Leon Errol

comedy / 1920s



(bio from Wikipedia)

Born Leonce Errol Sims in Sydney, Errol had toured Australia, New Zealand and the UK in a variety
of theatrical settings, including circuses, operettas, and Shakespeare, by the time he arrived on
the west coast of the U.S. in 1905. In Portland, Oregon he managed a touring vaudeville company
troupe, giving an early boost to the career of a young comedian named Roscoe Arbuckle.

By 1911 Errol had graduated to the New York big time in the 1911 Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway, notably
in two skits with the legendary Bert Williams. Errol's sister, Leda Errol (née Sims) was a personal
friend of Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice, and she appeared with him in the Ziegfeld Follies doing
one and two act plays. He appeared every year in the Follies through 1915, when he is also credited
as director of the show that included W.C. Fields, Ed Wynn, as well as Marion Davies as one of
the Ziegfeld Girls.

While balancing vaudeville appearances and a dozen Broadway shows, like the original 1920 production
of Jerome Kern's Sally, in 1919 Errol achieved the pinnacle of vaudeville success: headlining at the Palace.



Leon Errol's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

(North side of the 6800 block of Hollywood Boulevard)


B.F. Keith's Theatre / Washington, DC / Vaudeville Program / March 15, 1920


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