{{Short description|American comedian (1898–1930)}}
[[File:A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair (1917) - 1.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Gordon Dooley and Edward Kimball in the comedy film ''A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair'' (1917)]] '''Gordon Dooley''' (born '''James Gordon Dooley''', 13 August 1898 - 23 January 1930) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, and acrobat. A member of the Dooley family of performers, he grew up as a child performer in vaudeville in the early part of the 20th century. When the Dooley family act broke up in 1917, he ventured out as a solo performer and became a successful musical theatre actor, dancer, and singer active on Broadway from 1919 through 1928. He also performed in three silent films. ==Life and career== Born into the well known Dooley family of entertainers,{{sfn|Fisher|2023|page=176}} James Gordon Dooley, known as Gordon, was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania on August 13, 1898.<ref>J Gordon Dooley in the ''Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1973''</ref><ref>James Gordon Dool in the ''U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918''</ref> He was the son of Robert Roger Dooley (originally '''Dool'''), and his wife, Mary, both emigrants from Scotland.<ref name=obit/> His father was a famous circus clown.{{sfn|Benjamin| Rosenblatt|2006|page=217}} His two brothers, William (1882-1921) and Johnny (1887-1928), and his two sisters, Ray (1891-1984) and May (1892-1947), were all performers.{{sfn|Fisher|2023|page=176}}<ref name=obit/> Gordon was the youngest of the Dooley children and the only one not born in Scotland.{{sfn|Fisher|2023|page=176}}
Beginning very young, Gordon grew up performing in vaudeville as a member of Dooley's family's act. He and his brothers developed skills as comedic acrobats.{{sfn|Fisher|2023|page=176}} He also became a skilled eccentric dancer.<ref name=obit/> When May left the Dooley act to get married in 1917, the family act broke apart and the Dooley siblings went their own separate ways, although Gordon would occasionally perform with one or more of his siblings in other ventures.{{sfn|Fisher|2023|page=176}}
Gordon made his Broadway debut in 1917 at the Fulton Theatre as Whirlwind Inbad in Raymond Hitchcock and E. Ray Goetz's musical ''Words and Music''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-herald-words-and-music-trav/195763851/|title=''Words and Music'' Travesty For Sure|work=New York Herald |date=December 25, 1917| page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-words-and-music-l/195764389/|title=''Words and Music'' Lively|work=The New York Times|date= December 25, 1917| page= 13}}</ref> In 1919 he returned to Broadway as Wilbur in Sigmund Romberg, Jean Schwartz, and Harold Atteridge's musical ''Monte Cristo Jr.'' in which he scored a hit with critics and the public in the "Apache Dance" which he performed with his brother William.{{sfn| Dietz|2021|pages=470-471}} He was also featured in that musical singing the song "Are You Stepping Out Tonight?"{{sfn|Benjamin| Rosenblatt|2006|page=217}} He subsequently appeared in the Broadway musical revues ''The Greenwich Village Follies'' (1921),{{sfn|Benjamin| Rosenblatt|2006|page=217}} ''George White's Scandals'' (1925),{{sfn|Norton|2002|page=407}} ''Honeymoon Lane'' (1926),{{sfn|Norton|2002|page=461}} and ''The Earl Carroll Vanities'' (1928).{{sfn|Benjamin| Rosenblatt|2006|page=217}} In ''George White's Scandals'' he gave a hilarious impersonation of George Gershwin,{{sfn|Bordman|Norton|2010|pages=455-456}}, and his funny pratfalling stunts in ''Honeymoon Lane'' were well received by audiences.{{sfn|Gänzl|2001|page=946}}
On screen, Dooley played the doll in the charade scene of the 1922 feature-length silent film ''Beauty's Worth''; a Paramount Pictures movie directed by Robert G. Vignola and starring Marion Davies.{{sfn|Vermilye|1985|page=65}} He also appeared in two short films: ''A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair'' (1917){{sfn|Spehr|Lundquist|1996|page=160}} and ''Palm Missed'' (1921).{{sfn|Fisher|2023|page=176}}
Gordon Dooley suffered a nervous breakdown in May 1929.<ref name=obit/> He died of pneumonia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the next year at age 31, and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania.<ref name=obit>{{cite news|title=Gordon Dooley Dies. Noted in Vaudeville, Comedian and Eccentric Dancer, the Last of Three brothers, a Victim of Pneumonia|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C07E0D81739E03ABC4D51DFB766838B629EDE|newspaper=New York Times|date=January 25, 1930|accessdate=2015-01-06 }}</ref>
==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist}} ===Bibliography=== *{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/whosangwhatonbro0000benj/mode/2up|title=Who sang what on Broadway, 1866-1996: Volume I, The Singers A-L|year=2006|last= Benjamin|first=Ruth|last2=Rosenblatt|first2= Arthur|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=9780786415069|chapter=Gordon Dooley}} *{{cite book|title=American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, Fourth Edition|last=Bordman|first=Gerald|author-link1=Gerald Bordman|first2=Richard|last2=Norton|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199729708}} *{{cite book|title=The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals|first=Dan|last=Dietz|year=2021|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=9781538150283}} *{{cite book|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Historical_Dictionary_of_Vaudeville/Rl12EQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Palm+Missed+Gordon+Dooley&pg=PA176&printsec=frontcover|chapter=The Dooley Family|title=Historical Dictionary of Vaudeville|first=James|last= Fisher|year= 2023|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9798216256199}} *{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Second Edition|volume=II|author-link=Kurt Gänzl|first=Kurt|last= Gänzl|year= 2001|publisher=Schirmer Books|isbn=9780028655734}} *{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/chronologyofamer0000nort/mode/2up|title=A Chronology of American Musical Theater: 1750-1912|first=Richard C.|last= Norton|year= 2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn= 9780195155655}} *{{cite book|title=American Film Personnel and Company Credits, 1908-1920: Filmographies Reordered by Authoritative Organizational and Personal Names from Lauritzen and Lundquist's American Film-index|first= Paul C.|last= Spehr|first2= Gunnar|last2= Lundquist|year=1996|isbn=9780786402557|publisher=McFarland & Company}} *{{cite book|title=The Films of the Twenties|last=Vermilye|first=Jerry|publisher=Citadel Press|year=1985|isbn=978-0806509600}}
==External links== *{{IBDB name}} *{{IMDb name|0233198|Gordon Dooley}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dooley, Gordon}} Category:1898 births Category:1930 deaths Category:American comedians Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American silent film actors Category:American vaudeville performers Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Pennsylvania Category:Eccentric dancers Category:People from Altoona, Pennsylvania