Georgie Price

Georgie Price (George Edwards Price; January 5, 1901 – May 10, 1964) was an American vaudeville singer and comic who performed in Vitaphone shorts in the 1920s and 1930s. Price was born in New York and began as a child performer in public places such as barrooms and streetcars, before winning amateur competitions. At six years old, he so impressed opera singer Enrico Caruso that he performed with Caruso in a benefit concert for a deceased police officers family. It was Price, as a vaudeville child star, who in 1909 introduced the famous Edwards-Madden song "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" in Gus Edwards' revue School Boys and Girls.[1][2] As a boy performer he also appeared on Broadway with girl actor Lila Lee, later a well-known film actress. As an adult professional he drew comparisons to Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor.[3]

Georgie Price
Price in 1945.
Born
George Edwards Price

(1901-01-05)January 5, 1901
New York City, New York
DiedMay 10, 1964(1964-05-10) (aged 63)
New York City, New York
OccupationStage/Film Singer/Comic

A bitter dispute with Shubert theatre magnate, Jacob J. Shubert, caused Price by the late 1920s to give up show business to work as a Wall Street broker. Shubert had originally hired Price with the promise to turn him into a major headliner, but then reneged and in turn refused to fulfill the financial obligations on Price's contract.[4]

Georgie Price appeared in the stage show at the Mastbaum Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with Barto and Mann and Maria Gambarelli (Gamby) in March, 1932.[5] He died in New York, aged 63.

References
  1. Tyler, Don (2007). Hit songs, 1900-1955: American popular music of the pre-rock era. MacFarland. p. 47. ISBN 978-0786429462.
  2. Jasen, David A. (2003). Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song. Routledge. p. 122. ISBN 0-415-93877-5.
  3. Hamberlin, Larry (2011). Tin Pan Opera: Operatic Novelty Songs in the Ragtime Era. Oxford University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-19-533892-8.
  4. Hirsch, Foster (1998). The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' Theatrical Empire. Cooper Square Press. p. 149. ISBN 0-8154-1103-0.
  5. Newspaper display ad.
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