George Edwards "Georgie" Price (January 5, 1901 – May 10, 1964) was an American

vaudeville 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 ...

singer and comic who performed in

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

shorts in the 1920s and 1930s.

Early life, family and education

Price was born on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Price began performing as a child in public places such as barrooms and

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

s, before winning amateur competitions. At six years old, he so impressed opera singer

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...

that he performed with Caruso in a benefit concert for a deceased police officer's family.

Career

As a vaudeville child star, Price introduced the Edwards-Madden song " By the Light of the Silvery Moon" in Gus Edwards' revue ''School Boys and Girls'' in 1909. As a boy he performed on Broadway with another child

Lila Lee Lila Lee (born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel; July 25, 1905 – November 13, 1973) was a prominent screen actress, primarily a leading lady, of the silent film and early sound film eras. Early life The daughter of Augusta Fredericka Appe ...

(later a well-known film actress). He was a contemporary on vaudeville with George Jessel,

Walter Winchell Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...

and

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...

. As an adult professional, he drew comparisons to

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...

and Eddie Cantor. His theme song was "

Bye Bye Blackbird "Bye Bye Blackbird" is a song published in 1926 by Jerome H. Remick and written by composer Ray Henderson and lyricist Mort Dixon. It is considered a popular standard and was first recorded by Sam Lanin's Dance Orchestra in March 1926. Song in ...

". A bitter dispute with Shubert theatre magnate,

Jacob J. Shubert Jacob J. Shubert (c. 1879 – December 26, 1963) was an American theatre owner/operator and producer and a member of the famous theatrical Shubert family. Biography Born in Vladislavov, in the Suwałki Governorate of Congress Poland, a part o ...

, caused Price by the late 1920s to give up show business to work as a

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

stockbroker. He bought a seat on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

. Shubert had originally hired Price with the promise to turn him into a major headliner but then reneged and in turn refused to fulfill the financial obligations on Price's contract. Georgie Price appeared in the stage show at the Mastbaum Theatre in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, with Barto and Mann and

Maria Gambarelli Maria Gambarelli (7 April 1900 – 4 February 1990) was an Italian-American ballerina and actress. She was born in La Spezia, but raised in the United States. Between 1938 and 1941 she was prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera. She was conside ...

(Gamby) in March 1932.Newspaper display ad.

Personal life and demise

Price was married three times. He was married to Berenice Page from 1921 to 1927; they divorced. Price's third marriage was to Catherine Alexandra Marshall from 1942 to 1963 when they divorced. They had two children. In all, Price had four offspring: sons Peter and George Marshall, and daughters Lisa and Mrs. John W. Larsen. Price died in New York, aged 63.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Georgie Vaudeville performers 1901 births 1964 deaths