Leonard Barr
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Leonard Barr (September 27, 1903 - November 22, 1980) was an old-style, one-liner standup comic in the tradition of Henny Youngman. He was allegedly an uncle of Dean Martin, or at least was introduced that way on some appearances on Martin's TV shows in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Thanks to Martin, and TV talk shows, he achieved a significant amount of visibility and recognition in the twilight of his career.
He had a brief cameo in The Sting, appropriately as a burlesque comic. That is also the way his character is listed in the credits, as an anonymous comedian. However, in the wings of the stage just before the comic's entrance, he has a brief conversation with Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford), who addresses him as "Leonard".
His film career also includes the role of Shady Tree in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.
[edit] Trivia
- In the film The Sting, after Hooker's girlfriend Crystal comes offstage (in the foreground of the scene) from doing her burlesque act, Leonard goes onstage (in the background) and tells a joke to the out-of-sight audience. Hooker and Crystal mostly talk over the joke, so the film's audience only hears the punchline. The complete joke involves a man who had just bought a live chicken and then impulsively goes to a movie theater, hiding the chicken in his pants so the ticket-taker won't hassle him about bringing a bird into the theater. Once in his seat, sitting next to two women, he opens his fly so the chicken can stick out its head and breathe easily. In the darkened theater, the women misinterpret what the man is doing. Most of this part of the joke is heard in the film: "The first woman says to her friend, 'This man's fly is open!' The second woman says, 'When you've seen one, you've seen 'em all!' The first woman says, 'Yeah, but this one's eating my popcorn!'"
