Bernardo de Pace: The Wizard of the Mandolin

Billed as “The Wizard of the Mandolin”, Italian-born Bernardo de Pace (1886-1966) divided his time equally among vaudeville, radio and the Metropolitan Opera. He won an international contest at age 11, and toured Europe for several years before making his home in the States. He was also one the stars of the 1926 edition of George White’s Scandals.Now here he is in his very own 1927 Vitaphone short:

To find out more about  the history of 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.