Past Issues
An Unforgettable Team
by Jamie Brotherton
Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were very popular comedians on stage and screen. With the addition of the sensational Dorothy Lee in 1929 (she portrayed the adorable sweetheart for the boyish Bert Wheeler), she brought them to an even higher level of success. Between 1929 and 1937, Wheeler and Woolsey made 21 feature films. Dorothy Lee joined in 13 of them. Their films were a godsend to RKO and helped save the studio from financial ruin during the Great Depression. Even after the passage of 60 years, audiences still love Wheeler, Woolsey, and Lee.
Albert Jerome Wheeler was born on April 7, 1895, in Paterson, New Jersey. While Bert was still an infant, his mother, Katherine Foley Wheeler, died at the age of 17. Bert was raised by his father James and Aunt Margaret. His father later remarried, which pitted Bert against two stepbrothers with whom he did not get along.
Bert’s father wasn’t too happy about his son’s interest with the theater. In his book, "Wheeler and Woolsey," Ed Watz quotes Bert describing his father’s opposition: "Despite his warning me I’d see something I shouldn’t see, I went to the burlesque show, and I saw something I shouldn’t see. I saw my father sitting in the seat in front of me!" Bert always had a remarkable sense of humor.
Bert’s aunt was very devoted to him, and out of her meager savings she gave him enough fare to get to New York City. After a while Bert landed a job with Gus Edwards who introduced children’s shows. Among some of the other actors introduced were George Jessel, Groucho Marx, and Larry Fine.
After working with Gus Edwards’ troupe, Bert worked in various theaters performing in different types of stage shows such as The Gingerbread Man, Mutt and Jeff, and When Dreams Come True.
During the run of this play, Bert met an attractive dark haired chorus girl named Margaret Grae. Bert shared his dreams with Margaret about forming a successful Vaudeville dance team. Soon after they met, they fell in love and were married on April 27, 1915. Margaret changed her name to Betty, and they formed the act of Bert and Betty Wheeler. Soon after they were married, they began appearing in short song and dance Vaudeville acts and became popular with audiences.
During one of their performances at the Los Angeles Orpheum, Bert did such an impressive imitation of Charlie Chaplin that he caught Mr. Chaplin’s attention. Chaplin relished Bert’s performance so much that he autographed a picture of Bert with the inscription: "To my worthy imitator, Mr. Wheeler. I cannot tell myself from you. Sincerely yours, Charlie Chaplin."
Bert and Betty appeared in many different acts across the country during 1916-1925. Sometimes they would flop, but they always came back with a hit and their popularity grew. Harold Lloyd was so impressed with Bert that he wanted to sign him to do silent pictures. Bert was too devoted to Betty to break up their act, so he rejected the offer.
During one of their performances, Florenz Ziegfeld spotted them and asked them to appear in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923. They agreed and successfully toured with the Follies until 1925.
They then began appearing once again in vaudeville houses across the country until 1926 when Betty dropped a bombshell. She announced to Bert that she was in love with Clarence Stroud and wanted a divorce. Bert was crushed. They divorced the same year, and Betty went on to marry Clarence Stroud and joined his act, "The Stroud Twins."
Years later Stroud said that Betty regretted leaving Bert. In 1954, Bert met with a very ill Betty, whom he hadn’t seen in 30 years. Bert gave Betty all the money he made from a show, and after all those years they were able to make peace with one another and become friends. Betty died the same year.
Robert Woolsey, the other half of Wheeler and Woolsey, was the authoritative, cigar chomping wise guy who always made the wise cracks and demanded attention in every scene. Woolsey was born August 14, 1889, in Oakland, California. His family moved to Illinois when he was five. His father, Thomas, died in 1896 leaving his wife Sarah and six children in poverty. Of the six children, only Bob and his younger brother Charles survived to maturity.
Having to support his mother, Bob and his brother took on odd jobs. When Bob was working as a stable hand he was spotted by a jockey named Wee Wee Higgins, who introduced him to the world of horse racing. The lanky Bob thoroughly enjoyed his job until a horse named Pink Star threw him off and rolled on top of him, breaking his leg which brought his riding days to an end. Ironically, it was Pink Star who went on to win the Kentucky Derby in 1907.
When in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bob worked at the Hotel Sinton in 1908-1909. His job as a bellboy brought him in contact with actors, one of whom noticed his quick wit and said, "What are you doing here? You’re a natural. You have the face of a comedian. You should do comedy!"
Taking the advice, Bob began working in stock companies. Rising rapidly, he appeared on stage touring America, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Orient. A newspaper article from the period is typical of the praise Bob received: "Robert Woolsey in the role of Henry Watkins, justice of the peace, provides plenty of excellent comedy for the play and does several eccentric dances. His facial expressions and method of interpretation are highly amusing." Bob started wearing horn rimmed glasses and smoking big cigars, and these became his trademark, though both were adapted from fellow comedian Walter Catlett.
Around 1917, Bob met and married Mignone Park Reed, an eccentric dancer in musical stock companies. Dorothy Lee saw them as a perfect pair: "Mignone was a wild gal when she got drunk. At parties she thought she was a dancer again, and she would get on top of tables and do real high kicks. Bob would always nudge us and say, ÔDon’t mind her. The old gal is just stewed to the gills.’ It was a riot!"
Bob appeared in The Blue Kitten (1922) and Poppy where he played opposite W. C. Fields. He also kept busy writing plays. He wrote a 1928 musical, Tell Me Again, which was not a hit.
Bob’s big break came when Flo Ziegfeld (who previously used Bob in the follies) teamed him with Bert Wheeler in the 1927 stage hit Rio Rita, a huge success. The team of Wheeler and Woolsey was born. The run of the play continued into 1929 when Ziegfeld sold its film rights to RKO.
Rio Rita began production in Southern California, and took only 24 days to shoot. The only actors to reprise their original stage roles in the movie were Wheeler and Woolsey.
Before filming could begin, Bert was busy making a Vitaphone short with his wife titled Small Timers. Bert was also given the option to choose his leading lady in Rio Rita. So his search was on.
Bert happened to see a film titled Syncopation (1929), an early New York talkie. There he spotted the beautiful Dorothy Lee, a dynamic 18-year-old starring in her first movie. Unable to get Dorothy Lee off his mind, he tried to locate her, but had no luck until he mentioned to an actor at a bar, "I’ve just seen Syncopation, and I’ve got to find that cute little girl named Dorothy Lee to play opposite me in Rio Rita, but I can’t find her."
The fellow replied, "No kidding, I am playing opposite her in Fred Waring’s show, Hello Yourself.
A meeting was arranged, and Dorothy Lee signed a contract with RKO. This was also the beginning of a 40-year friendship between Bert and Dottie, and the beginning of Wheeler, Woolsey, and Lee.
Dorothy Lee was the perfect leading lady for Wheeler and Woolsey. Vivacious and talented Dorothy Lee was born Marjorie Millsap, May 23, 1911, in Los Angeles, California. At age two, Dottie did a little ballet dance at a local theater. She was the hit of the show and even got a review in the local paper. Her big break came when she was 14. She appeared in Vaudeville with an older family friend doing four shows a night. At age 16 she married Robert Booth, an adagio dancer.
After auditioning and being chosen out of 150 other girls, she got the job touring with Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians in such shows as Hello Yourself (1928) where Dottie was the main attraction in the show.
Dottie’s union with Robert Booth did not last. They divorced after only two years. Dorothy Lee and Fred Waring fell in love, and they were engaged on and off for years. However, they decided not to marry, but they remained very good friends. Often in between her filming with Wheeler and Woolsey, she toured with Waring and his band. Unfortunately, she never made a commercial recording with them; she had such a delightful singing voice. She was one of the first girls to stand up in front of a band and sing solo.
As soon as the trio began working on Rio Rita the antics began. During Dorothy’s musical number "The Kinkajou," a prop man gave her a cowboy hat too large for her head. Filled with enthusiasm, she flawlessly did the song and dance all the while struggling to keep the hat on her head. She recalled the prop man telling her, "Now, you’ll never forget me." She never did.
The heat on the set during the filming of "The Kinkajou" was extreme, reaching 110 degrees fahrenheit. To make matters worse, microphones were placed on Dottie’s clothing, and black powder was placed on the dance floor to muffle the sound of the girls’ tap shoes.
After the number was done successfully, every dancer was dripping with sweat and covered with the black powder. Dottie recalls, "How that black powder did not show up on the screen, I’ll never know. We also had to have a nurse standing by since a lot of the gals would faint because it was so hot. I never fainted, thank God. I guess it was because I was so young and healthy."
During another musical number, "Sweetheart, We Need Each Other," Bert, Bob, Dottie, and Helen Kaiser sing while sitting on top of a barge. Dottie recalled, "You see, from 8 PM to 6 AM was the only time RKO could rent Warner Bros. Technicolor cameras since they were one of the first companies to own a color camera, and a third of Rio Rita had to be shot in color. After finishing our song, we would have to fall backward in a four-foot ditch of ice cold water. It was filmed outside [at night when the temperature dropped dramatically], and the temp was only 35 degrees! They had four duplicate costumes made in case we would have to do it over. I think we had to dry off and redo it at least four times. Each time I hit the water I didn’t think I was going to live. It was so cold!"
Rio Rita proved to be a great financial success for RKO. The trio was brought back together in The Cuckoos and Dixiana, both in 1930.
In Dixiana the trio were playing second fiddle to Bebe Daniels and Everett Marshall. However, Bert and Dottie’s number, "My One Ambition Is You" proved to be the best scene in the whole movie.
Dottie is wearing a lovely 1840s’ period costume consisting of a big hoop skirt and lace pantaloons. Dottie is on the inside of a spiral staircase, and Bert is on the outside of the banister. He sings to her as they both climb the stairs. Upon reaching the top, she begins singing to him as they descend to the bottom of the steps. They then begin doing a cute little ballet dance. Dottie remembers, "That was my favorite number. Bert and I worked that one out ourselves. We always choreographed most of our own dances. One day when we were rehearsing, my hoop skirt fell off on its own. Everyone laughed so much that they told us to keep that bit in the routine. It wasn’t so easy for me to unhook that skirt though. We had to do it several times to make it look spontaneous, however, the clasp was so hard to unhook that I thought I’d break my wrist. And you could still tell that I was unhooking it! As we dance off smiling arm in arm, it just gives the wrong idea."
Dixiana did not repeat the success of Rio Rita. Instead RKO lost a lot of money on this film.
The next film, Half Shot at Sunrise (1930) was a comeback for the trio. It was the first movie where they would have the main story centered around them. Filled with hilarious jokes and gags, it was Bert’s favorite film, and he credited the defamed Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle for making it a success. As quoted in Ed Watz’s book, "Wheeler and Woolsey," Bert recounts his thoughts of Arbuckle, "Arbuckle would work on our comedy scenes and direct them. He didn’t actually do it on the set, but he told us what to do. Paul Sloan was the director. He was a darned good director, and he was smart enough to let Arbuckle, who knew better than he did, work with us. He wrote too. He put a lot of great things in our picture himself. We tried to keep Arbuckle. We would have had him with us the rest of our lives."
In Half Shot At Sunrise, Bert and Dottie do an energetic song and dance, "Whistling the Blues Away." In the second half of the routine, Bob joins in, and the threesome begin doing a mock ballet, finishing the dance by placing Dottie on top of a large truck where she anticipates being caught by the boys after jumping off. Instead, they zoom away, leaving Dottie to fall on her behind.
Dorothy Lee, always a dynamo was referred to as, "The 5 foot bundle of pep." She always refused to use a stunt double in her more strenuous scenes. She reflects, "I was some daredevil. In that scene where I jumped off the truck, Bert and Bob were supposed to catch me, but they take off. A hole was dug, netting was laid down, and grass was placed on top of where I had to land after I jumped. It was supposed to break my fall. I did it without getting hurt!"
Hook, Line and Sinker was a satirical film, only lacking musical numbers. The plot was all about Dottie inheriting a rundown hotel. She meets Bert and Bob, and they help make her hotel a success only to get involved with gangsters who want to rob the hotel’s safe. The film was a great hit and audiences packed the theaters to see it.
Dorothy Lee also went on to appear with Fred Waring and his band in the stage play Rah Rah Daze. The play was created to feature her.
1931 was a busy year for Bert, Bob, and Dottie. Dottie married famous gossip columnist Jimmie Fidler. Unfortunately, their union did not last, and after seven months of marriage they divorced. Dottie went on to appear in two successful solo films titled Laugh and Get Rich and Local Boy Makes Good with the unique Joe E. Brown.
The team’s next hits were Caught Plastered, Cracked Nuts, and Peach O’Reno. They were all filled with excellent songs and dances, and they received positive responses from the viewers as well as the critics.
In 1931 the team also split up to try and go into solo films. Bob went on to appear in the unfunny Everything’s Rosie. While Bert and Dottie teamed together in their only solo film together, Too Many Cooks. It was not one of Bert and Dottie’s favorite films. Dorothy remembers, "Everyday I would ask Bert, ÔWhy are we making this movie?’ He would shrug his shoulders and say, ÔI know that it stinks, but they’ve got to pay us to do something.’"
Girl Crazy was given a lot of great Gershwin songs to sing, "I’ve Got Rhythm" and "But Not For Me." She had already performed and filmed these numbers, and most of the movie was complete and ready to be edited when Selznick recalled the entire cast to reshoot most of the movie, making the final outcome inferior to what it originally started out to be. At least an adorable duet came out of it, "You’ve Got What Gets Me."
During 1932 Dottie took a break from films. Wheeler and Woolsey, however, teamed up to make Hold ÔEm Jail, a football farce with Betty Grable and Edna May Oliver. As for 1933, Bert and Bob made the now cult movie So This Is Africa and Diplomaniacs. Of all the Wheeler and Woolsey movies without Lee, DiplomaniacsÊwas the most fast paced, with a lot of good comedy and entertaining musical numbers. Marjorie White added a different charm to the film. She portrayed a woman who was obsessed with Bert. She did not try to imitate Dottie’s unique rapport with Bert.
Dottie also made the solo film Take a Chance where she had a bit part. It was also in 1933 that she met and married USC Phi Beta Kappa football star Marshall Duffield. As she puts it, "It was love at first sight."
As life sometimes imitates art, Bert and Bob soon found themselves in a situation their comedic characters might have faced. Upon appearing in court charged with a traffic violation for speeding, Wheeler and Woolsey were asked by the judge, "How many times have you appeared in court?" Bert quipped, "I don’t know judge. I thought you were keeping score." Bob, being there only for support, had a few jokes of his own to throw in. Finally, the court demanded, "Are you guilty or not guilty?" After the comedians had done their best with comedy, Bert replied, "Guilty, your honor." "Ten dollars or two days in jail, and if you think that is a joke, let’s see you laugh," said the judge. So Bert paid the fine, and reached the street just in time to try and talk a traffic officer out of giving them another ticket for parking too long in front of the court house!
Dottie also appeared in two Vitaphone shorts: Plane Crazy and A Preferred List.
1934 brought Bert, Bob, and Dottie back together again in Hips, Hips, Hooray. This time Bob was given a romantic interest played by lovely Thelma Todd. Hips, Hips, Hooray was Dottie’s favorite movie. She reminisced of Thelma Todd, "She was a great gal - very charming. It is so sad that she came to such a tragic end."
When Bert, Bob, Dottie, and Thelma do their rendition of "Just Keep Doin’ What You’re Doin’," Dottie is thrown to the ceiling to hang from a chandelier. She was supposed to fall and be caught in a large rug held by her three friends. Unfortunately, when landing, one of the gang let go of the rug, causing Dottie to fall on her spine. The injury would last her whole life. She had to take two weeks off from filming, walk with a cane, and visit an osteopath. When I asked her why the pain didn’t show on her face in the movie when she cheerfully danced out of the office door after the fall, she said, "I must have been in shock; I knew I had to perform so I just hid the pain the best I could."
Dottie then went on to appear in the acclaimed Broadway stage show She Loves Me Not with John Arledge while at the same time she was filming with Bert and Bob in Cockeyed Cavaliers. Thelma Todd once again joined in the fun making of this film. Bert and Dottie’s next song, "Dilly Dally," was so delightful, and the movie was acclaimed as being one of the teams funniest and best.
Bert and Bob once again starred in two films without Dottie, The Nitwits and Kentucky Kernels. Around this time, Dottie divorced Marchall Duffield after two years of marriage.
Together again, the trio starred next in The Rainmakers. It was a slower paced comedy, but the old charm the three shared was ever so visible. Bert and Dottie’s duet "Isn’t Love the Grandest Thing?" is fascinating.
Dottie went on to do more solos. Another Vitaphone short, In the Spotlight and the films, The Curtain Falls, The Old Homestead, where she sang the delightful tune "Somehow I Knew." Last but not least was School For Girls.
In 1936, while the trio were on Catalina Island taking publicity photographs, Dottie was introduced to A. G. Atwater who was the brother-in-law to Philip K. Wrigley. Atwater was instantly smitten with Dottie; he was determined to make her fall in love with him.
While DottieÊwas getting involved in another romance, Bert was ending his marriage to Bernice. She charged that he was always at parties and never home. The divorce was granted, and she was given custody of their daughter. Not long after his divorce, Bert met and married Sally Haines. Dottie remembers her as being "a sweet girl."
Dottie did fall for Atwater, and they were wed. Her new husband asked her to give up show business and settle down. Before retiring, Dottie appeared in one more film with her two partners.
Silly Billies was set in the Old West during the days of the gold rush. It was filmed in the winter, and every day the cast and crew would have to go on location to the San Fernando Valley near the mountains. "Tumble On Tumbleweed, Tumble On," was Bert and Dottie’s last song together, and their old magic is still there. In the final sequence, Bert and Bob kiss Dottie at the same time on the cheek. Unbeknownst to them at the time, that action would later prove to be a good-bye to the partnership of Wheeler, Woolsey, and Lee. For they never made a motion picture together again.
Wheeler and Woolsey next made Mummy’s Boy which repeated comedic gags already used by them in Cracked Nuts. On Again, Off Again was a total bomb, and in the last, High Flyers, it was clear that Bob’s health was failing. Sadly, Bob was dying of kidney disease.
When asked today what the two comedians were like, Dottie recalls with fondness, "Bert was such a soft touch, a darling man. He would visit me over the years, and my children got to know him as Uncle Bert. On the other hand, Bob was the feisty one, and he’d try to upstage us. I got along well with both of them. However, I do know that Bert and Bob would disagree once in a while."
Unfortunately, Robert Woolsey became bedridden after contracting kidney disease. He spent his last year answering fan mail. Before leaving the set of High Flyers, he joked, "Maybe I’ll buy this set. Then I can walk out on my last scene any time I want to." Bob did indeed buy the set of High Flyers. The prop boys at RKO packed all the furniture from the set and sent it to Bob. Attached to a box was a note from the gang which read: "Get well, Bob. This isn’t your last set. We’re rooting for you."
Sadly, that would not be the case. Robert Woolsey died on October 31, 1938 at the age of 49. Bob was survived by his wife, mother, and brother.
Crushed by his partner’s death, Bert now saw his marriage crumble. Sally Haines sued for divorce, claiming that around the house, Bert was anything but funny.
Bert, being in a jam, needed a partner in one of his Chicago stage shows. He asked Dottie to appear with him. Although her husband didn’t want Dottie to perform, she told him, "Too bad, Bert needs me!"
Dottie boosted Bert’s enthusiasm for performing, and their stage act was a great success. Her reaction to their performance was one of contentment. "We would have probably gone on to be another Bert and Betty Wheeler had we continued as a team, but I wanted to leave show business to have a family. However, Bert later caught on well alone."
Dottie’s marriage to A. G. Atwater was short lived. They divorced in 1939. However, she did make a comeback on stage appearing in Chicago in the Broadway revue One For the Money where she danced with Gene Kelly. Her next show was the Sigmund Romberg—Oscar Hammerstein show New Orleans (1941). Her role was of a Southern belle doing a comedic song and dance with Tommy Ule.
Dorothy Lee’s final films before retiring in 1941 are: Penthouse Party (1936), Without Children (1936), S.O.S. Tidal Wave (1939), Twelve Crowded Hours (1939), Repent at Leisure (1941), Roar of the Press, and Too Many Blondes (1941).
On December 9, 1941, Dottie married businessman John Bersbach. She gave up her career to raise four children (one girl and three boys).
During this time, Bert kept himself active in successful stage shows, such as Laugh Time and Harvey. He also made several films, Las Vegas Nights (1941), All For Love (1949), and Three Wishes For Jamie (1952).
It was in 1952 that Bert married long time girl-friend Patsy Ore. They had been dating since the mid-1940s. Their marriage only lasted a few years.
In 1954, Bert was hired to portray an Indian in the television show Brave Eagle. He added zest to the show; however he left after only one year. He returned to Broadway and began doing various shows. One act he was well remembered for is his comedic portrayal of an old lady with his good friend Tom Dillon.
The 1960s also brought change to Dottie. After divorcing John Bersbach because of irreconcilable differences, she married friend and neighbor, Charles Calderini, an attorney.
Dottie remembers Bert’s final years. "Bert visited me over the years. There was one time when he was playing Captain Andy in the stage production of Show Boat. He stayed at our house, and we would sit in the backyard, and I’d help Bert rehearse his lines. He stayed at our house during the run of the show. We all got along great, and he adored my children."
Bert contracted emphysema and was in and out of hospitals. Dorothy recalls the last time she spoke with him. "Around Christmas 1967, Bert was staying at the Lambs Club in New York, and I lived in Winnetka. When I called the Lambs, I was surprised to hear he was at Saranac, a place where people at the Lambs are sent when they’re seriously ill. So, I called him and told him that we would love for him to come and spend Christmas with us. He said, ÔI’d love to come.’ He also said that the Lambs had given him a car. I told him, ÔNo, Bert, we don’t want you driving. We will send you a round trip plane ticket.’ He said, ÔOkay, but I have to get out of this place first.’ He died only two weeks later, alone and broke. It was so sad."
After Bert spoke with Dottie, he sadly got the tragic news that his only daughter, Patricia, died of a brain tumor; Bert was devastated.
Sadly, the beloved comedian, Bert Wheeler, died of emphysema on January 18, 1968, only two weeks after Patricia’s death. He was survived by his two grandchildren, Michael and Bonita Walters.
Today, Dottie enjoys recollecting her days with Bert and Bob. She considers herself very blessed for being able to do all the things she wanted to do in her life. Her only regret is that she didn’t parachute out of an airplane! She was quite an athlete. She was a star player for the U.S. Lacrosse team in 1925. She learned to fly airplanes, and has won numerous golf and tennis tournaments.
Her thoughts now are, "I have had a wonderful life, and I am so blessed to live the way I want and to do all the things I ever wanted to do. I have a wonderful family and friends. I’d say I have been a very lucky woman."
The partnership of Wheeler, Woolsey, and Lee came to an end
years ago; however, the magic of their unique chemistry lives
on in their films.