Thurlow Bergen: Born 150 Years Ago Today

Sure! Thurlow Bergen! Wanna make something of it? There are better known names with January 14th birthdays I could add today, having already done posts on Hal Roach, Bebe Daniels, Russ Columbo, William Bendix, Guy Williams,Marjoe Gortner, Jack Jones, and others, but the day is getting away from me, and besides, 150 is a pretty significant benchmark you will admit, worth noting if not celebrating. So just a few fleeting words to remember that Bergen once strutted among us with head held high.

Thurlow Weed Winner Bergen (1875-1954) was originally from Saginaw, Michigan. He moved to Washington, D.C. circa 1894 to study law, but the lure of the stage was too much. (Was he a patron of Ford’s Theatre, one wonders? I don’t speculate idly — one of his last Broadway appearances was in a play called If Booth Had Missed (1932). Bergen was already feeling his way as a songwriter at this time. He had the opportunity to present an original song called “Esther’s Lullaby” to President Cleveland, whose daughter’s name was also Esther. The song became a hit of the day.

Starting around the turn of the century, Bergen toured with his own stock company, and also began appearing on Broadway. His Broadway debut was in a revival of James O’Neill’sMonte Cristo (1900). Another dozen productions on the New York stage would follow, ending with the Federal Theatre Project’s one third of a nation in 1938.

In the midst of that, a brief movie career. Bergen starred in sixteen silent pictures for Pathe, Wharton,Fox, and other studios between 1914 and 1920 (most of them during the first three years), and many of them with his wife and frequent stage partner Elsie Esmond. His screen debut was in The Stain (1914), which also marked the debut of Theda Bara (under her real name Theodosia Goodman) and the second appearance of Creighton Hale. After Blind Love (1920), Bergen returned to the stage, but he came to the flickers one last time in the Vitaphone short The Royal Flour Flusher (1930) starring Eddie Buzzell.

For more on early cinema please check out: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube — now also available on audiobook!