Shaw and Lee

Shaw and Lee were a comedy team, active on stage, screen, radio, and television from 1911 to 1957. They are best known for their 1928 Vitaphone film The Beau Brummels, in which they deliver nine minutes of their jokes-and-songs vaudeville act. The film, unseen for 79 years, was restored by Warner Bros. and The Vitaphone Project in 2007, combining the surviving mute picture element and the original soundtrack recording. The restoration was released theatrically and on video, introducing Shaw and Lee to modern audiences. The film and the team caught on quickly among vintage-film buffs, and in 2016 the film was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Al Shaw (standing on the left in the photo) was born Albert Schutzman in Manchester, England on April 1, 1891. He immigrated to the United States in 1907, and according to his 1918 draft record he stood 5 feet, 3 inches tall and had brown hair and blue eyes.

Sam Lee (standing on the right) was born Samuel Levy in Newark, New Jersey on July 12, 1891. He stood 5 feet, 6-1/2 inches tall. His two brothers were also in show business: Harry Lee, a 10-year member of the Jack Benny production staff; and Archie Levy, treasurer of the Radio City Music Hall.

Shaw and Lee entered American vaudeville in 1911 with a dancing act, and soon established themselves as a popular team. "Shaw and Lee recently finished 27 weeks on S. and C. [Sullivan and Considine] time. The boys met with success all the way." The theatrical publication The New York Clipper described their early act: "Shaw and Lee are two energetic dancers of earnest methods, and their singing was also a factor. They introduce some clever steps and dress neatly." This was a far cry from the Shaw and Lee seen in their film exhibits, where they usually dress shabbily and perform eccentric dance steps that are secondary to their comic dialogue. They continued to work on the humorous aspects of their act, as Variety reported: "Shaw and Lee are two boys who attempt eccentric dancing, but really shine when doing a buck and wing routine. The eccentric work is not as smooth as it should be as yet." The team generally opened the show or were the second act on the bill during this period, and experimented with their presentation; a 1917 review described them as "high-hatted hoofers."

Shaw and Lee advanced from vaudeville to a specialty act in musical shows. World War I interrupted their career but only temporarily. Shaw was drafted into the U. S. Army in August 1917, but evidently rejected because of his slight frame. He was back working with Lee in September: "Shaw and Lee, which was such a sensation with The Bostonians last season, will join the Stop, Look and Listen show in September." In the early 1920s they were billing themselves as "Nature's Gifts" and were working on the prestigious B. F. Keith vaudeville circuit.

By 1922 they had polished their act and were now playing "next to closing", the headline spot on the bill. Variety reviewed a typical 12-minute performance: "Comedy extremists. Two men with ill-fitting clothes, hair parted in center and plastered down on sides. Open with parody of 'Strolling Through the Park' following with slow dance. More comedy verses with a limerick or two and another dance. Some good talk, cleverly handled and all well appreciated with a dancing finish. This combination have [sic] a good comedy specialty, not particularly original in construction, but their routine shows no marks of familiarity." They continued to hone their act, adopting a dry, deadpan delivery quite unlike the cheery, friendly stand-up comics of the day. "The humor for their stuff is the keen burlesque they do on the old-fashioned song and dance turn. World of smooth satire in their posings and their demeanor of earnest, solemn unison stepping. The grotesque acrobatics, particularly the limp flopping about of the smaller man, is genuinely funny." In 1927 they reached the height of the vaudeville world, playing the Palace Theatre in New York.

The Warner Bros. studio, having popularized talking pictures, hired many Broadway and vaudeville artists to perform their acts for Vitaphone short subjects. Shaw and Lee made their screen debut in The Beau Brummels (1928), which faithfully captures their defiantly deadpan stage act and emphasizes spoken-word comedy, with plenty of creaky jokes and awful puns:

Lee: Twenty people under one umbrella. Not one got wet.
Shaw: How's that?
Lee: It wasn't raining.