Born: July 3 1881
Died: October 12 1951
by PETER TATCHELL (copyright 2011)
Long before Barry Humphries and Paul Hogan began invading the stages and movie screens of the world, Australia’s first internationally-acclaimed comedian was the toast of Broadway and later, Hollywood. He was a rubber-legged funnyman named Leon Errol.
Born in Sydney in 1881, Leon originally planned to become a doctor but taking part in amateur theatrics while at university enticed him to change his career path dramatically. As the 20th century dawned the increasingly versatile performer built up an act touring the stages of Australia and New Zealand, at times working in a circus as clown, animal trainer and bareback rider and later even appearing in Shakespeare with a repertory company.
In 1905 he crossed the Pacific and got a job in a San Francisco beer hall, wowing the patrons with his eccentric dancing and pantomime skills. It wasn’t long before Leon was managing a burlesque troupe travelling throughout the U.S. west coast (and on occasion coaching a young Fatty Arbuckle) but the famous 1906 earthquake caused him to head to the safer environs in the mid-west and eventually across the country to New York.
His big break came when Florenz Ziegfeld signed Errol for the 1911 edition of his annual Follies. Joining with popular Bert Williams in one celebrated sketch, Leon’s performance as a drunken major all but stopped the show. It was the start of a twenty year career on the Broadway stage as Leon Errol became one of top names on the famous thoroughfare.
The comedian became a regular in the following four Ziegfeld Follies, and along the way also starred in other productions for the famous producer … A Winsome Widow (1912), The Century Girl (1916) and the Midnight Revue – Dance and Grow Thin (1917). He also headlined two editions of Hitchy-Koo in 1917 and 1918 and crossed the Atlantic in 1919 to appear at the London Hippodrome in a production called Joy Belle.
On his return to America, Errol spent a couple of years in vaudeville and topped the bill at the Palace before Ziegfeld lured him back with a major role in the Jerome Kern musical extravaganza Sally (with Marilyn Miller).
By the 1920s, the movie makers of Hollywood were competing with “flesh and blood” theatre for audiences and Leon (who’d already made a 2-reeler in 1916 called Nearly Spliced) was signed for a handful of features during the heyday of the silent film. One of them was an adaptation of Sally (also starring Marilyn Miller) in 1925.
Then it was back to the footlights for Ziegfeld’s Louie the 14th (the national tour of which was interrupted when Errol managed to break both ankles during an acrobatic comedy routine on parallel bars), Yours Truly (1927) and Fioretta (1929) which saw him reunited with another Follies star, Fanny Brice.
Soon after, all of show business was caught up in the financial mess that culminated in the Wall Street crash of October 1929. Like many other top names, Leon Errol deserted Broadway and headed to Hollywood for the start of his second career … in the new-fangled talkies.
Leon began with a major role in Paramount’s all-star Paramount on Parade (as one of the M.C.’s and in a sketch). The studio then starred him in a number of features and 2-reelers until the mid-30s, notably with Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman and Burns & Allen in We’re Not Dressing. During this period Errol also worked for Warners (Her Majesty Love, with Ziegfeld stars W.C. Fields and Marilyn Miller) and at Columbia and Universal.
Now in his fifties, Leon Errol was no longer being offered lead roles in major productions but had transformed into a sought after character player supplying comic relief throughout the storylines.
In 1934 he was signed by R.K.O. to star in a series of 2-reelers (usually as a philandering and henpecked husband). The shorts were enormously popular and in all there would be nearly ninety produced over the next two decades.
Errol also appeared in several features for the studio and one, The Girl from Mexico in 1939, became so successful it spawned a series, The Mexican Spitfire. Centred on the volatile character played by Lupe Velez, Leon was able to appear in two roles of each instalment … as the heroine’s affable Uncle Matt and his dimwitted look-a-like Lord Epping.
The plots ensured misunderstandings aplenty each time his Lordship was impersonated, and Errol’s physical antics became a major feature of the proceedings. Indeed, to moviegoers he was the real star of the pictures. (Rival studio Universal also capitalized on the pair’s popularity by signing them for the not-dissimilar Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga in 1941). After eight films R.K.O. ended the series in 1943 and a year later Lupe Velez committed suicide following a turbulent and troubled private life.
Leon continued making his popular 2-reelers and the occasional feature, appearing again with W.C. Fields in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, in Higher and Higher with Frank Sinatra and Victor Borge and with Abbott and Costello in The Noose Hangs High. He could also be found in several low budget musicals, westerns and in one of the many sequels to The Invisible Man.
In 1946, “poverty row” studio Monogram decided to revive the cartoon strip character Joe Palooka in a series of B movies. Joe Kirkwood Jr. played the boxer and Leon appeared as his manager Knobby Walsh in eight pictures until 1950. Meanwhile R.K.O. decided to re-use some of Errol’s shorts by including them in several cheaply put together features they were releasing (Variety Time, Make Mine Laughs and Footlight Varieties). As it happened, they would be the last time Leon Errol would be seen in a full length motion picture.
By the early 1950s television was ripe for his popular short subject character to transfer to a weekly sitcom, but fate decreed otherwise. In October 1951, just three months after his 70th birthday, Leon Errol suffered a heart attack and died.
Films
The MEXICAN SPITFIRE series (R.K.O.)
1939 The Girl from Mexico
Mexican Spitfire
1940 Mexican Spitfire out West
1941 Mexican Spitfire’s Baby
1942 Mexican Spitfire at Sea
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
Mexican Spitfire’s Elephant
1943 Mexican Spitfire’s Blessed Event
The JOE PALOOKA series (Monogram)
1946 Joe Palooka, Champ
Gentleman Joe Palooka
1947 Joe Palooka in the Knockout
1948 Fighting Mad
1949 Joe Palooka in the Big Fight
Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch
1950 Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey
Joe Palooka in Humphrey Takes a Chance
The R.K.O. 2-reelers
1934 Autobuyography
Fixing a Stew
1935 Hit and Run
Salesmanship Ahoy
Home Work
Counselitis
1936 Down the Ribber
Wholesailing Along
One Live Ghost
1937 Wrong Romance
Should Wives Work?
A Rented Riot
1938 Dummy Owner
His Pest Friend
Berth Quakes
The Jitters
Stage Fright
Major Difficulties
1939 Crime Rave
Home Boner
Moving Vanities
Ring Madness
Wrong Room
Truth Aches
1940 Scrappily Married
Bested by a Beard
He Asked for It
Tattle Television
1941 The Fired Man
When Wifie’s Away
A Polo Phony
A Panic in the Parlor
Man I Cured
Who’s a Dummy?
1942 Home Work
Wedded Blitz
Framing Father
Mail Trouble
Dear! Deer!
Pretty Dolly
1943 Double Up
Gem Jams
Radio Runaround
Seeing Nellie Home
Cutie on Duty
Wedtime Stories
1944 Say Uncle
Poppa Knows Worst
Girls, Girls, Girls
Triple Trouble
He Forgot to Remember
1945 Birthday Blues
Let’s Go Stepping
It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog
Double Honeymoon
Beware of Redheads
1946 Maid Trouble
Oh, Professor, Behave
Twin Husbands
I’ll Take Milk
Follow That Blonde
1947 Borrowed Blonde
Wife Tames Wolf
In Room 303
Hired Husband
Blondes Away
The Spook Speaks
1948 Bet Your Life
Don’t Fool Your Wife
Secretary Trouble
Bachelor Blues
Uninvited Blonde
Backstage Follies
1949 Dad Always Pays
Cactus Cut-Up
I Can’t Remember
Oil’s Well That Ends Well
Sweet Cheat
Shocking Affair
1950 High and Dizzy
Texas Tough Guy
Spooky Wooky
1951 Chinatown Chump
Punchy Pancho
One Wild Night
Deal Me In
Lord Epping Returns
Too Many Wives
Other film appearances
1916 Nearly Spliced (silent 2 reel short)
1924 Yolanda (silent)
1925 Sally (silent)
Clothes Make the Pirate (silent)
1927 The Lunatic at Large (silent)
1930 Paramount on Parade
Only Saps Work
One Heavenly Night
1931 Finn and Hattie
Her Majesty, Love
How I play Golf: The Mashie Niblick (Bobby Jones golf short)
1933 Alice in Wonderland
Poor Fish (2-reel short)
Three Little Swigs (2-reel short)
Hold Your Temper (2-reel short)
1934 No More Bridge (2-reel short)
We’re Not Dressing
Service with a Smile (2-reel short)
Good Morning, Eve (2-reel short)
The Notorious Sophie Lang
The Captain Hates the Sea
Perfectly Mismated (2-reel short)
One Too Many (2-reel short)
1935 Princess O’Hara
Coronado
Honeymoon Bridge (2-reel short)
1937 Make a Wish
1939 Career
Dancing Co-ed
1940 Pop Always Pays
The Golden Fleecing
1941 Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga
Where Did You Get That Girl?
Hurry, Charlie, Hurry
Moonlight in Hawaii
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Melody Lane
1943 Strictly in the Groove
Cowboy in Manhattan
Follow the Band
Gals, Inc.
Higher and Higher
A Family Feud (U.S. Government short)
1944 Slightly Terrific
The Invisible Man’s Revenge
Twilight on the Prairie
Babes on Wing Street
Prices Unlimited (U.S. Government short)
1945 She Gets Her Man
Under Western Skies
What a Blonde
Mamma Loves Papa
1946 Riverboat Rhythm
1948 The Noose Hangs High
Variety Time (incl. short Hired Husband)
1949 Make Mine Laughs (incl. short Beware of Redheads)
1951 Footlight Varieties (incl. short He Forgot to Remember)
DVDs
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Universal DVD
WE’RE NOT DRESSING
(part of CAROLE LOMBARD: THE GLAMOR COLLECTION and THE BING CROSBY COLLECTION)
Universal DVD sets
MAKE A WISH + LET’S SING AGAIN
DVD
DANCING CO-ED
Warner Home Video DVD
NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK
(part of W.C. FIELDS COMEDY COLLECTION – volume 2)
Universal DVD set
THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE
(part of THE INVISIBLE MAN: THE LEGACY COLLECTION)
Universal DVD set
HIGHER AND HIGHER
Warner Home Video DVD
THE NOOSE HANGS HIGH
MGM DVD
VITAPHONE CAVALCADE OF MUSICAL COMEDY SHORTS
Warners 6-DVD set (2010)
disc 5: IN TECHNICOLOR! – Musical Comedy 2-Reelers (1934 – 1935)
includes the Leon Errol shorts
Service with a Smile (1934)
Good Morning, Eve (1934)
LEON ERROL TWO-REELER COMEDY COLLECTION
VCI DVD (2003)
includes
Twin Husbands (1946)
Pretty Dolly (1942)
Bet Your Life (1948)
Oil’s Well That Ends Well (1949)
Lord Epping Returns (1951)
Dummy Owner (1938)
His Pest Friend (1938)
Bested By a Beard (1940)
Man I Cured (1941)
Framing Father (1942)
LEON ERROL: HENPECKED TWO-REELERS
DVD
includes
Twin Husbands (1946)
Dear! Deer! (1942)
Beware of Redheads (1945)
Sweet Cheat (1949)
(DEAR! DEER! may also be found on Alpha DVD 5033)
LEON ERROL COLLECTION – vol 2
Alpha dvd, 2013 (112 min)
Moving Vanities
Mail Trouble
Cutie on Duty
Triple Trouble
Follow That Blonde
Maid Trouble
LEON ERROL COLLECTION – vol 3
Alpha dvd, 2017 (112 min)
One Live Ghost
Rented Riot
His Pest Friend
Radio Runaround
Wedtime Stories
Girls, Girls, Girls
LEON ERROL COMEDY COLLECTION – vol 4
Alpha dvd, 2018 (109 min)
Couselitis
Down the Ribber
The Wrong Room
Beware of Redheads
Borrowed Blonde
Wife Tames Wolf
Books
Chapters on Leon Errol will be found in the following …
THE GREAT MOVIE SHORTS
by Leonard Maltin (Bonanza Books, New York, 1972)
THE FUNSTERS
by James Robert Parrish and William T. Leonard (Arlington House, New Rochelle, 1979)
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