Charley Foy
| Charley Foy | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Charles J. Fitzgerald June 12, 1898 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | August 22, 1984 (aged 86) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1915–55 |
| Spouse(s) | Grace Hayes (1929-34 d.) |
Charley Foy (June 12, 1898 – August 22, 1984) was an American actor of both the vaudeville stage and film. Son of Eddie Foy, Sr., he was one of the famous "The Seven Little Foys", the seven children of the senior Foy, who joined him on stage in vaudeville. After beginning his career in Vaudeville, he had a film career which spanned 40 years, although he was only truly active for only seven of them, from 1936 through 1943.
Foy's grandparents immigrated to the United States in 1855, settling in New York City. As a child, is father moved to Chicago with his widowed mother after the grandfather had died from syphilis-induced dementia. After a career that took him around the country, Eddie Foy settled back in the town he was born in, New York. There he met and married Madeline Morando. The two had 11 children, 7 of whom survived childhood. Of those, Charley was the 2nd oldest. His six surviving siblings were: Bryan Foy (1896 - 1977), Mary Foy (1901 - 1987), Eddie Fitzgerald Foy (1905–1983), Richard Foy (1905 - 1947), Madeline Foy (1906 - 1988), and Irving Foy (1909 - 2003).
As a youth, Foy wanted to be a professional ball player. Foy's entry into show business came when his father created "Eddie and the Seven Little Foys" in 1912, which became one of the most sought after acts on the Vaudeville stage. The act consisted of skits, songs, and dance, featuring the senior Eddie and his seven children. Occasionally, their mother would also appear with them on-stage up until her death in 1918. They debuted at the New Brighton Theater on Long Island, New York on August 19, 1912, before moving to the Union Square Theatre in New York City the following week. Over the next six years, the act appeared in New York theaters and on tours throughout the country. In 1913, after opening in New York at the Union Square, the group toured 13 cities in 17 weeks. Charley Foy made his film debut this year, in a Majestic Motion Picture film short, "The Other Side of the Fence", as a precocious youth who has many adventures. The following year they worked all 52 weeks. They opened the year on New Year's Day, covering 21 cities before having a three-week stint at the Palace Theatre, followed by a two-week engagement back at the Brighton Theater. They closed the year with another 19-week, 9 city tour.
In 1914 they would again set a torrid pace, performing 50 weeks, including two tours of 26 and 19 weeks. They again toured twice in 1915, but this time only for 17 weeks from January through April, and then for the final 6 weeks of the year. In between, Foy appeared in another film in the Mack Sennett short, A Favorite Fool, this time along with the rest of his family. It would be another 13 years before the act again appeared on film, minus their father, in the Vitaphone short, "Chips of the Old Block". This short, in the UCLA archive, is the only surviving film of the performances of the family act. They remained busy during 1916—17, going out on four more tours. 1918 saw them once again on road, touring four cities in seven weeks, starting on New Year's Day. After this tour, the oldest son, Bryan, went to serve in the U.S. Army in World War I. The act would continue without Bryan, as "Eddie Foy and the Younger Foys", through 1923, when their father retired. The Younger Foys continued on the vaudeville stage through the 1920s, eventually disbanding when Eddie Foy Jr. went out on his own as a single act in 1929. Foy, along with three of his younger siblings, Madeline, Mary, and Irving, continued to perform as an act in Vaudeville through the mid-1930s, billed as "The Foy Family: Real Chips Off the Old Block", in which Charley Foy was given top billing. At one point in the mid-1920s, Foy attempted to give Ginger Rogers, then an unknown dancer by the name of Ginger McMath, an opportunity on stage during a performance in Fort Worth, Texas. However the venue manager refused to allow her to take the stage.
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