Edward M. Favor

Edward Addison Favor, billed professionally as Edward M. Favor or Ed. M. Favor, was born on August 29, 1856, in New York City, the son of Franklin Cushman Favor and his wife Lydia, née Lowe. A vaudeville comedian, singer, and musical theatre performer, he became one of the most prominent figures in American popular entertainment during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His Broadway career extended from 1893 to 1934.

Favor began performing in vaudeville as a light comedian around 1876. In or before 1877, he married Edith Sinclair, born in 1857, who had previously established herself as a successful child actress. The two performed together under the billing Favor and Sinclair, working as a duo and in musical comedies. In 1887, they appeared as members of the Edith Sinclair Comedy Company in A Box of Cash, in which Favor played an Irish-American character. Despite the popularity of these Irish character roles throughout his career, no evidence exists that he had any Irish ancestry. The family name itself had been the subject of speculation, with suggestions that it was originally LeFevre, but the family bible confirms the name as Favor.

In 1893, Favor and his wife made their Broadway debut in Edward E. Rice's long-running burlesque 1492 Up to Date. That same year, Favor made one of his earliest recordings, capturing "The Commodore Song" from his previous production Ship Ahoy. His recording activity expanded rapidly through the 1890s, and he recorded for most of the major companies of the era. His early recorded successes included "Say Au Revoir, But Not Goodbye" for North American in 1894, "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" for Edison in 1894, and "My Best Girl's a New Yorker" for Columbia in 1895. In 1899, he was among the first artists to record for the Zonophone label, and in 1900 he recorded for Eldridge R. Johnson's "Improved" record label, which became Victor Records the following year. A 1900 profile in Broadway magazine described him as "one of the best light comedians on the stage" and noted that he and his wife ranked as "one of the big attractions in vaudeville."

Throughout the first decade of the twentieth century, Favor continued recording in what was characterized as his "Irish-American piping tenor." His output during this period included comic numbers for Edison, Columbia, and other labels, among them "Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?" in 1901, "On a Sunday Afternoon" in 1902, "Bedelia (The Irish Coon Song Serenade)" in 1903, and "Pocahontas" in 1906. He also recorded alongside his wife, Steve Porter, and the American Quartet. In 1906, Favor and Sinclair toured South Africa and Australia. The Boston Globe noted that while the couple were rehearsing with The Blue Moon in New York City, they were simultaneously performing a vaudeville sketch called "The Maguires," which they had played at least 10,000 times. His recording career began to decline by 1908, and he made his final recordings for Victor in 1911 and for Edison in 1914, the latter session producing "On the 7:28" and "Indoor Sports."

Favor's stage work continued well into the following decades. He starred in the musical The Queen of the Moulin Rouge and maintained an active presence in theatrical productions through the 1920s and into the early 1930s. In 1933, he appeared on Broadway in John Ferguson and Merton of the Movies, and in 1934 he appeared in America - Very Early. He also had a role in the Broadway production She Loves Me Not. Favor died on January 10, 1936, in Brooklyn at the age of 79, of peritonitis. His wife, Edith Sinclair, survived him, living until 1942.