Bert Lahr

At 72 years old, Bert Lahr has this physical status:

Irving Lahrheim (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967), better known as Bert Lahr, was an American actor of stage and screen, vaudevillian, and comedian.

In the MGM version of The Wizard of Oz (1939), Lahr is best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion and his companion Kansas farmworker "Zeke."

He was well-known for his quick-witted humour and his appearances in burlesque, vaudeville, and Broadway.

Early life, family and education

Irving Lahrheim was born on August 13, 1895, at First Avenue and 81st Street in the Yorkville section of Manhattan's Upper East Side. He was the son of Augusta (1871–1932) and Jacob Lahrheim (1870–1947), an upholsterer. His parents, who were German-Jewish immigrants, were among his parents.

He volunteered in P.S. Although he dropped out of school at age 15, 77 and Morris High School.

Lahr served in World War II as a seaman second class.

Personal life

Mercedes Delpino, Lahr's first wife, had mental illness that had to hospitalize her. Mildred Schroeder's second wife, who had court issues with getting a divorce in New York, made his relationship more difficult. She grew tired of waiting, became involved with another man and married him. Lahr was heartbroken, but she eventually received her back. Herbert Lahr, a son, died (1929-2002), with Delpino, his brother John (born 1941), and Jane (born 1943) with Schroeder. John Lahr, a London-based drama critic, married actor and comedian Connie Booth (Fawlty Towers) in 2000; she was previously married to British actor/comedian John Cleese. Jane Lahr, a drama critic and literary editor, was married to drama critic Martin Gottfried.

Lahr was an avid golfer. He was considered a serious personality offstage, prone to melancholy and, as his mother, hypochondria. "While we were growing up, there was no one Oz image or memento of any kind in the apartment." He also describes his father as being "absolutely alone" and plagued by "morbid fear," "moroseness," and "the thick fog of some ontological panic that seemed to have lingering around [him] and was palpable, impenetrable."

Adlai Stevenson's campaign in the 1952 presidential election as a committed Democrat.

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Stage career

At the age of 14, Lahr began performing on vaindeville stages in minor roles. At the age of 15, he quit school to pursue a youth vainculture career. He came to top billing while at the Columbia Amusement Company, earning him the highest accolade. In 1927, he appeared on Broadway in Harry Delmar's Revels, a revival of 1927. He played to packed audiences, delivering classic routines such as "The Song of the Woodman" (which he reprised in 1938's film Merry-Go-Round). The prizefighter hero of Hold Everything was playing the first major success in a stage musical. (1928–29). Other musicals followed, including Flying High (1930), Florenz Ziegfeld's Hot-Cha! (1932) and The Show Is On (1936), in which Beatrice Lillie co-starred. Louis Blore co-starred alongside Ethel Merman in the Broadway production of DuBarry Was a Lady in 1939, receiving acclaim.

Hotel Paradiso on Broadway and A Midsummer Night's Dream with a touring company in the 1950s were among the later performances. He appeared on Broadway again in 1962 in S. J. Perelman's The Beauty Part.

Film career

In 1931's Flying High, Lahr played the oddball aviator he had seen on stage. For a string of two-reel comedies, he partnered with New York-based Educational Pictures. After the series ended, he moved to Hollywood to work in feature films. Aside from The Wizard of Oz (1939), his film career was brief. In the 1944 patriotic film Meet the People, Lahr uttered the word "Heavens to Murgatroyd." The cartoon character Snagglepuss was later popularized by the cartoon character Snagglepuss.

In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1939 adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, Lahr's most notable role was that of the Cowardly Lion. On July 25, 1938, Lahr was formally contracted to appear in the role. Lahr's lion costume was made of lion fur and, under the high-intensity lighting required for Oz's Technicolor scenes, the costume was unbearably hot. For his character, Lahr wrote ad-lib comedic lines. Several of Lahr's scenes took several takes because other cast members, particularly Garland, couldn't finish the scene without laughing. The Cowardly Lion is the only character to perform two solo song numbers; "If I Only Had the Nerve" after Dorothy's first meeting with The Scarecrow and The Tin Man in the wood; and "If I Were King of the Forest" performed while others are waiting for their audience with the Wizard.

The Wizard of Oz was Lahr's 17th film. Lahr replied that Hollywood had a habit of typecasting actors, "Yeah, but how many lions are there?"

In the Comisar Collection, which also includes the world's biggest collection of television artifacts and memorabilia, Lahr's original Cowardly Lion costume worn by Lahr in The Wizard of Oz.

In an episode filmed in Detroit, Michigan, Lahr's original reading script for The Wizard of Oz, bequeathed to his great-grandson, was appraised on PBS' Antiques Roadshow, worth $150,000.

Later, Lahr made the change to straight theater. He had a script of Waiting for Godot and was highly impressed but was uncertain how the revolutionary play would be received in the United States. It was a success in Europe, but it was also something that was less well known and intellectual. He appeared in Waiting for Godot, the American premiere of Waiting for Godot in 1956 at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, Florida, as Estragon to Tom Ewell's Vladimir. The performance was tumultuous, with audience members yelling out in droves, and the commentators did not treat it kindly. Bert's uncle John Lahr argues that the cowardly Lion's movements were partly due to the director's choices, including the decision to limit Bert's movement on stage; crowding the stage with platforms; and a misguided interpretation of the play as a light comedy, among other difficulties.

Lahr reprised his role in a short-lived Broadway run, co-starring E. G. Marshall as Vladimir. This time, it was with Herbert Berghof, the playwright, who had worked with Samuel Beckett, who had visited Europe and discussed the role. Bert was given more freedom in his appearance, and he was given more freedom in his appearance. Advertisements were distributed encouraging intellectuals to participate in the performance, which was a hit and attracted ovations from the audience. Bert was praised, but others would disagree and say he knew it was a big deal.

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