Eddie Foy

Plaque in Eddie Foy Park: "in gratitude for their many happy years in New Rochelle the Foy Family donated the land for this park."

Edwin Fitzgerald (March 9, 1856 – February 16, 1928 ), known professionally as Eddie Foy and Eddie Foy Sr., was an American actor, comedian, dancer and vaudevillian.

Early years

Foy's parents, Richard and Mary Fitzgerald, emigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1855 and lived first in New York City's Bowery neighborhood and then in Greenwich Village, where Eddie was born.

In 1879, Foy married Rose Howland, one of the singing Howland Sisters, who were traveling the same circuit.

Return to Chicago Foy returned to Chicago in 1888 as the star comedian in variety shows and revues, initially for his own company. In 1889 he had a tremendous success as the star of the musical Blue Beard, Jr. when it premiered at the Grand Opera House, Chicago He then toured with that production nationally; including stops at Boston's Tremont Theatre (1889) and Broadway's Niblo's Garden (1890). He also played the variety circuits for years in a series of song and dance acts.

In 1896, Foy married his third wife, Madeline Morando, a dancer with his company. Bryan (1896–1977); Charley (1898–1984); Mary (1901–1987); Madeline (1903–1988); Eddie Jr. (1905–1983); Richard (1905–1947); and Irving (1908–2003). Eddie Jr.'s son, Eddie Foy III, was a casting director with Columbia Pictures for over 40 years.

Between 1901 and 1912, Foy played the leading comic roles in a series of musical comedies in New York City and on tour, including The Strollers (1901), The Wild Rose (1902), Mr. Bluebeard (1903), Piff! Paff!! Pouf!!! (1904), The Earl and the Girl (1905), The Orchid (1907), Mr Hamlet of Broadway (1908/9), Up and Down Broadway (1910), and Over the River (1912). It was while on tour with Mr. Bluebeard that he became a hero of Chicago's infamous Iroquois Theatre fire, December 30, 1903. A malfunctioning spotlight set fire to the scenery backstage, and Foy stayed onstage until the last minute, trying to keep the audience from panicking. Survivors later praised Foy for his bravery in trying to keep the crowd calm, even as burning debris fell onto the stage all around him. The theater's safety features were inadequate, the theater personnel untrained, and some of the exits locked from the outside, and at least 600 people died. Foy escaped by crawling through a sewer. there's a short song interlude, and the film ends with soft shoe routine in which each has a solo bit.

After the "Seven Little Foys" stopped performing together, they pursued separate careers. Eddie Foy Jr. had a successful acting career on stage and screen. Bryan composed show music, wrote for Buster Keaton, and directed and produced films in Hollywood. Richard continued to operate a theater chain business in Dallas that he had started with Foy. Irving wrote and managed cinemas in Dallas and Albuquerque. Charley and Mary operated the Charley Foy Supper Club in Sherman Oaks, California, in the San Fernando Valley, where comedians such as Jackie Gleason, Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, and Phil Silvers appeared early in their careers.

Death On February 16th, 1928, at age 71, Foy died of a heart attack at the Hotel Baltimore in Kansas City, Missouri. All of Foy's children except Bryan are buried with their father and mother, Madeline, at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in New Rochelle, New York.