Fred Sanborn
Encyclopedia
Fred Sanborn was an American vaudeville
performer, actor
, and musician
. He was most notable as a member of Ted Healy
's comedy troupe Ted Healy and his Southern Gentlemen (which included the three people who would eventually become famous as The Three Stooges).
Sanborn appeared frequently in the group's early stage acts. However, after appearing with Healy, Moe Howard
, Larry Fine
, and Shemp Howard in the Rube Goldberg
film Soup to Nuts
—for which Sanborn also wrote a song—he left the group, preferring to concentrate on his music rather than become known as a "Healyite". Sanborn's character was a quasi-Chaplinesque little fellow (completely with the lopsided walk) who is never heard speaking, preferring to whisper in other characters' ears while waggling his thick eyebrows. He appeared in films sporadically throughout the 1930s-40s, often in small, unspeaking comedy roles.
His last performance was as a comedian on The Ed Wynn Show in 1950.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performer, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
. He was most notable as a member of Ted Healy
Ted Healy
Ted Healy was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. He is chiefly remembered today as the original creator of the Three Stooges, but had a successful stage and film career of his own.- Early life :...
's comedy troupe Ted Healy and his Southern Gentlemen (which included the three people who would eventually become famous as The Three Stooges).
Sanborn appeared frequently in the group's early stage acts. However, after appearing with Healy, Moe Howard
Moe Howard
Moses Harry Horwitz , known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades...
, Larry Fine
Larry Fine
Louis Feinberg , known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American comedian and actor, who is best known as a member of the comedy act The Three Stooges.-Early life:...
, and Shemp Howard in the Rube Goldberg
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor.He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. These devices, now known as Rube Goldberg machines, are similar to...
film Soup to Nuts
Soup to Nuts
Soup to Nuts is an American feature film written by Rube Goldberg and directed by Benjamin Stoloff, which marks the film debut of the comic trio who would go on to become known as the Three Stooges...
—for which Sanborn also wrote a song—he left the group, preferring to concentrate on his music rather than become known as a "Healyite". Sanborn's character was a quasi-Chaplinesque little fellow (completely with the lopsided walk) who is never heard speaking, preferring to whisper in other characters' ears while waggling his thick eyebrows. He appeared in films sporadically throughout the 1930s-40s, often in small, unspeaking comedy roles.
His last performance was as a comedian on The Ed Wynn Show in 1950.