John Thomas O'Donnell, better known by his stage name Hap Ward,Fisher, p. 602 (July 1868,

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 ...

– January 3, 1944,

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 ...

) was an American

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

, dancer, and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

who was half of the

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 ...

comedy duo Ward and Vokes. Ward and Vokes toured widely in a series of musicals and vaudeville entertainments from 1894 through 1911. After this, Ward worked in other stage works without Vokes and starred in several films made from 1918 through 1929. The majority of his films were short comic silent films made with the actress

Gale Henry Gale Henry (April 15, 1893 – June 17, 1972) was an American film actress. A prominent comedian, she appeared in more than 230 films between 1914 and 1933. In 1923, Gale Henry and her husband, Henry East, began training dogs for motion p ...

between the years 1919 and 1921. His final film was the 1929 sound feature '' Fugitives'' in which he portrayed Scal "the Rat". He starred in several Broadway musicals during his career, including '' The Floor Walkers'' (1900) and the '' Ziegfeld Follies of 1923''

Life and career

Born John Thomas O'Donnell in

,, Mack Truitt, p. 477 Hap Ward began his career in the theatre as a dancer. He formed a comedic partnership with the actor Harry Vokes in 1884, and the pair first achieved fame performing in theaters owned by the impresario Tony Pastor in which they excelled at portraying the tramps Harold and Percy; original characters they created which the duo portrayed in numerous stage works. These included the musicals ''A Run On the Bank'' (1895), ''The Governors'' (1898), '' The Floor Walkers'' (1900), ''The Head Waiters'' (1901), ''A Pair of Pinks'' (1905), ''The Promoters'' (1910), and ''The Trouble Makers'' (1911). The tramp characters of Harold and Percy generated comedy by behaving with gentlemanly manners of a higher social class while appearing like homeless vagrants. Ultimately these characters evolved from being unambitious tramps affecting upper class manners into "wealthy layabouts". ''The Floor Walkers'' toured to Broadway's Grand Opera House for performances in 1900 and again in 1901. This work also starred sisters Margaret and Lucy Daly; the latter of whom was married to Hap Ward. Without Vokes, Ward starred in the Broadway musicals ''The Grafter'' (1906, as Bill Grafter), ''Not Yet, But Soon'' (1907, as Bill Nerve), and the '' Ziegfeld Follies of 1923''. Ward made his

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

debut in Francis Ford's ''

The Silent Mystery ''The Silent Mystery'' is a 1918 American drama film serial directed by Francis Ford. The film is considered to be lost. Plot As described in a film magazine, Phil Kelly (Ford) devotes himself to solving the mystery surrounding the Graham fami ...

'' (1918). This was followed by many comic silent films, most of them short films, made with the actress

from 1919 through 1921; including the role of One Lung in ''The Detectress'' (1919) and parts in ''Pants'' (1919), ''The Slavey'' (1919), ''Her First Flame'' (1919), ''Her Week-end'' (1919), ''Lizzie's Luck'' (1919), ''Poor Fish'' (1919), ''Cash'' (1919), ''Sweet Cookie'' (1919), ''This Way Out'' (1920), ''Help!'' (1920), and ''Beat It'' (1921) to name a few. Ward later appeared in one sound film, portraying Scal "the Rat" in '' Fugitives'' (1929).Solomon, p. 312 After retiring from acting, Ward operated a roadhouse outside of Boston for many years. At various points in his career he also worked as a theatre agent and producer. He was a member of The Lambs and was a founding member of The Catholic Actor's Guild of America. He died at his home in New York City on January 3, 1944 at the age of 76.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Hap 1868 births 1944 deaths American comedians American musical theatre actors American silent film actors Male actors from Philadelphia Members of The Lambs Club Vaudeville performers