Frank Fay (American actor)

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Frank Fay (November 17, 1897 – September 25, 1961) was a movie and stage actor, comedian, master of ceremonies, and most famous for playing 'Elwood P. Dowd' (whose friend is an invisible 6-foot rabbit) in the play Harvey by the American playwright Mary Coyle Chase on Broadway. James Stewart would play the role in the film version.

Born Francis Anthony Donner in San Francisco, California to Irish Catholic parents. He took the professional name of Frank Fay after concluding that his birth name was not suitable for the stage. He enjoyed considerable success as a variety artist starting around 1918, telling jokes and stories in a carefully planned "off the cuff" manner that was very original for the time. Jack Benny stated that he modeled his early stage character on Fay.

Fay projected supreme self-confidence, on stage and off. His displays of ego were notorious among entertainers. Fred Allen once quipped that Frank Fay was seen "in lovers' lane, holding his own hand." An often-quoted incident had Fay testifying in a court case and giving his occupation as "world's greatest comedian." When asked afterward why he should say that, Fay shrugged and said, "I was sworn to tell the truth."

Frank Fay became a popular film actor after staring in Warner's Brothers all-star revue The Show of Shows (1929). Based on the success of that film, Fay was quickly signed up for an all-Technicolor musical comedy entitled Under A Texas Moon (1930) in which he also displayed his singing abilities. Another expensive picture, Bright Lights (1930), another all-Technicolor musical, quickly followed. Frank Fay quickly found himself associated with musical films and this led to a decline in his popularity when the public became sick of musicals late in 1930. Although he starred in a few straight comedies, most notably in The Matrimonial Bed (1930) and God's Gift to Women (1931), he failed to get the rave reviews he had previously enjoyed and his popularity quickly declined.

Ironically Frank Fay married Barbara Stanwyck when she was relatively unknown, only to have her career outshine his. They married in 1928 (1928 – 1936) they adopted a son, Dion, on December 5, 1932. Some film historians claim that the Fay-Stanwyck marriage was the basis for A Star is Born. Their only film appearance together is a very brief skit in the short film The Stolen Jools (1931).

His Broadway talent and early success in talkies did not translate to the big screen when styles changed: whereas Stanwyck achieved Hollywood stardom fairly rapidly, Fay played in a series of films casting him as a debonair lover, irresistible to women. He was more successful as a revue and night club comedian and Master of Ceremonies and appeared frequently on radio shows. (He was cast in a bit part as master of ceremonies in the night club sequence of the 1937 film Nothing Sacred). As late as the 1950's one of his most enduring routines was taking a popular song and analysing the "senseless" lyrics, for example "Tea for Two":—

""Picture you, upon my knee." (This guy just owns one chair?)

"Just tea for two and two for tea, me for you, and you for me, alone"

So, here's the situation: the guy just has one chair, but enough tea for two, so he has two for tea. If anyone else shows up, he shoots 'em!

"Nobody near us, to see us or hear us." Who'd want to listen to a couple of people drinking tea?

"We won't have it known dear that we own a telephone."

So, this guy's too cheap to get another chair, he has a telephone, but won't tell anyone about it!

"Dawn will break, and you'll awake, and start to bake a sugar cake."

Oh, this poor woman's life, I can see it now. Dawn breaks, and she's got to start baking, can't even run a brush through her hair, down in the dark, feeling around for the flour...

"For me to take for all the guys to see."

I can see that! "Hey, guys, I've got something the wife gave me!"

Is it a new tie? Is it a set of tires?

Nahhh- it's a sugar cake! Three layers, with a cocoanut cream filling!

"Oh, that's just ducky!," they all say, and they crown him with it.

Fay made a brief screen comeback in 1943 for the low-budget Monogram Pictures. He was teamed with comedian Billy Gilbert for a series of wartime comedies, but Fay walked out after the opener, Spotlight Scandals. Fay was replaced by another comedian more congenial to Gilbert, Shemp Howard.

Frank Fay died in Santa Monica, California at 63 years of age.

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