Danny Thomas on Berle
![danny-thomas-02[1]](http://travsd.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/danny-thomas-021.jpg)
Today is the birthday of Danny Thomas (for my full article on this great American entertainer go here). In honor of the day here’s a swell clip from the Berle show. The influence of Jolson on Thomas in this clip is obvious…and if you think about it, truly bizarre. A Lebanese guy singing about “Dixie”? No weirder, I guess, then when Harpo Marx played an Irishman…
To find out more about the variety arts past and present, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold. And don’t miss Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, to be released by Bear Manor Media in 2013.
