Brother Theodore

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Brother Theodore (11 November 1906 – 5 April 2001), born Theodore Gottlieb, was a German-American monologuist and comedian known for rambling, stream-of-consciousness dialogues which he called "stand up tragedy."

Early years

He was born into a wealthy Jewish family in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, where his father was a magazine publisher. Theodore attended the University of Cologne. At age 32, under Nazi rule, he was imprisoned at the Dachau concentration camp until he signed over his family's fortune for one Reichsmark. After being deported for chess hustling from Switzerland he went to Austria where Albert Einstein, a family friend and alleged lover of his mother, helped him escape to the United States.^[1][2]

Comes to America

He worked as a janitor at Stanford University, where he demonstrated his prowess at chess by beating thirty professors simultaneously,^[2] and later became a dockworker in San Francisco. He played a bit part in Orson Welles's The Stranger. This was one of the several movie appearances he made beginning in the 1940s and continuing into the 1990s. These were mostly small parts in B-movies, although he did provide the voice of Gollum in the 1977 made-for-television animated version of The Hobbit and the follow-up adaptation of The Return of the King.

Success

Theodore's career as a monologuist began in California in the late 1940s, with dramatic Poe recitals. He moved to New York City, and by the 1950s his monologues, now darkly humorous, had attracted a cult following. He reached a wider audience through television, with 36 appearances on The Merv Griffin Show in the 1960s and '70s, and was also a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Dick Cavett Show, and The Joey Bishop Show. As his nightclub and TV appearances in the 1950s and '60s waned,^[2] he was forgotten, and he retired in the mid 1970s.

Comeback

He was pulled out of retirement and booked by magician Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brooks in the Magic Towne House on New York's upper East side for special weekend midnight performances. Brooks had remembered seeing Brother Theodore in the village years prior, when Theodore was packing them in and sought him out for his new club. This resulted in a resurgence of interest in Brother Theodore that brought him success in his later years starting with Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Show in 1977 followed by more TV appearances and movies. According to Brooks, it took multiple calls to Theodore to convince him to make a comeback. Theodore's attitude was very bleak, and felt his career was over. Brooks wanted to charge ten or more dollars, but Theodore insisted on four dollars, so as not to scare people away. The show was a success and ran for several seasons. A picture of the Magic Towne House ad that appeared in local New York newspapers such as the Village Voice and The New York post can be found at http://www.shockcinemamagazine.com/brother.html

Talk-show viewers probably remember Theodore for his 16 appearances on NBC's Late Night with David Letterman in the 1980s. In the early 1980s, he was a regular on the Billy Crystal Show. Up until the late 1990s, he was a guest actor in several episodes of Joe Frank: Work in Progress radio show on NPR. An article on Theodore appeared in RAVE magazine (with color photos) and segments from it are in the book Who's Who in Comedy. Just prior to his death from pneumonia, he taped several monologues for the controversial documentary series, Disinformation. He appeared in Billy Crystal's "Don't Get Me Started" mockumentary, and voiced the character of an ointment expert on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday audio version of Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer in 1995.

Death

Theodore died in New York City on April 5, 2001, in Mount Sinai Hospital,^[1] and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.

His headstone reads: Known as Brother Theodore / Solo Performer, Comedian, Metaphysician / "As Long As There is Death, There Is Hope"

Television appearances

• The Joey Bishop Show: 10/31/1967, 11/8/1967 [dates needed]
• The Merv Griffin Show: [dates needed]
• The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder: 10/31/1977
• Late Night with David Letterman (NBC): 9/10/1982, 10/20/1982, 2/3/1983, 5/19/1983, 7/8/1983, 9/7/1983, 2/21/1984, 5/16/1984, 9/17/1984, 12/19/1984, 7/8/1985, 10/31/1985, 9/17/1986, 7/24/1987, 1/13/1988, 2/17/1989^[3]

Radio appearances

• Joe Frank's radio shows. Episodes: The Decline of Spengler, The End, A Tour of the City, Black Light

• Steve Post's The Outside radio show on WBAI in New York during the 1960s and 70s.
• Bob Claster's Funny Stuff on KCRW in Santa Monica, September 24, 1989.
• The Ointment Expert: Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer

Further reading

• Martin, Douglas (April 6, 2001). "Theodore Gottlieb, Dark Comedian, Dies at 94". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-08-01.
• Adams, Kathleen; August, Melissa; Hartwell, Randy; Martens, Ellin; Pierro, Joseph; Song, Sora (April 16, 2001). "Milestones". Time Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-08-01.

References

External links

• Brother Theodore at the Internet Movie Database
• Brother Theodore at Find a Grave
• a personal memoir of Theodore by Robert "Bob" Martin