Stars of Vaudeville #344: Alphonse
Alphonse Berge’s entire act revolved around taking bolts of fabric and fashioning original gowns out of them on a couple of onstage models. Also known as The Great Drapo, he could turn out a dress in as little as twenty seconds. Alphonse performed this act in vaudeville, night clubs, Hollywood films — and he made a hit of the Rayon exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair. Here he is assembling one of his creations in an early Pathe short.
Alphonse was born circa 1895; the Fates snipped his thread in 1955.
To learn more about vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.
May 6, 2012 at 1:33 pm
He was my cousin but I never met him. My aunt Marie Berg (nee Pghillips) was one of his models
May 7, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Neat!
May 8, 2012 at 3:24 am
iS THERE ANY WAY OF SEEING CLIPS OF HIS FILMS?
May 17, 2013 at 5:47 pm
There are numerous clips of The Great Drapo online; try YouTube and British Pathe.
May 17, 2013 at 5:46 pm
Berg is credited as appearing in a 1957 film (The Helen Morgan Story), which would suggest the 1955 death date commonly listed for him is inaccurate. Can anyone confirm his nationality? Some sources state he started as a window dresser in London; was he British? Thanks.
May 18, 2013 at 3:15 am
He was most certainly British! He was my cousin, though I never met him. He used ti do his act accompanied by cousin Jessie playing Home Sweet Home on the violin. I can’t remember his first name precisely but I think it was Alfred. He was born in London and is a descendant of Ellis Berg, a Polish immigrant to London in the 1850′s.
May 22, 2013 at 4:08 am
Thanks so much!