Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg (12 May 1868 â€" 12 August 1949),
known as Al Shean, was a comedian and vaudeville performer. Other
sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert
Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg. He is most remembered for being half
of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean, and as the uncle of the
Marx Brothers.Shean was born in Dornum, Germany, on 12 May 1868, the
son of Fanny and Levi or Louis Schoenberg. His father was a magician.
His sister, Minnie, married Sam "Frenchie" Marx; their sons would
become known as the Marx Brothers.After making a name for himself in
vaudeville, Shean teamed up with Edward Gallagher to create the act
Gallagher and Shean. While the act was successful, the men apparently
did not like each other much. After their act's final Ziegfeld Follies
pairing, Shean went on to perform solo in eight Broadway shows, even
playing the title character in Father Malachy's Miracle.Shean had some
solo film roles: as the piano player, known as "The Professor" in San
Francisco (1936), as a priest in Hitler's Madman (1943), as
grandfather in The Blue Bird (1940), and in some three dozen other
films. He and Gallagher also made an early sound film at the Theodore
Case studio in Auburn, New York, in 1925.
known as Al Shean, was a comedian and vaudeville performer. Other
sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert
Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg. He is most remembered for being half
of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean, and as the uncle of the
Marx Brothers.Shean was born in Dornum, Germany, on 12 May 1868, the
son of Fanny and Levi or Louis Schoenberg. His father was a magician.
His sister, Minnie, married Sam "Frenchie" Marx; their sons would
become known as the Marx Brothers.After making a name for himself in
vaudeville, Shean teamed up with Edward Gallagher to create the act
Gallagher and Shean. While the act was successful, the men apparently
did not like each other much. After their act's final Ziegfeld Follies
pairing, Shean went on to perform solo in eight Broadway shows, even
playing the title character in Father Malachy's Miracle.Shean had some
solo film roles: as the piano player, known as "The Professor" in San
Francisco (1936), as a priest in Hitler's Madman (1943), as
grandfather in The Blue Bird (1940), and in some three dozen other
films. He and Gallagher also made an early sound film at the Theodore
Case studio in Auburn, New York, in 1925.
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