Willie Howard (April 13, 1883 â€" January 14, 1949) and Eugene Howard
(July 7, 1880 â€" August 1, 1965), billed as the Howard Brothers, were
Silesian-born American vaudeville performers of the first half of the
20th century. They were two of the earliest openly Jewish performers
on the American stage.After performing in amateur night competitions,
the brothers began separate professional theatre careers. Soon they
were appearing together in burlesque and vaudeville, where, over the
course of a decade, they established their reputation. The brothers
were hired by the Shubert family in 1912 to perform in a series of
successful revues on Broadway over the next decade called The Passing
Show. These were followed by another popular series of Broadway revues
in the 1920s and 1930s called George White's Scandals. They appeared
in a few additional Broadway musicals, notably Girl Crazy. In between
these Broadway seasons, the brothers continued to be in great demand
on the vaudeville circuit and made a few (mostly short) films. In the
1940s, Willie continued to star in revues and musicals and to perform
in vaudeville and night clubs.Isidore and Wilhelm Levkowitz were born
in Neustadt in the German part of Silesia to Leopold Levkowitz and his
second wife, Pauline (née Glass), two of six children (three boys and
three girls). The family immigrated to New York City and settled in
Harlem about 1886. Their father was a Jewish cantor, who taught his
sons to sing, hoping that they would follow his profession. However,
both boys became intrigued by performing. The brothers, especially
Willie, performed at amateur night shows at local burlesque houses.
Their father was disappointed with their performing activity. He
wanted Eugene to be a doctor and worried about Willie because he
misbehaved in school. Their father changed his attitude when he saw
them achieve success and even asked them for advice on how to get into
show business.Eugene studied business but decided to go on the stage.
In his earliest attempts at performing, he billed himself as "Harry
Lee, phenomenal boy tenor". His first professional theatre job, in
1900, was in the chorus of a Broadway musical, A Million Dollars. Upon
being hired and hearing his name, the manager suggested that "Eugene
Howard" would be a more suitable name, and Isidore adopted it
permanently. Later that year, he had a small role in a Broadway play
based on Quo Vadis. Next, he was in the chorus of The Strollers, and,
in 1902, he was one of the Portuguese Twins in a tour of the musical
The Belle of New York. Meanwhile, Willie had his first engagement in
1897 singing in the gallery of Lyon Palace on 110th Street as a boy
soprano. He was hired in 1900 as a song-plugger to sing from the
balcony at Proctor's 125th Street Theatre as he distributed water to
customers. He did this while attending school, and had to leave early
to make the 3:15 pm show. He soon was engaged to do the same during
out-of-town performances of The Little Duchess (1901), but he was
dismissed after the opening night, as his voice had begun to change.
To compensate for the temporary loss of his singing voice, he began
doing impersonations and started using the stage name Willie Howard.
At one point in that formative year of 1901, he considered taking up
boxing and appeared briefly as "Kid Lefko." He attended Cooper Union
college.
(July 7, 1880 â€" August 1, 1965), billed as the Howard Brothers, were
Silesian-born American vaudeville performers of the first half of the
20th century. They were two of the earliest openly Jewish performers
on the American stage.After performing in amateur night competitions,
the brothers began separate professional theatre careers. Soon they
were appearing together in burlesque and vaudeville, where, over the
course of a decade, they established their reputation. The brothers
were hired by the Shubert family in 1912 to perform in a series of
successful revues on Broadway over the next decade called The Passing
Show. These were followed by another popular series of Broadway revues
in the 1920s and 1930s called George White's Scandals. They appeared
in a few additional Broadway musicals, notably Girl Crazy. In between
these Broadway seasons, the brothers continued to be in great demand
on the vaudeville circuit and made a few (mostly short) films. In the
1940s, Willie continued to star in revues and musicals and to perform
in vaudeville and night clubs.Isidore and Wilhelm Levkowitz were born
in Neustadt in the German part of Silesia to Leopold Levkowitz and his
second wife, Pauline (née Glass), two of six children (three boys and
three girls). The family immigrated to New York City and settled in
Harlem about 1886. Their father was a Jewish cantor, who taught his
sons to sing, hoping that they would follow his profession. However,
both boys became intrigued by performing. The brothers, especially
Willie, performed at amateur night shows at local burlesque houses.
Their father was disappointed with their performing activity. He
wanted Eugene to be a doctor and worried about Willie because he
misbehaved in school. Their father changed his attitude when he saw
them achieve success and even asked them for advice on how to get into
show business.Eugene studied business but decided to go on the stage.
In his earliest attempts at performing, he billed himself as "Harry
Lee, phenomenal boy tenor". His first professional theatre job, in
1900, was in the chorus of a Broadway musical, A Million Dollars. Upon
being hired and hearing his name, the manager suggested that "Eugene
Howard" would be a more suitable name, and Isidore adopted it
permanently. Later that year, he had a small role in a Broadway play
based on Quo Vadis. Next, he was in the chorus of The Strollers, and,
in 1902, he was one of the Portuguese Twins in a tour of the musical
The Belle of New York. Meanwhile, Willie had his first engagement in
1897 singing in the gallery of Lyon Palace on 110th Street as a boy
soprano. He was hired in 1900 as a song-plugger to sing from the
balcony at Proctor's 125th Street Theatre as he distributed water to
customers. He did this while attending school, and had to leave early
to make the 3:15 pm show. He soon was engaged to do the same during
out-of-town performances of The Little Duchess (1901), but he was
dismissed after the opening night, as his voice had begun to change.
To compensate for the temporary loss of his singing voice, he began
doing impersonations and started using the stage name Willie Howard.
At one point in that formative year of 1901, he considered taking up
boxing and appeared briefly as "Kid Lefko." He attended Cooper Union
college.
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