Rags Ragland

Rags Ragland, born John Lee Morgan Beauregard Ragland on August 23, 1905, in Louisville, Kentucky, was an American comedian and character actor whose career spanned burlesque, Broadway, and Hollywood films. He was the son of Adam Joseph Ragland and Stella Petty.

Before entering show business, Ragland held a variety of jobs in Kentucky, including truck driver, boxer, and movie projectionist. He married Sabina Elizabeth Vanover, and the couple had a son, John Griffin Ragland, born in 1925, before divorcing in 1926. The following year Ragland relocated to Los Angeles at the age of 22.

Ragland built his early reputation in burlesque, eventually rising to the position of top banana at Minsky's, the prominent burlesque house. He became known for spontaneous ad-libs and unpredictable intrusions into fellow performers' acts. Minsky striptease star Georgia Sothern, writing in her 1971 memoir, counted Ragland among her closest friends and described him as the funniest comedian the Minskys had ever produced. His longtime performing partner Phil Silvers called him "my favorite comic" in Silvers's autobiography.

As burlesque declined, Ragland moved into Broadway and film work. His Broadway appearances ran from 1938 to 1940 and included the musicals Who's Who? and Panama Hattie. He was typically cast as good-natured, bumbling characters with a talent for mangling the English language. In 1941 he signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, making his debut for the studio in Ringside Maisie. He went on to appear in a number of MGM light comedies and musicals, gaining particular popularity as Red Skelton's cohort in the Whistling film series, which comprised Whistling in the Dark (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942), and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943). His final screen appearance came in the 1946 drama The Hoodlum Saint.

Ragland died on August 20, 1946, three days before his forty-first birthday. After returning from a trip to Mexico with Orson Welles, he had been scheduled to appear at the Copacabana in New York alongside Phil Silvers. He was hospitalized after experiencing abdominal pain, and physicians determined that years of alcohol abuse had destroyed his liver and kidneys. Frank Sinatra arranged for a specialist to examine him, but Ragland fell into a coma and died of uremia. Both Silvers and Sinatra were present at his bedside. Sinatra sang at the funeral service and Silvers delivered the eulogy. In a further tribute, Sinatra left the set of It Happened in Brooklyn, flew to New York, and took Ragland's place alongside Silvers at the Copacabana opening, performing routines the two had done together during USO tours. As the performance concluded, Silvers wept and asked the audience if he might take a bow on Ragland's behalf, and the house fell silent in response.