Joseph Cawthorn (March 29, 1868 â€" January 21, 1949) was an American
stage and film comic actor.Born in New York City, Cawthorn started out
in show business as a child, debuting at Robinson's Music Hall in New
York in 1872. He appeared in minstrel shows and vaudeville as a
"Dutch" comic, employing a thick German dialect. He later worked in
British music halls and American touring companies.Cawthorn made his
Broadway debut in 1895, 1897 or 1898, and embarked on a long career
lasting over two decades. His first success was playing Boris in
Victor Herbert's 1898 operetta The Fortune Teller. Other notable
Broadway roles included the title character in Mother Goose (1903) and
inventor Dr. Pill in the fantasy musical Little Nemo (1908). In the
latter, he was called upon to ad lib to buy time during one
performance. As "the scene called for him to describe imaginary
animals he had hunted", he invented the "whiffenpoof" on the spot.
Yale students in the audience appropriated it for the name of their
glee club.When his Broadway stardom waned, Cawthorn moved to Hollywood
in 1927 and started a second prolific career, appearing in over 50
films, the last in 1942. He played Gremio in the first sound
adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew in 1929, starring Mary Pickford
and Douglas Fairbanks; Schultz in Gold Diggers of 1935; and Florenz
Ziegfeld's father in The Great Ziegfeld (1936).
stage and film comic actor.Born in New York City, Cawthorn started out
in show business as a child, debuting at Robinson's Music Hall in New
York in 1872. He appeared in minstrel shows and vaudeville as a
"Dutch" comic, employing a thick German dialect. He later worked in
British music halls and American touring companies.Cawthorn made his
Broadway debut in 1895, 1897 or 1898, and embarked on a long career
lasting over two decades. His first success was playing Boris in
Victor Herbert's 1898 operetta The Fortune Teller. Other notable
Broadway roles included the title character in Mother Goose (1903) and
inventor Dr. Pill in the fantasy musical Little Nemo (1908). In the
latter, he was called upon to ad lib to buy time during one
performance. As "the scene called for him to describe imaginary
animals he had hunted", he invented the "whiffenpoof" on the spot.
Yale students in the audience appropriated it for the name of their
glee club.When his Broadway stardom waned, Cawthorn moved to Hollywood
in 1927 and started a second prolific career, appearing in over 50
films, the last in 1942. He played Gremio in the first sound
adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew in 1929, starring Mary Pickford
and Douglas Fairbanks; Schultz in Gold Diggers of 1935; and Florenz
Ziegfeld's father in The Great Ziegfeld (1936).
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