Joseph Hart

Joseph Hart (June 8, 1861 – October 3, 1921) was an American vaudevillian entertainer, manager, producer and songwriter.

Early life

Joseph Hart Boudrow was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 8, 1861, to James H. and Sarah E. Boudrow. His father, a Boston area junk dealer, was from Nova Scotia, the son of French immigrants who had settled there in the early 1800s. Hart's mother was a native of Massachusetts.

Career While still in his teens Hart began touring with I. W. Baird's Minstrel Show Soon Hart became a crowd favorite for his banjo playing, singing and comedy routines that he often wrote himself.

Later he joined other minstrel troupes such as Simmons and Slocomb and Tony Pastors Minstrels before entering vaudeville to play Ko-Ko in W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's The Mikado and as a performer in Princess Ida.

Hart's later years were primarily spent as a writer and producer of vaudeville shows.

Personal life On August 1, 1894, Hart married his co-star Carrie De Mar, an actress, dancer and singer whom he had worked with for a number of years.

Hart died suddenly on October 3, 1921, from a stroke he suffered at his New York residence on West 54th Street, with his wife was at his side.