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Willie Howard (April 13, 1883 – January 14, 1949) and Eugene Howard (July 7, 1880 – August 1, 1965), sometimes billed as the Howard Brothers, were Silesian-born American vaudeville performers of the first half of the 20th century. They were two of the earliest openly Jewish performers on the American stage. After performing in amateur night competitions, the brothers began separate professional theatre careers. Soon they were appearing together in burlesque and vaudeville, where, over the course of a decade, they established their reputation. The brothers were hired by the Shubert family in 1912 to perform in a series of successful revues on Broadway over the next decade called ''The Passing Show''. These were followed by another popular series of Broadway revues in the 1920s and 1930s called ''George White's Scandals''. They appeared in a few additional Broadway musicals, notably ''Girl Crazy''. In between these Broadway seasons, the brothers continued to be in great demand on the vaudeville circuit and made a few (mostly short) films. In the 1940s, Willie continued to star in revues and musicals and to perform in vaudville and night clubs. ==Early life and career== Isidore and Wilhelm Levkowitz were born in Neustadt in the German part of Silesia to Leopold Levkowitz and his second wife, Pauline (''née'' Glass), two of six children (three boys and three girls).〔(Lawrence Stone family tree ), Ancestry.com, accessed October 3, 2013 (subscription required)〕 The family immigrated to New York City and settled in Harlem about 1886.〔Passport application 27491, ''U.S. Passport Applications, 1795–1925'', Ancestry.com, accessed October 3, 2013 (subscription required)〕 Their father was a Jewish cantor, who taught his sons to sing, hoping that they would follow his profession. However, both boys became intrigued by performing.〔Stewart, Donald Travis. ("Stars of Vaudeville #75: Willie and Eugene Howard" ), Travalanche, November 7, 2009, accessed September 27, 2013〕 The brothers, especially Willie, performed at amateur night shows at local burlesque houses.〔("The Two Howards – Willie and Eugene" ), ''The New York Times'', July 28, 1918, accessed September 27, 2013〕 Their father was disappointed with their performing activity. He wanted Eugene to be a doctor and worried about Willie because he misbehaved in school. Their father changed his attitude when he saw them achieve success and even asked them for advice on how to get into show business.〔 Eugene studied business but decided to go on the stage. In his earliest attempts at performing, he billed himself as "Harry Lee, phenomenal boy tenor".〔"Willie and Eugene Howard Once Sang in Father's Choir", unidentified clipping in the clipping file of the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts〕 His first professional theatre job, in 1900, was in the chorus of a Broadway musical, ''A Million Dollars''.〔("The Two Howards – Willie and Eugene" ), ''The New York Times'', July 28, 1918, accessed September 27, 2013〕〔Evans Jr., Joseph S. "Willie and Eugene Howard Look Back on Thirty Years in Comedy", ''New York Herald Tribune'', December 6, 1931〕 Upon being hired and hearing his name, the manager suggested that "Eugene Howard" would be a more suitable name, and Isidore adopted it permanently.〔 Later that year, he had a small role in a Broadway play based on ''Quo Vadis''. Next, he was in the chorus of ''The Strollers'', and, in 1902, he was one of the Portuguese Twins in a tour of the musical ''The Belle of New York''.〔 Meanwhile, Willie had his first engagement in 1897 singing in the gallery of Lyon Palace on 110th Street〔"Willie Howard", ''New York Herald Tribune'', May 2, 1948〕 as a boy soprano.〔"Howard, Willie" in Bordman, Gerald and Hischak, Thomas S. ''The Oxford Companion to American Theatre'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2004 (Third Edition), p. 321. ISBN 0–19–516986–7.〕 He was hired in 1900 as a song-plugger to sing from the balcony at Proctor's 125th Street Theatre as he distributed water to customers. He did this while attending school, and had to leave early to make the 3:15 pm show.〔 He soon was engaged to do the same during out-of-town performances of ''The Little Duchess'' (1901), but he was dismissed after the opening night, as his voice had begun to change.〔〔Cullen, Frank. ("Willie & Eugene Howard" ), ''Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America'', Vol. 1, pp. 535–38, Routledge (2006) ISBN 0415938538〕 To compensate for the temporary loss of his singing voice, he began doing impersonations and started using the stage name Willie Howard.〔("Concerning Willie Howard and the Upward Trail" ), ''The New York Times'', January 9, 1921〕 At one point in that formative year of 1901, he considered taking up boxing and appeared briefly as "Kid Lefko." He attended Cooper Union college.〔 Eugene and Willie then performed briefly with their middle brother, later known as Sam Howard, as Harry Lee (Eugene) and the Lee Brothers, playing in restaurants and museums.〔〔Sam later set up his own singing trio, "The Bellboy Trio" and performed in burlesque. He eventually became a booking agent and, by 1948, ran the Imperial Theatre. "Willie Howard", ''New York Herald Tribune'', May 2, 1948〕 Eugene and Willie, in 1902, along with a friend, Thomas Potter Dunne, formed an act called "The Messenger Boys Trio". One sketch that they wrote was called "The Messenger Boy and the Thespian", and even after Dunne left the act, Willie and Eugene continued to perform this routine.〔〔("Poetry Mingles with the Dance" ), ''The San Francisco Call'', Vol. 106, No. 146, October 24, 1909〕 Eugene and Willie built their reputation on the vaudeville circuit over the next decade, often billed as the Howard Brothers. They wrote a sketch that they toured widely, early on, called "The Porter and the Salesman".〔 After a few years together, the brothers were earning high fees in the Orpheum theatres, and young Willie became the acknowledged leader of the act.〔〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Willie and Eugene Howard」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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