![Eddie Foy Plaque cr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Eddie_Foy_Plaque_cr.jpg)
Edwin Fitzgerald (March 9, 1856 – February 16, 1928
[Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; and McNeilly, Donald. ''Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America''. Routledge Press, September 2006, . pp. 406–410]), known professionally as Eddie Foy and Eddie Foy Sr., was an American actor, comedian, dancer and
vaudevillian
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
.
Early years
![EarlandGirlFoy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/EarlandGirlFoy.jpg)
Foy's parents, Richard and Mary Fitzgerald, emigrated to the United States from
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
in 1855 and lived first in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
's
Bowery
The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. ...
neighborhood and then in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
, where Eddie was born.
After Richard died in an insane asylum in 1862 from
syphilis-induced
dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
, Mary took their four children (Eddie was second oldest) to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
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, subdivision_type = Country
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, where at one time she reportedly tended the mentally ill
widow
A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died.
Terminology
The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...
of
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
.
Six-year-old Eddie began performing in the streets and local saloons to support his family. At 15 he changed his name to Foy, and with a partner began dancing in bars, traveling throughout the western United States.
He worked for a time as a
supernumerary
Supernumerary means "exceeding the usual number".
Supernumerary may also refer to:
* Supernumerary actor, a performer in a film, television show, or stage production who has no role or purpose other than to appear in the background, more commonl ...
in theatrical productions, sharing a stage at times with such leading men of the time as
Edwin Booth and
Joseph Jefferson. With another partner, Jim Thompson, Foy went west again and gained his first professional recognition in mining camps and cow towns. In one such town,
Dodge City, Kansas
Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town ...
, Foy and his partner lingered for some time and Foy became acquainted with notable citizens
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which l ...
,
Bat Masterson
Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was born to ...
, and
Doc Holliday.
In later years, Foy told of an altercation over a girl with fellow actor Charles Chaplin (not the later film star), who was drunkenly taking pot-shots at Foy. The gunfire awakened
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which l ...
, who disarmed the actor and sent both the players home to sleep it off. Foy is also rumored to have been in
Tombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a historic city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1877 by prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier. The town gr ...
, in October 1881, appearing at the Birdcage Theater when the
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
The gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a thirty-second shootout between law enforcement officer, lawmen led by Virgil Earp and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cochise County Cowboys, Cowboys that occurred at about 3: ...
occurred on the 26th of that month.
In 1879, Foy married Rose Howland, one of the singing Howland Sisters, who were traveling the same circuit.
Three years later, Foy and troupe relocated to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
and joined the Carncross Minstrels. That same year Rose died in childbirth, as did the child she was delivering.
Foy lingered with the troupe for two seasons and then returned to the road. He joined David Henderson's troupe and traveled all around the U.S., dancing, doing comedy, and acting in farces. In San Francisco, still in 1882, he met Lola Sefton and was romantically involved with her for ten years until her death in 1894; the two never married, but had a daughter named Catherine who was raised by Foy's sister, Mary.
Return to Chicago
Foy returned to Chicago in 1888 as the star comedian in variety shows and revues, initially for his own company. He played the variety circuits for years in a series of song and dance acts, eventually rising to musical comedy stardom in such Broadway hits as ''The Strollers'' (1901) and ''Mr. Bluebeard'' (1903). Foy specialized in eccentric routines and costumes, often appearing in drag to hilarious effect.
In 1896, Foy married his third wife, Madeline Morando, a dancer with his company.
She gave him eleven children, of whom seven survived childhood:
Bryan (1896–1977);
Charley (1898–1984); Mary (1901–1987); Madeline (1903–1988);
Eddie Jr. (1905–1983); Richard (1905–1947); and Irving (1908–2003). Eddie Jr.'s son, Eddie III, was a casting director with
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
for over 40 years.
Between 1901 and 1912, Foy played the leading comic roles in a series of musical comedies in New York City and on tour, including ''The Strollers'' (1901), ''The Wild Rose'' (1902), ''Mr. Bluebeard'' (1903), ''Piff! Paff! Pouf!'' (1904), ''
The Earl and the Girl
''The Earl and the Girl'' is a musical comedy in two acts by Seymour Hicks, with lyrics by Percy Greenbank and music by Ivan Caryll. It was produced by William Greet and opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 10 December 1903. It transferre ...
'' (1905), ''
The Orchid
''The Orchid'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with music by Ivan Caryll and Lionel Monckton, a book by James T. Tanner, lyrics by Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank, and additional numbers by Paul Rubens. The story concerns marital ...
'' (1907), ''Mr Hamlet of Broadway'' (1908/9), ''Up and Down Broadway'' (1910), and ''Over the River'' (1912). It was while on tour with ''Mr. Bluebeard'' that he became a hero of Chicago's infamous
Iroquois Theatre fire
The Iroquois Theatre fire occurred on December 30, 1903, at the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is the deadliest theater fire and the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history, resulting in at least 602 deaths.
Thea ...
, December 30, 1903. A malfunctioning spotlight set fire to the scenery backstage, and Foy stayed onstage until the last minute, trying to keep the audience from panicking. Survivors later praised Foy for his bravery in trying to keep the crowd calm, even as burning debris fell onto the stage all around him. The theater's safety features were inadequate, the theater personnel untrained, and some of the exits locked from the outside, and at least 600 people died. Foy escaped by crawling through a sewer.
Eddie Foy and The Seven Little Foys
![Eddiefoyandotherfoys-may10-1919](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Eddiefoyandotherfoys-may10-1919.jpg)
Between 1910 and 1913, he formed a family vaudeville act, "Eddie Foy and The Seven Little Foys", which quickly became a national sensation. While Foy was a stern disciplinarian backstage, he portrayed an indulgent father onstage, and the Foys toured successfully for over a decade, appearing in one motion picture.
His wife Madeline died in 1918. The children began to go their separate ways after Foy married Marie Reilly Coombs in 1923,
but four of the younger children (Charley, Mary, Madeline and Irving) performed together until the mid 1930s.
[ Foy continued to appear in vaudeville and starred in the hit Broadway comedy ''The Fallen Star'' in 1927. He died of a ]heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
while headlining on the Orpheum circuit in Kansas City, Missouri, at age 71.
The seven children reunited for a 1928 Vitaphone short #2580, "Chips of the Old Block". Six of the seven appeared onscreen, doing a portion of their song-and-dance act, and Bryan directed. The film opens with the girls singing and dancing to "I'll Just Roll Along (Havin' My Ups and Downs)" while Bryan plays ukulele. Charley, Eddie Jr., and Irving then perform a comedy routine. Next, Eddie Jr. does an eccentric dance routine, there's a short song interlude, and the film ends with soft shoe routine in which each has a solo bit.
After the "Seven Little Foys" stopped performing together, they pursued separate careers. Eddie Foy Jr. had a successful acting career on stage and screen. Bryan composed show music, wrote for Buster Keaton, and directed and produced films in Hollywood. Richard continued to operate a theater chain business in Dallas that he had started with Foy.[Folkart, Burt A]
"Mary Foy: One of Last 3 in Zany Family"
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' (December 17, 1987) Irving wrote and managed cinemas in Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
and Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
.[Cohen, David S]
Irving Foy; Last of vaudeville's 'Seven Little Foys'
''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' (April 24, 2003) Charley and Mary operated the Charley Foy Supper Club in Sherman Oaks, California, in the San Fernando Valley, where comedians such as Jackie Gleason
John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...
, Dan Rowan
Daniel Hale Rowan (July 22, 1922 – September 22, 1987) was an American actor and comedian. He was featured in the television show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'', wherein he played straight man to Dick Martin and won the 1969 Emmy for Outstandi ...
, Dick Martin, and Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers (born Phillip Silver; May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985) was an American entertainer and comedic actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah". His career as a professional entertainer spanned nearly sixty years. Silvers achieved major popu ...
appeared early in their careers.[
The family's story was filmed in 1955 as '']The Seven Little Foys
''The Seven Little Foys'' is a Technicolor in VistaVision 1955 comedy film directed by Melville Shavelson starring Bob Hope as Eddie Foy. One highlight of the film is an energetic tabletop dance showdown sequence with Bob Hope as Eddie Foy and ...
'' with Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...
as Foy and James Cagney as George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer.
Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...
; Charley Foy narrated. Eddie Foy Jr. appeared as his father in four films – '' Frontier Marshal'' (1939), ''Lillian Russell
Lillian Russell (born Helen Louise Leonard; December 4, 1860 or 1861 – June 6, 1922), was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for her beauty ...
'' (1940), ''Yankee Doodle Dandy
''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George To ...
'' (1942), and '' Wilson'' (1944) – as well as in a television version of ''The Seven Little Foys'' with Mickey Rooney as George M. Cohan (1964). The first stage musical version of ''The Seven Little Foys,'' written by Chip Deffaa
Chip Deffaa is an American author, playwright, jazz historian, songwriter, director, and producer of plays and recordings. For 18 years, he wrote for the ''New York Post'', covering jazz, cabaret, and theater. He has contributed to '' Jazz Tim ...
, premiered at the Seven Angels Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...
, in 2007. In 2008, it was revived in New York at the New York International Fringe Festival; the cast included Ryan Foy, Foy's great grandson and grandson of Irving Foy.
Death
In 1928, at age 71, Foy died of a heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
in Kansas City, Missouri."Eddie Foy"
''Los Angeles Times'', February 17, 1928, accessed October 7, 2018 All of Foy's children except Bryan are buried with their father at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York.
See also
* Iroquois Theater Fire
* Academy of Music/Riviera Theatre
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foy, Eddie Sr.
1856 births
1928 deaths
Male actors from New York City
American people of Irish descent
Vaudeville performers
Male actors from Chicago
Musicians from New York City
Male actors from New Rochelle, New York
Eccentric dancers
Musicians from New Rochelle, New York
Burials at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (New Rochelle, New York)