Harry Delf

Harry Delf (August 28, 1892 – February 7, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, playwright, composer, lyricist, theatrical producer, and director of short films. Born in New York City, he was educated at Columbia University. His Broadway career spanned from 1914 to 1928 as a performer, and his work as a playwright extended that presence through 1931.

Delf launched his professional life in vaudeville, working all of the major circuits as a comedian. Among his contributions during that period, he taught Fanny Brice how to speak with a Yiddish accent, a technique Brice went on to use regularly in her stage performances.

His Broadway debut came in 1914, when he played Pierre in The Whirl of the World, a revue with music by Sigmund Romberg and Harold Atteridge. That same year he appeared as Francois in The Midnight Girl. Subsequent performing credits included The Cohan Revue of 1916, in which he played Billy Holliday, Potter, and Soldier; The Rainbow Girl (1918), where he portrayed Ernest Bennett; The Greenwich Village Follies of 1919; Jimmie (1920), in which he played Milton Blum; and Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1926. He also wrote sketches for the Cohan and Harris revues and for Earl Carroll's Vanities.

Several of Delf's Broadway performing credits were in productions he had also written. He played Jerry Jackson in the 1923 musical Sun Showers, for which he composed the music and wrote both the lyrics and the book. In the 1928 play Atlas and Eva, he took the role of Elmer while also serving as the production's playwright and producer.

As a playwright, Delf's first work to reach Broadway was the 1918 musical Some Night!, for which he authored the music, lyrics, and book. His most enduring work was the play The Family Upstairs, which premiered on Broadway in 1925 and was revived there in 1933. The play was adapted into the silent film The Family Upstairs (1926), with a screenplay by Gordon Rigby, and later served as the basis for the sound films Harmony at Home (1930) and Stop, Look and Love (1939). His additional stage works include The Unsophisticates (1929) and She Lived Next to the Firehouse (1931).

Delf also pursued a career in short-film production beginning with the Fox Movietone short The Family Picnic (1928), which he both wrote and directed. He continued writing and directing short films including Mystery Mansion (1928), starring Sumner Gretchel, Toy Gallagher, and Ford West; Meet the Family (1929); At the Photographer's (1929); Bring on the Bride (1929); and Hot Tips (1929).

Beyond the stage and screen, Delf served for a time as dean of the New York Friars Club, a position equivalent to vice president. He played an instrumental role in securing the organization's premises at 57 East 55th Street in 1957, and the club roasted him in 1951. A room at the Friars Club was named in his honor. Delf died of a heart attack at his Manhattan home on February 7, 1964.