Harry Watson Jr.


Harry Watson Jr., also known as Harry B. Watson, was an American actor and comedian. Before his vaudeville, Broadway and film careers, he was a clown for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Among his Broadway shows were the musical Tip-Toes and five editions of the Ziegfeld Follies.

Career

The highest-profile of Watson's few feature films were with Marion Davies and silent film star Harrison Ford: Little Old New York and Zander the Great, two of his three Hearst Cosmopolitan Productions. Watson is perhaps best recalled today as the star of a series of bizarre silent comedy shorts, The Mishaps of Musty Suffer.

Legacy

Two volumes of surviving Musty Suffer titles—many featuring Watson's comedy partner, George Bickel—were restored by the American Library of Congress and released with music by Ben Model on DVD by Undercrank Productions in 2014 and 2015.

Filmography

  • Rubeville Night Club
  • Irish Fantasy
  • Rubeville
  • Fifty Miles from Broadway
  • Zander the Great
  • The Great White Way
  • Little Old New York
  • Musty's Vacation
  • Musty B. Young
  • Starlight Sleep
  • Spliced and Iced
  • Pure and Simple
  • The Ladder of Fame
  • Truly Rural
  • Wet and Dry
  • The Soda Jerker
  • The Fried Egg Hero
  • Fore and Aft
  • The Fable of How Wisenstein Did Not Lose Out to Buttinsky
  • Partly Cloudy
  • Active Service
  • Outs and Ins
  • Strictly Private
  • A Pirate Bold
  • Local Showers
  • While You Wait
  • Showing Some Speed
  • Blow Your Horn
  • Coming Down
  • Out of Order
  • Just Imagination
  • Bells and Belles
  • The Lightning Bell-Hop
  • Look Out Below
  • Going Up
  • Hold Fast!
  • Cruel and Unusual
  • The Politicians
  • Keep Moving
  • The Fixer
  • ''Actors' Fund Field Day''

Broadway

Selective bibliography

  • George Jean Nathan Comedians All Alfred A Knopf
  • Steve Massa The Mishaps of Musty Suffer: DVD Companion Guide CreateSpace