Occupation Comedian Spouse Johanna Davidson Role Comedian | Name Al Shean Years active 1930-1944 Children Al Shean | |
 | ||
Full Name Abraham Elieser Adolph Schonberg Born 12 May 1868 ( 1868-05-12 ) Dornum, Germany Other names Adolf Schonberg
Alfred Schonberg
Albert Schonberg Relatives Minnie Schonberg (sister)
Sam "Frenchie" Marx
(brother-in-law)
The Marx Brothers (nephews) Died August 12, 1949, New York City, New York, United States Parents Fannie Sophie Solomons, Lafe Schoenberg Movies Tim Tyler's Luck, Hitler's Madman, Live - Love and Learn, Too Hot to Handle, 52nd Street Similar People Minnie Marx, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Sam Marx, Zeppo Marx | ||
Ziegfeld girls 1941 charles winninger al shean mr gallagher and mr shean
Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg (12 May 1868 – 12 August 1949), known as Al Shean, was a comedian and vaudeville performer. Other sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg. He is most remembered for being half of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean, and as the uncle of the Marx Brothers.
Contents
- Ziegfeld girls 1941 charles winninger al shean mr gallagher and mr shean
- Gallagher Shean Atlantic City
- Biography
- Legacy
- References
Gallagher & Shean - Atlantic City
Biography
Shean was born in Dornum, Germany, on 12 May 1868, the son of Fanny and Levi or Louis Schoenberg. Schönberg's father was a magician. His sister, Minnie, married Sam "Frenchie" Marx; their children would become the Marx Brothers.
After making a name for himself in vaudeville, Shean teamed up with Edward Gallagher to create the act Gallagher and Shean in the 1920s. While the act was successful, the men apparently did not like each other much. After their act's final Ziegfeld Follies pairing, Shean went on to perform solo in eight Broadway shows, even playing the title character in Father Malachy's Miracle.
Shean had some solo film roles: as the piano player, known as "The Professor" in San Francisco (1936), as a priest in Hitler's Madman (1943), as the grandfather in The Blue Bird (1940), and in some three dozen other films. He and Gallagher also made an early sound film at the Theodore Case studio in Auburn, New York, in 1925.
He died on 12 August 1949.
Legacy
Shean's son, also named Al Shean, worked on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.