Julius Tannen

Infobox Actor
name = Julius Tannen


imagesize = 180px
caption = in "Singin' in the Rain" (fy|1952)
birthname =
birthdate = 16 May 1880
birthplace = New York, New York U.S.
deathdate = 3 January fy|1965 (aged 84)
deathplace = Woodland Hills, California U.S.
othername =
occupation = vaudevillian, comedian, actor
yearsactive = 1901–fy|1959
spouse =
domesticpartner =
website =

Julius Tannen (16 May 1880–3 January fy|1965) was a comedian – or monologist, as those of his era were known – who had a long and successful career in vaudeville. He was known to stage audiences (and respected by other monologists) for his witty improvisations and creative word games. He had a successful career as a character actor in films, appearing in over 50 films in his 25-year film career.imdb name|0849582] He is best known to film audiences from the musical "Singin' in the Rain", in which he appears as the man demonstrating a talking picture early in the film.

Early career

Tannen was born in 1880, and never intended to become a performer. As a young man, he was a salesman whose pitch was so good that he began to get offers to entertain at parties. He made his professional vaudeville debut at the age of 21, and soon developed into a monologist, the predecessor to today's stand up comic. He would frequently end his routines before the payoff of the story, allowing the audience to complete it for themselves, and exited with the phrase "My father thanks you, my mother thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you," which was co-opted by the young George M. Cohan.Eder, Bruce [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:69809 Biography (Allmovie)] ]

Tannen made his Broadway debut in 1905,ibdb name|7024] in a musical comedy called "Lifting the Lid" [imdb title|6100|Lifting the Lid] and went on to appear in three other productions in the next year. As a vaudevillian, he played the Palace Theatre in New York City – the apex of vaudeville peforming – more often that almost any one else, indicating that he was at the peak of his profession. He appeard again on Broadway in 1916, and returned again in 1920, in a comic play with music, "Her Family Tree", for which he received credit for writing his own scenes. [ibdb title|9015|Her Family Tree] . Tannen was also seen in two editions of "Earl Carroll's Vanities", in 1925 and 1926, and in "George White's Scandals."

Film career

The advent of talking pictures created a need in Hollywood for performers with stage experience, and Tannen appeared in his first film in fy|1935, when he did an uncredited bit in "Stranded". [imdb title|0027050|Stranded] This set him upon his 25-year career as a character man, although his work frequently went without credit.

In the 1940s, Tannen was part of Preston Sturges' unofficial "stock company" of character actors, appearing in eight films written and directed by Sturges, with the size of his roles increasing over time. [Tannen appeared in "Christmas in July", "The Lady Eve", "Sullivan's Travels", "The Palm Beach Story", "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek", "Hail the Conquering Hero", "The Great Moment", "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock" and "Unfaithfully Yours". Earlier, he had appeared in "Remember the Night", which was written by Sturges.] Undoubtedly, Tannen's most memorable and prominent performance came at the age of 72, when he portrayed a man demonstrating the technology of talking pictures in a film-within-the-film in "Singin' in the Rain" in fy|1952.

Tannen continued to appear in films until fy|1959, when he was seen in an uncredited role in director John Sturges' "Last Train from Gun Hill". [imdb title|0052993|Last Train from Gun Hill] He continued to work until he suffered a stroke in fy|1964. He died the following year, at the age of 84, on 3 January at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California. His sons, William and Charles, were both sucessful film and TV actors; Charles later became a TV executive.

Notes

External links

*
*
*
*