Harry Watson Jr.

Harry B. Watson Jr.
Harry Watson Jr. acting in a film circa 1923
Born (1876-06-12)June 12, 1876
Saginaw, Michigan
Died October 1, 1965(1965-10-01) (aged 89)
Penetanguishene, Ontario
Occupation Actor, performer

Harry B. Watson Jr. (June 12, 1876 – October 1, 1965) was an American actor and comedian. Before his Vaudeville and Broadway stage career and making his films, he was a clown for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Among his Broadway shows were the George Gershwin musical Tip-Toes and five editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. The most high profile of his few feature films was the Marion Davies vehicle Zander the Great,[1] but he is perhaps best recalled as the star of a series of bizarre silent comedy shorts, The Mishaps of Musty Suffer.[2] Two volumes of surviving Musty Suffer titles were restored by the American Library of Congress and released with music by Ben Model on DVD by Undercrank Productions in 2014 and 2015.[3]

Harry Watson Jr. Actors Equity Association Card

That Mr. Harry Watson, Jr., is one of the finest comic artists of the American stage is demonstrated anew with each successive year. An alumnus of the same burlesque troupe that graduated that other excellent comedian, Mr. George Bickel, Watson's authentic talents, like those of his colleague, have long been overlooked — or if not entirely overlooked, greatly disparaged — by annalists of the stage who vouchsafe to low comedy merely a casual and then grudged attention. Yet the fact doubtless remains that this Watson is an actor of uncommon quality, not a mere slapstick pantaloon, an assaulter of trousers' seats, a professor of the bladder, but a mimic of exceptional capacity, a pantomimist of the very first grade and a comedian of real histrionic parts..

— George Jean Nathan, Comedians All[4]

References

  1. ↑ Zander the Great silentera.com database
  2. ↑ http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=64219%5Bfull+citation+needed%5D
  3. ↑ http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/04/shemp_howard_three_stooges.html%5Bfull+citation+needed%5D
  4. ↑ George Jean Nathan (1919). Comedians All (scan). Alfred A. Knopf Inc. Retrieved October 2, 2015. ("Download" (PDF). 3.2 Mb)

Selective bibliography

  • George Jean Nathan Comedians All Alfred A Knopf (1919)
  • Steve Massa The Mishaps of Musty Suffer:DVD Companion Guide CreateSpace (2014) ISBN 1497372755
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