Brother Theodore (11 November 1906 – 5 April 2001), born
Theodore Gottlieb, was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
-
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
monologuistA monologue is an extended uninterrupted speech by a character in a drama. The character may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud, directly addressing another character, or speaking to the audience, especially the former. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media .Monologuing is...
and comedian known for rambling, stream-of-consciousness dialogues which he called "stand up tragedy."
Early years
He was born into a wealthy
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish family in
DüsseldorfDüsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the second most international and economically important centre of Germany, after Frankfurt, and is located in the center of the Rhein-Ruhr area, Europe's most populated metropolitan area...
,
North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia is the westernmost and—in terms of population and economic output—the largest Federal State of Germany. North Rhine-Westphalia has over 18 million inhabitants, contributes about 22% of Germany's gross domestic product and comprises a land area of 34,083 km²...
, where his father was a magazine publisher. Theodore attended the
University of CologneThe University of Cologne is one of the oldest universities in Europe and, with over 44,000 students, one of the largest universities in Germany. The university is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, an association of Germany's leading research universities...
. At age 32, under
NaziNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
rule, he was imprisoned at the
Dachau concentration campDachau concentration camp was the first Nazi concentration camp opened in Germany, located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria which is located in southern Germany.Opened in March 1933, it...
until he signed over his family's fortune for one
ReichsmarkThe Reichsmark was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig.-History:...
. After being deported for
chessChess is a board game played between two players. The current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from a similar, much older game of Indian origin...
hustlingHustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick...
from
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
he went to
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
where
Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a theoretical physicist. His many contributions to physics include the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of...
, a family friend and alleged lover of his mother, helped him escape to the United States.
Comes to America
He worked as a janitor at
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
, where he demonstrated his prowess at chess by beating thirty professors simultaneously, and later became a dockworker in San Francisco. He played a bit part in
Orson WellesGeorge Orson Welles was an American film director, writer, actor and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television, and radio. Welles was also an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety spectacles in the war years...
's
The Stranger. This was one of the several movie appearances he made beginning in the 1940s and continuing into the 1990s. These were mostly small parts in B-movies, although he did provide the voice of
GollumGollum is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He was first introduced in the author's fantasy novel The Hobbit, and later became an important supporting character in its sequel, The Lord of the Rings....
in the 1977 made-for-television animated version of
The Hobbit and the follow-up adaptation of
The Return of the KingThe Return of the King is a 1980 animated musical television special created by Rakin/Bass. The film is an adaptation of the third volume in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and is largely viewed as the unoffical sequel to Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings...
.
Success
Theodore's career as a monologuist began in California in the late 1940s, with dramatic
PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the...
recitals. He moved to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, and by the 1950s his monologues, now darkly humorous, had attracted a cult following. He reached a wider audience through television, with 36 appearances on
The Merv Griffin ShowThe Merv Griffin Show was an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...
in the 1960s and '70s, and was also a guest on
The Tonight ShowThe Tonight Show is an American late-night talk and variety show airing on NBC since 1954. Tonight is the third longest-running entertainment program in U.S...
with
Johnny CarsonJohn William “Johnny” Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
,
The Dick Cavett ShowThe Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:* ABC daytime ...
, and
The Joey Bishop ShowJoey Bishop was an American entertainer who was perhaps best known for being a member of the "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin...
. As his nightclub and TV appearances in the 1950s and '60s waned, he was forgotten, and he retired in the mid 1970s.
Comeback
He was pulled out of retirement and booked by magician
Dorothy DietrichDorothy Dietrich is an American stage magician and escapologist, and one of the few women to have performed the bullet catch trick. She was also the first woman to perform a straitjacket escape while suspended hundreds of feet in the air from a burning rope Dorothy Dietrich is an American stage...
and
Dick BrooksDick Brooks, considered a magician of renown has been a professional performer since leaving school, was born in New York City, USA. As a teenager he joined a Department of Parks magic club headed up by the official magician of New York City, Abe Hurwitz , who was also the father of the soon to be...
in the
Magic Towne HouseThe Magic Towne House was a well known magic show spot on three floors at 1026 Third Avenue, north of 60th Street, New York City, in the 1970s and 1980s. It was in the posh area of the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Third Avenue and 61st Street next to Bloomingdale's Department Store...
on New York's upper East side for special weekend midnight performances. Brooks had remembered seeing Brother Theodore in the village years prior, when Theodore was packing them in and sought him out for his new club. This resulted in a resurgence of interest in Brother Theodore that brought him success in his later years starting with Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show in 1977 followed by more TV appearances and movies. According to Brooks, it took multiple calls to Theodore to convince him to make a comeback. Theodore's attitude was very bleak, and felt his career was over. Brooks wanted to charge ten or more dollars, but Theodore insisted on four dollars, so as not to scare people away. The show was a success and ran for several seasons. A picture of the Magic Towne House ad that appeared in local New York newspapers such as the Village Voice and The New York post can be found at http://www.shockcinemamagazine.com/brother.html
Talk-show viewers probably remember Theodore for his 16 appearances on NBC's
Late Night with David LettermanLate Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to The Late Show on CBS. Late Night with Conan O'Brien then filled the time slot...
in the 1980s. In the early 1980s, he was a regular on the
Billy Crystal ShowWilliam Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian, and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the box office successes When Harry...
. Up until the late 1990s, he was a guest actor in several episodes of
Joe Frank: Work in ProgressJoe Frank is an American radio personality, known best for his often philosophical, humorous and sometimes absurd monologues and radio dramas. -Early life:...
radio show on NPR. An article on Theodore appeared in RAVE magazine (with color photos) and segments from it are in the book
Who's Who in Comedy. Just prior to his death from
pneumoniaPneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the lung. Frequently, it is described as lung parenchyma/alveolar inflammation and abnormal alveolar filling with fluid ....
, he taped several monologues for the controversial documentary series,
DisinfoThe Disinformation Company is a privately held American publishing company that specializes in current affairs titles that seek to expose disinformation. It is headquartered in New York City, New York...
rmation. He appeared in Billy Crystal's "Don't Get Me Started" mockumentary, and voiced the character of an ointment expert on NPR's
Weekend EditionWeekend Edition is the name given to a set of American radio news magazines produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It is the weekend counterpart to Morning Edition. It consists of Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday , each of which airs for two hours, from 8 a.m. to 10...
Saturday audio version of
Julius Knipl, Real Estate PhotographerJulius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer is a weekly comic strip written and drawn by Ben Katchor since 1988. It is published in The Forward and various alternative weekly newspapers....
in 1995.
Death
Theodore died in New York City on April 5, 2001, in Mount Sinai Hospital, and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in
Hawthorne, New YorkHawthorne is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York. The population was 5,083 at the 2000 census.-History:...
.
His headstone reads:
Known as Brother Theodore / Solo Performer, Comedian, Metaphysician / "As Long As There is Death, There Is Hope"
Television appearances
- The Joey Bishop Show: 10/31/1967, 11/8/1967 [dates needed]
- The Merv Griffin Show: [dates needed]
- The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder
Thomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s.Snyder was also...
: 10/31/1977
- Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to The Late Show on CBS. Late Night with Conan O'Brien then filled the time slot...
(NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
): 9/10/1982, 10/20/1982, 2/3/1983, 5/19/1983, 7/8/1983, 9/7/1983, 2/21/1984, 5/16/1984, 9/17/1984, 12/19/1984, 7/8/1985, 10/31/1985, 9/17/1986, 7/24/1987, 1/13/1988, 2/17/1989
Radio appearances
- Joe Frank's
Joe Frank is an American radio personality, known best for his often philosophical, humorous and sometimes absurd monologues and radio dramas. -Early life:...
radio shows. Episodes: The Decline of Spengler, The End, A Tour of the City, Black Light
- Steve Post's The Outside radio show on WBAI
WBAI, a part of the Pacifica Radio Network, is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station, broadcasting at 99.5 FM in New York City.Its programming is leftist/progressive, and a mixture of leftist political advocacy tinged with aspects of its complex and varied history, such as Freeform...
in New York during the 1960s and 70s.
- Bob Claster's Funny Stuff on KCRW
KCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. A network of repeaters and broadcast translators allows the station to serve the Los Angeles...
in Santa Monica, September 24, 1989.
- The Ointment Expert: Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer
Further reading
- Martin, Douglas (April 6, 2001). "Theodore Gottlieb, Dark Comedian, Dies at 94". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-08-01.
- Adams, Kathleen; August, Melissa; Hartwell, Randy; Martens, Ellin; Pierro, Joseph; Song, Sora (April 16, 2001). "Milestones". Time Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-08-01.
External links