the U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Gordon Dooley Dies. Noted in Vaudeville, Comedian and Eccentric Dancer, the Last of Three brothers, a Victim of Pneumonia". New York Times. January 25, 1930. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
- 1 2 3 4 Benjamin & Rosenblatt 2006, p. 217.
- ↑ "Words and Music Travesty For Sure". New York Herald. December 25, 1917. p. 8.
- ↑ "Words and Music Lively". The New York Times. December 25, 1917. p. 13.
- ↑ Dietz 2021, pp. 470–471.
- ↑ Norton 2002, p. 407.
- ↑ Norton 2002, p. 461.
- ↑ Bordman & Norton 2010, pp. 455–456.
- ↑ Gänzl 2001, p. 946.
- ↑ Vermilye 1985, p. 65.
- ↑ Spehr & Lundquist 1996, p. 160.
Bibliography
edit- Benjamin, Ruth; Rosenblatt, Arthur (2006). "Gordon Dooley". Who sang what on Broadway, 1866-1996: Volume I, The Singers A-L. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786415069.
- Bordman, Gerald; Norton, Richard (2010). American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, Fourth Edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199729708.
- Dietz, Dan (2021). The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781538150283.
- Fisher, James (2023). "The Dooley Family". Historical Dictionary of Vaudeville. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9798216256199.
- Gänzl, Kurt (2001). The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Second Edition. Vol. II. Schirmer Books. ISBN 9780028655734.
- Norton, Richard C. (2002). A Chronology of American Musical Theater: 1750-1912. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195155655.
- Spehr, Paul C.; Lundquist, Gunnar (1996). American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920: Filmographies Reordered by Authoritative Organizational and Personal Names from Lauritzen and Lundquist's American Film-index. McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786402557.
- Vermilye, Jerry (1985). The Films of the Twenties. Citadel Press. ISBN 978-0806509600.
