Bobby Vernon

Bobby Vernon
File:Bobby Vernon.jpg c. 1920
Born	(1897-03-09)March 9, 1897 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	Hollywood, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack
Nationality	American
Occupation	actor
Spouse(s)	Angelina Repetto
Children	Barbara Dorothy Vernon (born c. 1924)

File:Bobby Vernon with his daughter.jpg

Vernon with his daughter, Barbara, c. 1929

Bobby Vernon (March 9, 1897 in Chicago, Illinois – June 28, 1939 in Hollywood, California) was an American comedic actor in silent films. He later became a writer and comedy supervisor at Paramount for W.C. Fields and Bing Crosby, when the sound era arrived. Sources indicate that he was born Sylvion de Jardin. Blue-eyed with medium brown hair, he stood only five feet and two-and-a-half inches. Who's Who on the Screen, a collection of brief biographies on popular actors of 1920, even considered him a "veritable matinee idol."

Life and career

The Chicago-born son of entertainers Harry Burns and Dorothy Vernon (born Dorothy Baird), Bobby first appeared onstage at the age of eleven. For a few years, he was part of the vaudeville act Kolb and Dill, performing in musical comedies. When Max Dill broke his leg in their show, "The Rollicking Girl," Vernon replaced him for three weeks.

His first experience in screen was at the age of sixteen in in Universal Studios's Joker comedies. By 1915, he was working in Keystone romantic comedies opposite Gloria Swanson. He later described his Keystone days to Motion Picture Classic:

When Gloria Swanson and I were working for Sennett, it would take sometimes two or three months to make a two-reeler. We'd rehearse for a week or so before we'd crank a camera. But the weather had something to do with it, too. You see, photography in those days wasn't what it is now and most of our scenes were exteriors. Cheaper, you know. Didn't have to build sets. If we had a call for the next day and we woke up to find it cloudy or raining, we'd just go back to bed again. And it sure can rain out here during the wet season.

— Bobby Vernon, Motion Picture Classic, May 1929

With the coming of World War I, Vernon joined the Navy.

In 1917, he was working in Al Christie romantic comedies.

Even to the late 1920s, he was still making silly, slapstick two-reelers, and as Dorothy Lubou put it, he had no "Chaplinesque Hamlet" ambitions. His main focus was just on making people laugh. In his own words:

It's a peculiar thing about comedy. A gag that'll give one audience a laugh will fall flat in a theater two blocks away. Can't explain it. Everybody'll cry at the same tear-jerker. A sob scene will be just as effective in England, France or New York as in Dubuque, but comedy is something else again.

— Bobby Vernon, Motion Picture Classic, May 1929

Marriage

Bobby Vernon married Angelina Repetto of St. Louis, Missouri; the couple had one child, Barbara. Angelina was the sister-in-law of Reggie Morris, thus making the two men brothers-in-law.

Death

Bobby Vernon died of a heart attack in 1939 in Hollywood, California, aged 42.

Partial filmography

File:Bobby Vernon, Gloria Swanson, and Teddy the Dog.jpg

Vernon with Gloria Swanson and Teddy the Dog in Teddy at the Throttle

• The Hungry Actors (1915)
• Fatty and the Broadway Stars (1915)
• A Dash of Courage (1916)
• Hearts and Sparks (1916)
• A Social Cub (1916)
• The Danger Girl (1916)
• Haystacks and Steeples (1916)
• The Nick of Time Baby (1916)
• Teddy at the Throttle (1917)
• Whose Baby? (1917)
• The Sultan's Wife (1917)
• Petticoats and Pants (1920)
• Hey, Rube! (1921)
• A Hickory Hick (1922)

External links

• Bobby Vernon at the Internet Broadway Database
• Bobby Vernon at the Internet Movie Database
• Bobby Vernon Memorial at Find A Grave
• Bobby Vernon at Virtual History