The Banana Man was a

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 ...

character created by Adolf Proper (November 27, 1886–December 17, 1950) who worked under the stage name "A. Robins". The Banana Man (BZ) act consisted of Proper, dressed as a clownish character in a baggy tuxedo, producing an amazing and apparently impossible number of props from countless pockets and secret places in his costume. He would then perform various clown routines with the props. These props included (among many other things) a clarinet, a mandolin, a huge magnet, a violin, a music stand, several watermelons, and three hundred bananas. He did not speak in words, but uttered cries of delight, surprise, etc., in a nasal falsetto, and imitated the sounds of the musical instruments he "played." His costume was also capable of quick transformation, converting to a woman's dress and back again in seconds. A profile of Proper in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' reported that the costume weighed 60 pounds loaded, and it took him 45 minutes to prepare it for each performance. Proper performed as The Banana Man in the Broadway musical ''

Jumbo Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and t ...

'', in the short film ''Seeing Red'' starring

Red Skelton Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program '' The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...

, and in the 1947 feature film ''

Mother Wore Tights ''Mother Wore Tights'' is a 1947 Technicolor musical film starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey as married vaudeville performers, directed by Walter Lang. This was Grable and Dailey's first film together, based on a book of the same name by Mir ...

'' starring

Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million; for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she reign ...

Sam Levine (1915-1997) bought Proper's original props and gimmicks from Proper's estate, and performed as The Banana Man on ''

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television progra ...

'' and ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...

''. Allan Jones, a collector from Cleveland, Tennessee, purchased the entirety of the Banana Man props and gimmicks – as well as the rights to the act – on Nov. 13, 2003 from collector Leonard Goodstein of Brooklyn, NY. Goodstein originally purchased the items from the widow of Max Roth. The Jones family owns the most extensive collection of Captain Kangaroo memorabilia in the world, including the Dancing Bear costume, as well as the Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit puppets used on the show. Jones’ collection also includes Captain Kangaroo’s famous navy blue jacket and the Captain’s blonde wig with sideburns. Both were worn on every episode of the program from 1955 until 1971. Jones also owns the Wizard costume, along with the famous keys to the Treasure House. The keys appeared in every episode of the show’s first decade, from 1955 to 1965."Captain Kangaroo Puppeteer Mourned"
'' Cision PR Neewswire'' 09 August 2013

References

External links

The Banana Man - The History
''Note: states that Proper died in Bournemouth, England''
Sam Levine as The Banana Man on ''Captain Kangaroo''
(YouTube) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Banana Man, The Vaudeville performers American clowns