Hal Skelly (May 31, 1891 â€" June 16, 1934) was an American Broadway
and film actor.He was born James Harold Skelley in Alleghenyville,
Pennsylvania to James and Martha Skelley. His family moved to
Davenport, Iowa when he was four. He had four sisters and three
brothers. Skelley was educated at Sacred Heart School in Davenport and
St. Bede Academy in Peru, Illinois. He left home at the age of 15 and
joined the circus. He acted in his first stage production, The Time,
the Place and the Girl, at the LaSalle Theater in Chicago when he was
16. For a short period of time he was a backup first baseman for the
Boston Braves and a prizefight manager. For his professional name he
shortened his middle name Harold to Hal and dropped the final "e" in
Skelley.Skelly became a veteran of medicine shows, musical comedy,
burlesque, Lew Dockstader's minstrels and opera. He joined the A.M.
Zinn musical comedy company in San Francisco where his eccentric
dancing ability earned him the nickname "Tumbling Harold Skelly".
Always enamored with the circus, he spent a year with Barnum & Bailey.
Skelly toured China and Japan with a musical comedy troupe, the
Raymond Teale Company.Skelly made his Broadway debut in Fiddler’s
Three (1918) and went on to appear in ten other shows on Broadway. In
1927, he played a starring role alongside Barbara Stanwyck, in her
first Broadway hit, the musical production Burlesque. Paramount
Pictures invited the two to star in the 1929 talkie film version of
the show, retitled The Dance of Life because studio executives judged
the original title too risqué. Stanwyck turned down the offer, while
Skelly accepted, reprising his role as "Skid Johnson". He would make a
total of ten films, including the Woman Trap (1929), Behind the
Make-Up (1930), and The Shadow Laughs (1933), and was also featured on
two movie soundtracks.
and film actor.He was born James Harold Skelley in Alleghenyville,
Pennsylvania to James and Martha Skelley. His family moved to
Davenport, Iowa when he was four. He had four sisters and three
brothers. Skelley was educated at Sacred Heart School in Davenport and
St. Bede Academy in Peru, Illinois. He left home at the age of 15 and
joined the circus. He acted in his first stage production, The Time,
the Place and the Girl, at the LaSalle Theater in Chicago when he was
16. For a short period of time he was a backup first baseman for the
Boston Braves and a prizefight manager. For his professional name he
shortened his middle name Harold to Hal and dropped the final "e" in
Skelley.Skelly became a veteran of medicine shows, musical comedy,
burlesque, Lew Dockstader's minstrels and opera. He joined the A.M.
Zinn musical comedy company in San Francisco where his eccentric
dancing ability earned him the nickname "Tumbling Harold Skelly".
Always enamored with the circus, he spent a year with Barnum & Bailey.
Skelly toured China and Japan with a musical comedy troupe, the
Raymond Teale Company.Skelly made his Broadway debut in Fiddler’s
Three (1918) and went on to appear in ten other shows on Broadway. In
1927, he played a starring role alongside Barbara Stanwyck, in her
first Broadway hit, the musical production Burlesque. Paramount
Pictures invited the two to star in the 1929 talkie film version of
the show, retitled The Dance of Life because studio executives judged
the original title too risqué. Stanwyck turned down the offer, while
Skelly accepted, reprising his role as "Skid Johnson". He would make a
total of ten films, including the Woman Trap (1929), Behind the
Make-Up (1930), and The Shadow Laughs (1933), and was also featured on
two movie soundtracks.
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