Evening star., 1936-03-08

SOT example, LIle popular JACK d
home town of Decatur, ILL.,, and who:
is there to blame him for easing his
path to fame by changing that name?
Fred Allen was Fred Sullivan, Ben
Bernie was Benjamin Ancellowitz, Vir-
ginia Rea was Virginia Murphy, Ed
Wynn was Edwin Leopold, George
Burns was Nathaniel Birnbaum, Har-
riett Hilliard was Peggy Snyder, Bert
Lahr was Isidore Lahrheim, Ted
Weems was William Theodore Wymes.
Joe Penner was Joseph. Pinter, Vera
Van was Vera Webster, Lawrence Tib-
bett was Lawrence Tibet and Benay
Venuta was Benevenuta Crooke.
These and other variations would
seem to indicate that they didn't all
change because their names sounded
too foreign for American ears: the
escape from harsher foreign names
had lot to do with 1t, of course, but
simplicity had even more.
PACK in his boyhood days in Wash
ington, when he sold newspapers
Sust around the corner from the White
House, AL Jolson was known as Asa
Yoelson. During her schooldays in
Washington not so many years ago
Helen Hayes was plain Helen Brown,
nor did she get her famous stage name
by marrying the playwright Charles
Macarthur. The stage, screen and
radio dramatic star, Leslie Howard, in
his native England was Leslie Stainer.
Goodman Ace. the exasperated half of
easy Aces" used that name when he
vas a columnist on Kansas City
newspaper and kept it when he went to
radio his real name being A. c. Esch-
kowitz.
A few of the other prominent alter
cognomens: Ted Lewis was Leopold
Friedman, Sid Gary was Sid Gar
finkel, Frank Luther was James Grow,
Will Osborn was William Oliphant,
Leon Belasco was Leon Seminovich
Berladsky. George Hall was George
Passilia, Glen Gray was Glen Knob
lauch, Loretta Lee was Margaret
VEGAS. Shirley Howard was Shirley
Gins, Leah Ray was Leah Hubbard.
Singer was Sally Elizabeth Schermer-
horn, James Farrell was James
Phatiger, Jacques Renard was Jacob
Stavinky, David Ross was David
Rosenthal and Alice Joy was Frances
Harriet Holcomb.
GONE of the stars radio names to-
tally obscure their original per-
sonalities, apparently by preference.
Thus few persons know that Col
Stoopnagle of the Col Stoopnagle and
Budd team really goes by the very
good name of F. Chase Taylor, while
Budds real name is Budd Hullck,
Baby Rose Marie is Rose Curley,
Rosemary and Priscilla Lane are really
the Mullican sisters. Singin' Sam is
Harry Frankel and Little Jack Little
is John Leonard. Around his busy
Offices in New York, where scores
Of clerks and stenographers are kept
busy handling his mail, the Voice of
Experience is not called Mr.. Voice,
but DR.. M. Sayle Taylor.
Probably the most reasonable con-
traction of name was that of Gogo
De Lys, whose French forebears left
her with the Lonesome appellation
of Marie Jeanne Gabriel Germaine
Belzeniere Belanger. Then there is
one noted radio character who wanted
to change difficult name to one
still more difficult, but his plea to
New York court was disallowed a few
weeks ago. He is Harry Einstein,
one-time Boston advertising man, who
stooges for Eddie Cantor as Parkya-
karkus. He wanted to change his
legal name to Parkyakarkus, which
brought up the question of George
Givot's rights to the Greek dialect
character. The court said nay-but
then. We aren't so sure Mr. Einstein