Charles Winninger In Shows For Fifty Years

Waikato Independent, Volume XLV, Issue 6235, 6 May 1949, Page 2

Charles Winninger In Shows For Fifty Years

Charles Winninger celebrates his fiftieth anniversary in show business with his appearance in "Give My Regards To Broadway," the new Technicolor musical screening at the Tudor Theatre next week. Appropiately enough, Winninger's role in the film is that of a veteran trouper who would rather miss meals in vaudeville than eat regularly as the vice-pres-ident of an industrial firm. He's the "Albert The Great" of "Albert The Great and Family," a singing, dancing, juggling and comedy caper act made up of himself; Fay Bainter, who plays his wife; their two daughters, Barbara Lawrence and Jane Nigh; and their son Bert, Dan Dailey's starring role. When the ' lf ath knell sounds for vaudeville in 1932, Winninger keeps rehearsing the family, confident that vaudeville will come back bigger than ever, "any day now." Helping Winninger celebrate his anniversary is his brother, Adolph, who is two years younger than himself, and has been his stand-in for the past decade. Both launched their careers before the footlights on May 26, 189,7, in their hometown of Wausau, Wis. There were five brothers —the others were Frank, John and Joseph—who started 'their acting careers in a concert hall in Wausau by presenting a dramatic play. They continued pljaying this same hall for years, but Charles finally drifted away to make good, first on the Broadway stage, and later in pictures. He first appeared on Broadway in 1910. Adolph remained in show business until ten years ago, when came to Hollywood anil ' began serving as stand-in for Charles.