Steve Mills (October 9, 1895 - March 9, 1988) was a Burlesque performer. [1] [2] Although he did stints in vaudeville, he was known and spent his lifetime on the Burlesque and Legitimate stage.
Mills was born on October 9, 1895, in Boston, Massachusetts. His career in vaudeville began in 1910, when he appeared at an amateur night hosted by Fred Allen and Benny Rubin. [1]
He married Roberta Lean (later Abagail Mills). With his first wife, Dorothy (Rosenthal) Mills, they had a daughter, Rachel Hope Mills. [1]
He formed a comedy team called the Castle Trio around 1917. In 1924, he was in Whiz Bang Babies, and in 1926 he played the lead in Miss Tabasco. He next was a headliner for Bill Minsky at the Winter Garden Theater in Manhattan. He then signed with The Shubert Organization and appeared in Three Little Girls, No, No, Nanette (1925), and Prince of Pilsen. and many of the early Schubert Operettas. He alternated between working for the Shuberts with stints on the burlesque wheel. [1] With the Shuberts, he appeared in A Lady Says Yes, starring Carole Landis. He ended his run in This Was Burlesque in 1977 after suffering a stroke, where he lost his speech. His last Broadway appearance was in 1971 in Arthur Whitelaw's production of 70, Girls, 70 . He worked locally in Warwick, Rhode Island, where he had a home, and in Boston, his hometown, in a series of burlesque shows produced and directed by Abagail Mills. He appeared in a Minsky review at the Circus Circus Casino in Las Vegas in 1975. He returned to This Was Burlesque in 1975 and had a stroke after finishing the HBO production of This Was Burlesque. He retired from the theater, and then remained in his home in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Mills died on March 9, 1988, in Warwick, Rhode Island. [1] He was survived by his wife, Abagail (Susan) Mills of 22 years, a daughter Rachel (Mills) Triana, and four grandchildren. He is buried in Rhode Island.
Irving Lahrheim, known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American stage and screen actor and comedian. He was best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Zeke", in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer adaptation of The Wizard of Oz (1939). He was well known for his quick-witted humor and his work in burlesque and vaudeville and on Broadway.
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the three Shubert brothers — Lee, Sam, and Jacob J. Shubert — in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters in New York and across the United States. Since then it has gone through changes of ownership, but it is still a major theater chain.
Fay Templeton was an American actress, singer, songwriter, and comedian.
The Night They Raided Minsky's is a 1968 American musical comedy film written and produced by Norman Lear, with music and lyrics by the duo of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, and directed by William Friedkin. Based on a 1960 novel by Rowland Barber, the film is a fictional account of the invention of the striptease at Minsky's Burlesque in 1925. It stars Jason Robards, Britt Ekland, Norman Wisdom, Forrest Tucker, Harry Andrews, Denholm Elliott, Elliott Gould and Bert Lahr.
Minsky's Burlesque refers to the brand of American burlesque presented by four sons of Louis and Ethel Minsky: Abraham 'Abe' Bennett Minsky (1880–1949), Michael William 'Billy' Minsky (1887–1932), Herbert Kay Minsky (1891–1959), and Morton Minsky (1902–1987). They started in 1912 and ended in 1937 in New York City. Although the shows were declared obscene and outlawed, they were rather tame by modern standards.
Lester M. Allen was an American actor, dancer, singer, comedian, and circus performer. After beginning his career as a child acrobat with the Barnum and Bailey Circus, he became a performer in minstrel shows, burlesque, and vaudeville. He worked as primarily a dancer and acrobat in the Broadway musical revues George White's Scandals and Ziegfeld Follies in the 1910s and early 1920s; ultimately progressing to singing and comedic acting parts. He starred as a comic actor in several musical comedies on Broadway during the 1920s and the early 1930s. He transitioned into work as a film actor, appearing in more than 15 films released from 1941 to 1950. He was killed after being struck by a motor vehicle in 1949.
Gloria Jacqueline LeRoy was an American character actress. She had a diverse career on stage, in film, and on television. Her film career began after Norman Lear spotted her on stage and cast her in The Night They Raided Minsky's in 1968. She was perhaps best known for playing the voluptuous Mildred "Boom Boom" Turner in the 1970s sitcom All in the Family.
Margaret Hart Ferraro, better known as Margie Hart, was a New York City stripteaser, in American burlesque theatre.
Virginia Earle was an American stage actress remembered for her work in light operas, Edwardian musical comedies and vaudeville over the decades surrounding the turn of the 20th century.
Minsky's is a musical by Bob Martin (book), Charles Strouse (music), and Susan Birkenhead (lyrics), and is loosely based on the 1968 movie The Night They Raided Minsky's.
Jimmy Savo, was an American vaudeville, Broadway, nightclub, film and television performer, comedian, juggler, and mime artist.
Donald Travis Stewart, known professionally as Trav S.D., is an American author, journalist, playwright and stage performer. He has been called a leading figure in the New Vaudeville and Indie Theater movements.
Frederick Roger Imhof was an American film actor, vaudeville, burlesque and circus performer, sketch writer, and songwriter.
Velma Fern Worden, better known by the stage name April March, is an exotic dancer and prominent star of American burlesque. Billed as April March, The First Lady of Burlesque, she was a headline act in burlesque from 1952 to 1978. During her more than thirty-year career, she gained popularity throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe for her classy and sophisticated striptease. March was one of the innovators of the elegant strip tease.
Joey Faye was an American comedian and actor.
Jack Cameron, also known as Jack Kammerer, was an American actor, singer, and acrobatic comedian whose career spanned almost five decades. He appeared in vaudeville, burlesque, film, radio, and television. Cameron was best known for his vaudeville performances, first as part of the Kammerer & Howland musical comedy act, and later as a principal comedian on the Keith-Albee circuit. He appeared in several motion pictures and could be heard on WPRO (AM) radio as the “Singing Salesman.”
Isidore H. Herk was a burlesque manager who played a major role in the evolution of this entertainment before World War II. His show at the Gaiety Theatre, closed in 1941, was the last burlesque show on Broadway.
Edgar McPhail Smith was an American writer and lyricist for musicals in the early decades of the 20th century. He contributed to some 150 Broadway musicals. Weber and Fields starred in many of his works.
Christopher Joseph Devlin, better known as Joe Devlin, was a vaudeville and burlesque performer, and American actor with over 170 film and television credits.
The Mutual Burlesque Association, also called the Mutual Wheel or the MBA, was an American burlesque circuit active from 1922 until 1931. Controlled by Isidore Herk, it quickly replaced its parent company and competitor, the Columbia Amusement Company, as the preeminent burlesque circuit during the Roaring Twenties. Comedians Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Harry Steppe, Joe Penner, Billy Gilbert, Rags Ragland, and Billy Hagan, as well as stripteasers Ann Corio, Hinda Wausau, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Carrie Finnell, performed in Mutual shows. Mae West appeared in Mutual shows from 1922 to 1925. Mutual collapsed during the Great Depression.
