Joe Cook

Joe Cook, born Joseph Lopez on March 29, 1890, in Evansville, Indiana, was an American vaudeville performer, composer, and Broadway actor whose stage career spanned from 1923 to 1940. He died on May 15, 1959.

Cook's early life was marked by hardship. When he was three years old, his father died while rescuing a drowning boy, and his mother followed two months later, leaving Cook and his six-year-old brother Leo orphaned. A distant relative, Mrs. Anna Cook, adopted both boys, and the family lived behind their grocery store at the corner of Fourth and Oak in Evansville. Cook took his adoptive family's surname.

In 1906, Cook joined a circus, an experience that launched him into vaudeville. He and his brother Leo performed together under the billing "Joe Cook and Brother" from approximately 1909 to 1916. During his vaudeville years, Cook developed a wide-ranging act that incorporated wire-walking, juggling, violin, piano, and ukulele playing, as well as nonsensical comedy storytelling and elaborate mechanical contraptions designed to perform absurdly simple or useless tasks. This breadth of talent earned him the nickname "One Man Vaudeville." He headlined at New York's Palace Theatre and became one of the most prominent performers on the vaudeville circuit, though his career during this period included three years performing in blackface. Following the death of his brother Leo, Cook withdrew from show business and retreated to his home in New Jersey with his wife, the former Helen Reynolds, and their children.

Showman Earl Carroll drew Cook out of retirement with an offer to star on Broadway. Cook made his Broadway debut in Earl Carroll's Vanities in 1923, where he co-starred with Peggy Hopkins Joyce. His Broadway career continued through several notable productions, including the musical Rain or Shine, the revue Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1925, the musical Fine and Dandy — the first Broadway musical with a score written entirely by a woman, Kay Swift — and Hold Your Horses. He also appeared in Off to Buffalo, among other productions. Cook frequently collaborated onstage with Dave Chasen, who later became a well-known restaurateur, across several of these shows.

Among Cook's most celebrated routines was his "Four Hawaiians" act, in which he announced he would imitate four Hawaiians but then offered only three elements — a whistle, a ukulele, and a tapping foot — before launching into an extended, digressive monologue explaining why he chose not to imitate a fourth. The routine concluded with the logic that a man who had parlayed a fifty-dollar horse into $350,000 through a chain of transactions had no reason to bother imitating four Hawaiians.

Cook also worked in film. In 1930, Columbia Pictures cast him in the film adaptation of Rain or Shine, directed by Frank Capra, with Dave Chasen reprising his role from the stage production. Cook's only other feature film was Arizona Mahoney in 1936, a western based on a Zane Grey story whose supporting cast included Larry "Buster" Crabbe. Between 1935 and that period, he also starred in five two-reel comedy short subjects for Educational Pictures, writing the scripts for three of them. His character in the series was named "Joe Widget."

From 1924 to 1941, Cook lived at Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey, then a popular resort destination. His home, which he named "Sleepless Hollow," was known for frequent parties and celebrity guests. During the 1930s, Cook transitioned into radio, hosting two variety series and appearing as a guest on numerous others.

Cook was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1941, which forced his retirement from show business. That same year he sold the Lake Hopatcong property and relocated to a more modest residence in New York State, where he lived until his death on May 15, 1959.