Al Shean

Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg (May 12, 1868 – August 12, 1949), known as Al Shean, was a German-born American comedian and vaudeville performer. Other sources give his birth name variously as Adolf Schönberg, Albert Schönberg, or Alfred Schönberg. He is most remembered for being half of the vaudeville team Gallagher and Shean, and as the uncle of the Marx Brothers (Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx, Adolph (Arthur) "Harpo" Marx, Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx, Milton "Gummo" Marx and Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx).

Biography Al Shean, Sam J. Curtis, Arthur F. Williams, Ed C. Mack – The Original Manhattan Comedy Four in "It's Nudding", 1898–99 Shean was born in Dornum, Kingdom of Prussia, on May 12, 1868, the son of Fanny and Levi or Louis Schoenberg. His father was a magician. His sister, Minnie, married Sam "Frenchie" Marx; their sons would become known as the Marx Brothers.

After making a name for himself in vaudeville, Shean teamed up with Edward Gallagher to create the act Gallagher and Shean. While their act became very successful, the two men reportedly came to dislike each other. After their act's final performance in 1925, Shean went on to perform solo in eight Broadway shows, even playing the title character in Father Malachy's Miracle.

Shean also made some film appearances: as the piano player, known as "The Professor" in San Francisco (1936), as grandfather in The Blue Bird (1940), as a priest in Hitler's Madman (1943), and in some three dozen other films. He and Gallagher also made an early sound film at the Theodore Case studio in Auburn, New York, in 1925. Just a few fragments of the duo's only screen appearance together are known to exist.

Shean died on August 12, 1949.

Legacy Shean's son, also named Al Shean, worked on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

Shean is reputed to have written the Marx Brothers' first (moderately) successful vaudeville sketch on butcher paper at Minnie and Frenchie's kitchen table one night while he was visiting.

Filmography