Ben Blue
| Ben Blue | |
|---|---|
Ben Blue
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| Born |
Benjamin Bernstein September 12, 1901 Montréal, Quebec |
| Died | March 7, 1975 (aged 73) Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Benjamin Bernstein |
| Occupation | Actor and comedian |
| Years active | 1927–1975 |
| Spouse(s) |
Mary (m. 1922; div. 1937) Axie Dunlap (m. 1940; his death 1975) |
| Children | Tom and Robert |
Ben Blue (September 12, 1901 – March 7, 1975), , was a Canadian-American actor and comedian.
He was born Benjamin Bernstein in Montreal, Quebec on September 12, 1901 to David Asher Bernstein and Sadie Goldberg. He was Jewish.
Blue emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland at the age of nine, where he won a contest for the best impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. At the age of fifteen he was in a touring company and later became a stage manager and assistant general manager. He became a dance instructor and nightclub proprietor. In the 1920s Blue joined a popular orchestra, Jack White and His Montrealers. The entire band emphasized comedy, and would continually interact with the joke-cracking maestro. Blue, the drummer, would sometimes deliver corny jokes while wearing a ridiculously false beard. The band emigrated to the United States, and appeared in two early sound musicals — the Vitaphone short subject Jack White and His Montrealers and Universal's feature-length 2-strip Technicolor revue King of Jazz (1930).
In 1930, Blue toured with the "Earl Carroll Vanities".
Blue left the band to establish himself as a solo comedian, portraying a bald-headed dumb-bell with a goofy expression. Producer Hal Roach featured him in his "Taxi Boys" comedy shorts, but Blue's dopey character was an acquired taste and he was soon replaced by other comedians. Later in the 1930s he worked at Paramount Pictures, notably in The Big Broadcast of 1938, and later at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in films such as Easy to Wed.
He was divorced by his first wife in 1937. He was ordered to pay $600 (approximately $10,000 today) monthly alimony. The judge told him: "You are no exception to the rule that theatrical careers do not last long, and yours already has been a long one."
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