Buddy on Broadway (acrylic on canvas) 32" x 32" |
Before he was Jedd Clampett or Barnaby Jones, Buddy Ebsen
was a singer and a dancer. He and his sister learned to dance at a studio his
father operated in Orlando
Florida.
At the age of twenty, Buddy and his sister Vilma left
Florida for New York. He worked a soda fountain and the siblings also performed
a dance act in supper clubs and in vaudeville…and became known as the “Baby
Astaires.”
During the early 30s, the Ebsens appeared on Broadway as
members of the chorus in “Whoopee, “ “Flying Colors” and the “Ziegfield Follies
of 1934.” A performance in Atlantic City earned the duo rave reviews from
columnist Walter Winchell and a booking at the Palace Theatre in New York City.
Their success earned Ebsen and Vilma a two year contract
with MGM and they relocated to Hollywood where they made their film debut in
the “Broadway Melody of 1936.” Vilma left Hollywood, but Buddy went on to
perform with Shirley Temple in “Captain January” and Judy Garland in the “Broadway Melody of 1938,” as
well as many other films.
Ebsen was originally cast as the scare crow in “The Wizard
of Oz,” but swapped roles with Ray Bolger who was cast as the Tin Man. A
reaction to the metallic makeup used on his face made him extremely ill and
hospitalized, so Buddy was replaced by Jack Haley and never appeared in the
movie, though his voice his heard on reprises of the song, “We’re Off It See
the Wizard.”
Audiences today best remember Buddy Ebsen as Davy Crockett’s
devoted partner at the Alamo, the mountaineer in the Beverly Hillbillies, and
the aged detective Barnaby Jones. Few remember him as the jilted husband in
Breakfast at Tiffany’s or for his many other TV roles. Ebsen passed away in
2003 at the age of 95, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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