Hugh Herbert


Hugh Herbert was an American motion picture comedian. He began his career in vaudeville and wrote more than 150 plays and sketches.

Career

Born in Binghamton, New York, Herbert attended Cornell University. As an actor, he "had many serious roles, and for years was seen on major vaudeville circuits as a pathetic old Hebrew."
The advent of talking pictures brought stage-trained actors to Hollywood, and Herbert soon became a popular movie comedian. His screen character was usually flustered and absent-minded. He would flutter his fingers together and talk to himself, repeating the same phrases: "Hoo-hoo-hoo, wonderful, wonderful, hoo hoo hoo!" So many imitators copied the catchphrase as "woo woo" that Herbert even began to use "woo woo" rather than "hoo hoo" in the 1940s.
Herbert's early movies, like Wheeler & Woolsey's feature Hook, Line and Sinker, cast him in generic comedy roles that could have been taken by any comedian. He developed a unique screen personality, complete with a silly giggle, and this new character caught on quickly. He was frequently featured in Warner Brothers films of the 1930s, including Bureau of Missing Persons, Footlight Parade, Dames, Fog Over Frisco, Fashions of 1934, and Gold Diggers of 1935, as well as A Midsummer Night's Dream, a film adaptation of Shakespeare's play. He played leads in "B comedies", notably Sh! The Octopus, a comedy-mystery featuring an exceptional unmasking of the culprit.
Herbert was often caricatured in Warners' Looney Tunes shorts of the 1930s/1940s, such as Speaking of the Weather and The Hardship of Miles Standish. One of the minor characters in the Terrytoons short The Talking Magpies is also a recognizably Herbertesque bird. In 1939, Herbert signed with Universal Pictures, where, as at Warners, he played supporting roles in major films and leading roles in minor ones. One of his performances from this period is in the Olsen and Johnson comedy Hellzapoppin', in which he played a nutty detective.
Herbert joined Columbia Pictures in 1943 and became a familiar face in short subjects, with the same actors and directors who made the Stooges shorts. Commenting on these two-reel films, The Columbia Comedy Shorts notes for example that "Who's Hugh?,'' His Hotel Sweet , A Knight and a Blonde and Woo, Woo! are alarmingly similar in content; viewing them together, it's nearly impossible to detect" any difference. He continued to star in these comedies for the remainder of his life.
Herbert wrote six screenplays, co-wrote the screenplays for the films Lights of New York and Second Wife, and contributed to The Great Gabbo and others. He acted in three films co-written by the much more prolific screenwriter F. Hugh Herbert: Fashions of 1934, We're in the Money and Colleen. He also directed one film, He Knew Women''.

Recognition

Herbert has a star at 6251 Hollywood Boulevard on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated February 8, 1960.

Personal life

Herbert was married to Rose Epstein, who was also known by the name Anita Pam.
Herbert died on March 12, 1952, at age 66 from cardiovascular disease in North Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Selected filmography

  • Husbands for Rent as Valet
  • Caught in the Fog as Detective Riley
  • Mind Your Business
  • Danger Lights as Professor – the Hobo
  • Hook, Line and Sinker as Hotel House Detective
  • She Went for a Tramp
  • Laugh and Get Rich as Joe Austin
  • The Sin Ship as Charlie
  • Traveling Husbands as Hymie Schwartz
  • Friends and Lovers as McNellis
  • The Lost Squadron as Fritz
  • Million Dollar Legs as Secretary of the Treasury
  • Faithless as Mr. Peter M. Blainey
  • Sham Poo, the Magician as Sham Poo
  • Strictly Personal as Wetzel
  • Diplomaniacs as Chinaman
  • She Had to Say Yes as Luther Haines
  • Goodbye Again as Harvey Wilson
  • Bureau of Missing Persons as Hank Slade
  • Footlight Parade as Bowers
  • Tis Spring
  • College Coach as J-Marvin Barnett
  • From Headquarters as Manny Wales
  • Convention City as Hotstetter
  • Easy to Love as Detective
  • Fashions of 1934 as Joe Ward
  • Wonder Bar as Pratt
  • Harold Teen as Ed Rathburn
  • Merry Wives of Reno as Colonel Fitch
  • The Merry Frinks as Joe 'Poppa' Frink
  • Fog Over Frisco as Izzy Wright
  • Dames as Ezra Ounce
  • Kansas City Princess as Junior Ashcraft
  • Good Badminton as Hugh
  • Sweet Adeline as Rupert Rockingham
  • Gold Diggers of 1935 as T. Mosley Thorpe
  • Traveling Saleslady as Elmer
  • We're in the Money as Lawyer Homer Bronson
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream as Snout, the Tinker
  • To Beat the Band as Hugo Twist / Elizabeth Twist
  • Miss Pacific Fleet as Mr. J. August Freytag
  • Colleen as Cedric Ames
  • One Rainy Afternoon as Toto
  • We Went to College as Professor Standish
  • Love Begins at Twenty as Horatio Gillingwater
  • Sing Me a Love Song as Siegfried Hammerschlag
  • Top of the Town as Hubert
  • That Man's Here Again as Thomas J. Jesse
  • A Day at Santa Anita as Himself
  • The Singing Marine as Aeneas Phinney / Clarissa
  • Marry the Girl as John B. Radway
  • The Perfect Specimen as Killigrew Shaw
  • Sh! The Octopus as Kelly
  • Hollywood Hotel as Chester Marshall
  • Gold Diggers in Paris as Maurice Giraud
  • Men Are Such Fools as Harvey Bates
  • Four's a Crowd as Jenkins
  • The Great Waltz as Hofbauer
  • The Family Next Door as George Pierce
  • The Lady's from Kentucky as Mousey Johnson
  • Eternally Yours as Benton
  • Little Accident as Herbert Pearson
  • La Conga Nights as Henry I. Dibble Jr. / Faith Dibble / Hope Dibble / Charity Dibble / Prudence Dibble / Mrs. Henry I. Dibble Jr. / Henry I. Dibble Sr.
  • Private Affairs as Angus McPherson
  • A Little Bit of Heaven as Pop Loring
  • The Villain Still Pursued Her as Frederick Healy
  • Hit Parade of 1941 as Ferdinand Farraday
  • Slightly Tempted as Professor Ross
  • Meet the Chump as Hugh Mansfield
  • The Black Cat as Mr. Penny
  • Hello, Sucker as Hubert Worthington Clippe
  • Badlands of Dakota as Rocky Plummer
  • Hellzapoppin' as Quimby
  • Don't Get Personal as Elmer Whippet / Oscar Whippet
  • You're Telling Me as Hubert Abercrombie Gumm
  • There's One Born Every Minute as Lemuel P. Twine / Abner Twine / Colonel Cladius Zebediah Twine
  • Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch as Marcus Throckmorton
  • It's a Great Life as Timothy Brewster
  • Stage Door Canteen as Himself
  • Pitchin' in the Kitchen as Adam Spiggott
  • Who's Hugh? as Himself
  • Oh, Baby! as Elmer 'Picklepuss' Burns
  • His Hotel Sweet as Himself
  • Kismet as Feisal
  • Ever Since Venus as P.G. Grimble
  • A Knight and a Blonde as Himself
  • Music for Millions as Uncle Ferdinand
  • Woo, Woo!
  • Wife Decoy as Hughie Hawkins
  • The Mayor's Husband as Himself
  • One Way to Love as Eustace P. Trumble
  • When the Wife's Away as Himself
  • Get Along Little Zombie as Himself
  • Honeymoon Blues as Himself
  • Hot Heir as Himself
  • Nervous Shakedown as Mr. Penn
  • Blondie in the Dough as Llewellyn Simmons
  • Should Husbands Marry? as Himself
  • On Our Merry Way as Eli Hobbs
  • Tall, Dark and Gruesome as Hugh Sherlock, playwright
  • So This Is New York as Mr. Lucius Trumball
  • One Touch of Venus as Mercury
  • The Girl from Manhattan as Aaron Goss
  • A Song Is Born as Professor Twingle
  • A Pinch in Time as Himself
  • Trapped by a Blonde as Himself
  • The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend as Doctor
  • Super Wolf as Aunt Fanny / Dave McGurk alias Dave the Drip
  • One Shivery Night as Himself
  • A Slip and a Miss sa Himself
  • Woo-Woo Blues as Himself
  • Havana Rose as Filbert Fillmore
  • Trouble In-Laws as Himself
  • The Gink in the Sink as Himself

    As writer

  • Sunny California
  • Lights of New York
  • Mind Your Business
  • The Great Gabbo
  • The Second Wife
  • He Knew Women
  • ''The Sin Ship''

    As director

  • ''He Knew Women''