FAMOUS COMEDIAN’S VISIT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 95, 16 January 1939, Page 13

FAMOUS COMEDIAN’S VISIT

In Show Business Since Seven Years Old

PERFORMED BEFORE KING

AND QUEEN

An American who made a Royal audience in England laugh heartily is at present in ’Wellington. He is Mr. ■Will Mahoney, the famous comedian, and one of the highest-paid variety artists in the world. Mr. Mahoney is of Irish parentage, but was born in Helena, Montana. At the age of seven -Will and his brother Frank, who was 10 years his senior, entered the show business with a dancing act, which they ’’broke-in” with success in Spokane and Seattle, V ashington. went east, and, with a four-legged partner, ’‘Daisy,” the dog, they did quite well as a novelty dancing and comedy act, under the title of Mahoney Brothers and. Daisy. After a while the boys played with a stock company and, at the end of five years, had saved £lOOO. Someone advised them that chicken-farming vas the most profitable of all investments, and Frank and Will bought a chicken farm, not to speak of a wagon, horse and a shot-gun. The venture was disastrous. Chickens died of colic and eggs were conspicuous by their absence. The wagon, after a few journeys through rough country, leu apart. Only the horse and shot-gun remained.

Return to Vaudeville.

The boys threw dice as to who should retain the animal, the loser to be compensated with the shot-gun. Will won. Thinking himself lucky, he went off triumphantly on horseback, only to I receive a rude shock, for the unfortunate animal dropped dead —thus putting him on- his feet, again I The boys decided that perhaps, after all, vaudeville was their forte. “Daisy” was once again brought out of retirement and given hurried rehearsals, and the trio got going. Their third week took them to a theatre in Brooklyn, where Frank caused added excitement by entirely missing the show. After a long debate Will was at last granted permission to perform a single act and, in his excitement, he turned an ankle on his stage entry *and fell, drawing a huge laugh as a result. He struggled through the act, the pain causing him to take several more falls. Each descent to a horizontal position was rewarded with shrieks of merriment. Will was showman enough to understand what this-meant, and the nucleus of his present act was born.

Dancing on Xylophone. Will Mahoney increased in popularity, till he became a “headliner” in the United States of America. Then he thought of his masterpiece—that dance on the xylophone. He. says it took seven years to perfect the idea and the instrument, and a further 10 months of daily practice to attain profieiency in playing the xyloph eta o with his feet. It cost him nearly £3OOO to construct and patent the “Mahoneyphone in fourteen different countries. These patents not only prevent anyone else from making a similar xylophone, but from attaching 1 xylophone mallets to their shoes. His spine is said to be insured for Mahoney co-starred with Will Fyfe in the successful British-made film comedy “Said O’Reilly to MacN'ab,” which was screened in "Wellington some time ago. The biggest individual success at the Royal variety performance given before the King and Queen at the Palladium, London, in October, 1935, was made by Mahoney, and this was confirmed by the critics. One theatre correspondent wrote: “The loudest applause of the whole evening came toward 1 the end ot the long programme, when Will Mahoney, the American comedian, delighted the King and Queen with his eccentric dancing. At the end of his turn came a cry almost, unknown in Royal variety shows. Amid the storm of applause men and women shouted ‘Encore Encore.’ The comedian took several curtains, and then, with a shake of his head and a glance at the Royal box, he gestured farewell to the audience. No encores are ever permitted at Royal variety shows.” Will Mahoney declines to say or do anything on the stage that might be construed as suggestive or vulgar. “The only way to make headway on the stage is to be distinctive, funny, and always clean is his dictum. After his New Zealand tour Mr. Mahoney will leave for Australia, where he will give performances in the larger centres.