I first read about them in Maltin’s Movie Comedy Teams. They had a sort of forced Marx Brothers vibe from the photographs in the book and that didn’t sit right with me. I had no idea who they were, what their voices sounded like, or if I would even deign to make time for them. After all, if I hadn’t heard of them then they must not have been very good.
Cut to 15 years later when I was planning the first newsletter for my new organization, THE DIPLOMANIACS: The Wheeler and Woolsey Appreciation Society. I even got in touch with the great Ed Watz, the man who knows all things Wheeler and Woolsey and has written the book to prove it, to ask if he could get me in touch with the boys’ frequent leading lady, Dorothy Lee. He graciously gave me her phone number and her return call began a close friendship that lasted until her death in 1999.
So, what was this odd hybrid of 1920’s Broadway craziness, and 1930’s classic movie comedy? They were, in fact, completely fabricated. Bert Wheeler was born Albert Jerome Wheeler in Paterson, New Jersey in 1895 (where Lou Costello was born 11 years later). Struck by the showbiz bug at a very early age, he eventually became a very big vaudeville star, doing an act with wife as Bert and Betty Wheeler (she eventually ran away with a dancer and faded into obscurity). It seems that Bert always ate an apple, or a sandwich when he would sit at the edge of the stage and take the audience into his confidence. In the meantime, Bert became a favorite of Flo Ziegfeld, and no less than Alexander Woollcott wrote that Bert made the 1923 Follies “his oyster.” He was next signed by Ziegfeld to do the comedy lead in a big book show, RIO RITA. It was in that show that he met his future partner, Robert Woolsey, who was the second comedy lead.
Robert Woolsey, he of the skinny legs, mobile cigar, and wire-rimmed glasses was born in Carbondale, Illinois in 1888. Always small and spindly, he decided on a career as a jockey, which was waylaid when he fractured his leg. He eventually wandered into stage work and clocked some serious time with regional touring companies. He played many different roles, but he came to be most relaxed when taking on the comedic posturing of the great Walter Catlett, who was the star comedian in one of these touring companies. Having recently been recruited by Ziegfeld, Catlett actually gave the young Woolsey his permission (in writing!) to continue to use what Catlett himself had created, both on stage and in numerous films. This included a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, and an ever-present cigar (which Woolsey did not smoke off-camera).
So, with his borrowed persona, and a boatload of nerve, Woolsey wrote plays, starred in some of them, and eventually made it to Broadway. His most interesting role was as the lawyer, Potts in the WC Fields starrer, POPPY (actually it was Madge Kennedy who had the star spot, with Fields as the comedy lead who got most of the notices). Woolsey was clearly in support. Just as he was when partnered with lead comedian, Bert Wheeler in RIO RITA.
In fact, Woolsey left the production for a year to do another show, and interestingly it was Walter Catlett who replaced him and actually played the role for a longer period of time. When it came time to make the film, RKO summoned only Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey from the original cast. The film was a huge hit (RKO’s biggest until KING KONG four years later) and it looked like RKO had the makings of a comedy team on their hands. But in truth, it was Bert they really wanted. He was the bigger star. RKO felt that Woolsey’s role could have been portrayed by any number of other comic actors. First on the list was, you guessed it, Walter Catlett. But the public spoke. They liked Woolsey with Wheeler, and Woolsey finally got consideration as an equal partner.
In Hollywood, money is the bottom line and the boys made plenty of it for RKO. Throughout the years Woolsey never let the front office forget their effrontery. He loved being a movie star and he protected his status like the tough customer he was. According to Dorothy Lee, he was “tighter than a snare drum,” and he made sure that they were paid what they were worth. On the other hand, Bert hated Hollywood and movie-making in general. He was a stage animal and a loyal New Yorker. Although the money was great, Bert wasn’t great with money. He spent it, loaned it, wasted it, made bad investments, and had five wives. Woolsey had one wife and the first dime he ever made.
From 1929 until 1937 their films were churned out on a regular basis. At first they were making four a year, a record matched by Abbott and Costello in the next decade. In 1931, the studio separated the team and they made two of their worst films. Bert and Dorothy were in the dismal, TOO MANY COOKS, and Woolsey made an unfunny imitation of POPPY called EVERYTHING’S ROSIE, scripted by the very hit and miss Al Boasberg. But sane heads prevailed and the boys were wisely put back together again. The films were not as popular as those of their main competition, Laurel and Hardy, but they did well enough at the box office that RKO kept churning them out. They made one side trip to Columbia, SO THIS IS AFRICA in 1933 when negotiations with RKO went awry. The film is one of their best in spite of being chopped to bits by the censors. It was actually considered to be a very dirty movie and was one of the films cited so the code could be enforced.
But after 8 years and 22 films things came to a halt. Woolsey suffered from insomnia and got into the habit of drinking himself to sleep every night. This played havoc on his liver and he died of cirrhosis in 1938 at the age of 50. Since Woolsey had retired the year before, Bert was already on the road doing a single, but he did make sure to be there for his partner’s funeral and to help comfort the widow.
After a couple of weak films, Bert went back to his natural habitat, the stage. He played Broadway (he took over for Frank Fay in HARVEY), presentation houses, nightclubs, radio, and eventually TV. His work on CAVALCADE OF STARS with Jackie Gleason shows us parts of Bert’s nightclub act and he shines. On radio he was Frank Sinatra’s comic sidekick on THE FRANK SINATRA SHOW for a season, and in one episode he even has a very funny confrontation with WC Fields.
On television, other than the CAVALCADE OF STARS he appeared on a children’s western series called, BRAVE EAGLE. Bert played a mild comedy relief Native American called “Smoky Joe.” Why anyone would cast Bert Wheeler as a Native American is beyond me, but amazingly he was also in the mix for a part in a western sitcom, PISTOLS AND PETTICOATS. The show starred an almost unrecognizable Ann Sheridan (cancer had ravaged the once beautiful star), and Bert might have played another Native American, but he lost out to Lon Chaney, Jr.
It seemed that Bert was always broke but seemed to be a very positive fellow. During his final years, he lived in a small apartment in the Lamb’s Club in New York City and he last performed with his pal, Tom Dillon. In the act he played Dillon’s mother in ratty looking old lady drag. Surviving footage from THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW can be found on the Internet. It’s very funny, and it’s aglow with that nostalgic vaudeville feeling.
Bert passed away of emphysema in 1968. Sadly, he was buried in a mass grave in Queens, New York supplied by the Catholic Actors Guild of America. His name is listed near the bottom.
I really do enjoy Wheeler and Woolsey. They came to me later in life (in my early 20’s) and the joy of having brand “new” wacky comedies from the 1930’s made me overlook what are now obvious weaknesses in the franchise. The films are entertaining for the most part, but there are jokes that land like the Hindenburg, and if the film doesn’t have a song from the boys, or from Bert and Dorothy, it can seem like a walk through the desert without a refreshment.
My favorites of their films are RIO RITA (the best material they ever had), PEACH O’ RENO, HOLD ‘EM JAIL, DIPLOMANIACS, HIPS, HIPS HOORAY, COCKEYED CAVALIERS, THE NITWITS, and my one unpopular choice, MUMMY’S BOYS (I love the atmosphere of Mummy themed films). That’s eight films out of the twenty-one they made as a team. The other films rate from horrible to fun. I enjoy THE RAINMAKERS on a certain level, but it’s very mild compared to their more adult pre-code films.
Clearly the pre-code (pre-1934) films are what made Wheeler and Woolsey popular. And they were considered to be “dirty comedians” by church groups and censors, and the films most certainly are naughty as only pre- code comedies can be. I have another qualm about the team, and it’s a major one. I don’t think Robert Woolsey was anything more than capable. He was a fair singer and dancer (Bert had it all over him, in fact), and his delivery left a good deal to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, he’s likable, and he’s a good partner for Bert, but the truth is that his often weird inflections on certain words, and his habit of asking for a repeat of the set-up line so he could nail us with what was usually a pretty mediocre punch line can be irritating. He is especially annoying in the earlier films. He laughs at his jokes before telling them, which generally tells us that we don’t have to. He looks funny, he walks funny, and he dresses funny. In fact it looks like someone was told to take him into a room and make him LOOK superficially funny. He’s just not that funny.
I much prefer Hank Ladd for Bert Wheeler. He can be seen in LAS VEGAS NIGHTS doing some very funny stuff with Bert at the microphone. It’s what they did in nightclubs and it’s really good. The guy can sing, too. I only wish that Wheeler and Ladd had the chance to make a few of their own films. In the early 1950’s Bert eventually succumbed to the ready cash paid by Jules White for two pretty lame Columbia short subjects (INNOCENTLY GUILTY, and THE AWFUL TRUTH). Bert looks ten years older than he actually was, and he played by the numbers with support by the Columbia sound effects department. All in all, the two shorts are sad reminders of better things.
Bert’s later TV appearances are nostalgic and precious. I especially like him working with his pal, Pat Boone, on THE PAT BOONE SHOW. And he continued to do his “Mother” act with Tom Dillon in clubs, and on cruise ships. Bert did not age well. Years of smoking and partying showed in his face and posture. He actually looked like a chubby old lady when he wore the drag. I was actually a comedian on the cruise ships for a few years and I know that Bert and Tom Dillon played cruises, too. The money was wonderful, and the schedules were very easy, so it seemed like a great place to bring the act. From Ziegfeld to cruise ships. Some might think that sad, but I’d like to think of it as Bert out there plying his trade, and to a vaudevillian it was all about the work.
Nick Santa Maria
is a native New Yorker who has appeared on Broadway in GREASE! and in Mel Brooks’ THE PRODUCERS. Nick is an actor/singer/stand up comedian/playwright/author/film historian/and teacher. He has performed all over the world, and he is the co-author THE ANNOTATED ABBOTT AND COSTELLO (with Matthew Coniam), and has written several introductions to books on film history. He now resides on Hutchinson Island, Florida.
G&E In Motion does not necessarily agree with the opinions of our guest bloggers. That would be boring and counterproductive. We have simply found the author’s thoughts to be interesting, intelligent, unique, insightful, and/or important. We may not agree on the words but we surely agree on their right to express them and proudly present this platform as a means to do so.