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IMDB shows Fritz Hubert as being born in March of 1908, but gives no date of death. I know that information on the site is not always accurate or up to date, but is Mr. Hubert still with us at 104?

SFBOB wrote:IMDB shows Fritz Hubert as being born in March of 1908, but gives no date of death. I know that information on the site is not always accurate or up to date, but is Mr. Hubert still with us at 104?

I checked the files of the Performing Arts Library, and found some info on Hubert. He performed as both "Frank" and "Fritz" Hubert, so it appears that the Frank Hubert page in IMDb refers to the same person, and lists some of his credits. On stage he did a comic dance routine for a number of years with his sister Jean, in which they portrayed society drunks in tuxes -- Jean would reveal that she was a woman only at the finale. (Jean also appears in the Arbuckle Vitaphone short How've You Bean?, during the party sequence.) I found clippings about their act dating from 1930 into the early '40s. I also found an obituary notice for Frank, very brief, indicating that he died in England in June of 1966.

According to family member Jan Hubert, Fritz Hubert died in Washington in 1945; his marker (using his birthname) at the Woodbine Cemetery in Puyallup WA can be seen at:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... =43436410&

Although born in Springfield OH on March 30th, his birth records give the year as 1906 rather than 1908, which latter date is given at IMDb.

Jan Hubert's research documentation from the family's private collection (posted at Ancestry.com) includes Fritz's passport as well as a photo of him with his sister Jean performing their 'society drunks' routine at the 1939 New York's World Fair.

He seems to have changed his stage name from Fritz to Frank with the outbreak of World War Two, when the German connotations of Fritz presumably made it an unattractive choice for a lighthearted act! I'm assuming that the Frank Hubert who died in England in 1966 must have been someone else again...

doctor-kiss wrote: According to family member Jan Hubert, Fritz Hubert died in Washington in 1945 . . . [edit] . . . I'm assuming that the Frank Hubert who died in England in 1966 must have been someone else again...

That's very likely. As I noted, there are no performance clippings for the act after the early 1940s, and the 1966 obit in the file is so brief it could easily refer to another performer.

Just to confuse matters further, I also found a 1940 Brooklyn Eagle review of a brother-and-sister dance act -- obviously the same one, featuring a couple of society drunks -- in which the sister is Jean Hubert, while male half of the act is called "Fred" and "Freddie" Hubert throughout. After the war began, Fritz might have briefly adopted that name before settling on Frank.

I can confirm that the Frank Hubert who died in England in 1966 was a British character actor who'd also appeared on the New York stage in the 1930s (no doubt adding to the confusion about which-Hubert-was-which), but who'd returned back across the Atlantic before Fritz became either Fred or Frank!

Of course, I can't help but wonder what led to Fritz's early death in 1945; if an obituary was published at the time (under any of his multiple names), then it seems to be singularly elusive.

For the record, this is the 'wrong' Frank Hubert, as pictured (using a portrait from his time in New York) in the British casting directory The Spotlight from Fall 1939:

Wow! Thanks to everyone for all the information.

For those who’re interested, especially vaudeville buffs, here’s more info from the files about the stage act Fritz Hubert performed with his sister Jean. The earliest clipping I found is a review from The Billboard of April 12, 1930, covering a show at the Palace Theatre. Also on the bill with the Huberts were jugglers Mowatt & Hardy, comedian Ben Blue, The DeMarcos dance team, Gus Edwards’ latest version of his ever-popular kid act, and singer Lee Morse, who replaced Irene Bordoni at the last minute. (It’s reported that Miss Bordoni was miffed when the star dressing room was assigned to someone else.) Elias E. Sugarman reports:

FRITZ AND JEAN HUBERT came on with everything against them [i.e. because they followed an especially strong act] and walked off with a big chunk of bacon. This appears to be their first Palace booking, and it won’t be their last, even this season. As drunk-crazy dandies dressed in claw hammers, they perform entirely in panto. They do more clever acrobatic clowning than Charlie Chaplin in half a dozen two-reelers. Short and snappy. It’s all over in eight minutes. A decisive show-stop that was hurdled by two involuntary bows. The girl showed a shock of blondish hair for the first bows, and this stimulated another applause barrage.

The next item I found is a typewritten page with a banner across the top: Vaudeville Photo and Information Bureau, National Advertising and Exploitation Department, dated June 16, 1931. According to this document the Huberts’ act was officially known as “The Realistic Inebriates,” though it also says that their names should be given as Fritz & Jean Hubert on the annunciator cards on the easels on each side of the stage. (So that’s what those cards were called!) A prop list for the act is included: 1 round café table, 2 chairs, 2 dozen assorted liquor bottles, a three-panel screen, and “glass crash” effect. The act itself is described thusly:

The convivial gentleman who imbibes a bit too liberally may not have a place in the social fabric, but when these two “Realistic Inebriates” are Fritz and Jean Hubert, and their intoxication is a clever stage creation, they certainly have a place in the theatre . . . They assume the roles of two men about town, and as such they offer an artistic comedy routine of knockabout variety that for real comedy is not often equaled. They enter somewhat uncertainly because of their supposed spirit encounter. One descends a flight of stairs unsteadily with each cautious step a clever bit of fun. The other comes tumbling down after him, negotiating the entire flight in a series of comedy falls and bumps. This is the beginning of a routine filled with spills, comedy calamities and fun-provoking antics. Their act is new and different, and just to make it more different, one of the boys is a girl -- Miss Jean, giving an excellent male impersonation.

It’s reported that the team’s agent was Hugo Morris, and I suspect he wrote the copy quoted above. I also found several reviews mentioning the act over the next few years, during the period when big-time vaudeville fizzled out, and performers struggled to make a living playing county fairs, touring what was left of the small-time circuits, or playing at big city cinemas in between film screenings. A review from Variety dated Aug. 17, 1938, describes a show at the Earle Theatre headlined by Ozzie Nelson’s band, singer Harriet Hilliard (his wife, although that detail isn’t mentioned), Frank Paris’ Marionettes, the Huberts, and others. Harriet is described as “a swell warbler,” but the critic was unimpressed with Ozzie: “Chirping by maestro okay despite his nasal twang.” He didn’t much care for the Huberts, either: “Fritz and Jean Hubert, drunks, go through much slapstick pantomime, but it’s all too slow and not too funny. Pair both work in tails and there’s some surprise at the finish when one is revealed as a femme. Fritz’s unprofessional clowning with Nelson in the encore detracts.” A review from Variety dated Oct. 11, 1939, just a few weeks after the war broke out in Europe, offers more praise for the act, and notes that Fritz is now known as Frank.

And that brings us to the piece from the Brooklyn Eagle, dated July 6, 1940, when the Huberts were performing at the New York World’s Fair. It’s the longest article I found about the team, and features a nice photo of Fritz and Jean. The headline reads: THE HUBERTS SURE ARE REAL DEVILS -- THEIR STRONGEST DRINK IS SODA POP. This is the article where Fritz is called “Fred” and “Freddie” throughout, something I didn’t find anywhere else. Either the writer was mistaken, or Fritz (identified as Frank in Variety in ‘39) briefly adopted the name. Anyway, the piece provides some interesting info about the act. We’re told that both siblings are teetotalers; Jean loves licorice lollypops, while Fritz favors root-beer. The team explained to the writer that they’d never actually imbibe before doing their routine, for their brand of knockabout comedy demands careful coordination, and each had suffered onstage injuries as it was, cold sober. The article notes that the act was launched in 1927, and that the team had performed all over the world.

One curious note: we’re told that the siblings always demand separate dressing rooms (which I can understand), and that, although they're fond of each other, every night after the act “each stalks haughtily off in a different direction.” Which, to me, doesn’t sound like fondness. At any rate, it’s reported that Fritz is married and has two children, and lives with his family in an apartment on Central Park West, while Jean lives a few blocks away. And it’s also reported that both siblings closely study any drunks they see in public, for “potential material.”

So, that’s the gist of what I found concerning this act. No hint of what might have caused the death of Fritz in 1945, when he was still so young. But it sounds like he and his sister had a fairly successful, interesting career.

Hi, my husband just told me he found this thread about my great uncle and aunt. I have been researching them for many years and hope to write about them someday. Would love to discuss with anyone interested. Contact me.

Jan Hubert