My Train of Thought

ALL ABOARD!  It's GENE SHELDON!

 Most baby boomers grew up on and were nurtured by the creations of Walt Disney and his talented staff of animators, story writers, and voice over personnel.  Who would have ever thought that the penciling of a mouse back in 1928 would spawn a new world of children’s entertainment?  Television became the “new kid on the block” for kids’ viewing in the 1950s.  Walt Disney capitalized on his youthful audience by hosting a weekly, hour-long show on Sunday nights under several names – Disneyland (aka, The Wonderful World of Disney), Walt Disney Presents, and Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.  Each week we were taken on a journey that sometimes dealt with real people or fictitious characters such as Davy Crockett, Swamp Fox, the Scarecrow, and Zorro.  In the case of Zorro, Bill Cotter’s website states that, Disney became involved with “The Fox” as a means to help finance his theme park (Disneyland).  Mr. Cotter’s website details the evolution of that TV series at http://www.billcotter.com/zorro/history-of-series.

As with many of my counterparts, I fell in love with the handsome Don Diego and his man in black, alter ego, Zorro.  Who could forget the opening - thunder and lightning against a foreboding dark sky, and the theme song starting “Out of the night, when full moon is bright, comes the horseman known as Zorro”?  As handsome and dashing was this masked champion, one of the most memorable characters from the series never uttered a word, yet his presence dominated the scenes where he appeared.  Bernardo, man servant and confidante to Don Diego de la Vega, took on his own disguise as a deaf mute.  He was the eyes and ears of Zorro.  Bernardo came to life thanks to a seasoned actor trained in the art of pantomime – Gene Sheldon.

He was born on February 1, 1908 in Columbus, Ohio.  While some sources state his real name was Eugene Hume, one of his relatives posted on a genealogy board that his parents were Ada (Happerset) and Earl Search, and he was born Eugene Russell Search.  His father was a barber by trade, while his mother worked as a forelady (female foreman) in a fire extinguisher company (according to the 1920 US Census, for Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio).  His parents were also entertainers who incorporated Gene in the act; Gene was the woman whom his father sawed in half.  When he changed his name to Sheldon is not known; however, another genealogy message board stated that “The creator of one of the Zorro websites passed my research on to a Gene Sheldon family member, who indicated...that Gene chose the name "Sheldon" from a street sign in Columbus.” (Sheldon Ave.). 

Mr. Sheldon joined the ranks of talented vaudevillians that toured Europe, performed on radio, and appeared on Broadway from 1925 - 1936.  He was so popular that the London Palladium booked him for six months.  His routine featured Gene in baggy pants, humorous pantomime, and banjo playing, while chasing an elusive spotlight that always managed to keep him just outside its edge.   All three portions of his classic performance are seen in this segment of The Colgate Summer Comedy Hour.   This link shows Gene’s great comedy sense and the mannerisms we loved so well in his Bernardo character:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXUYDwcuMYM.  This clip also demonstrates his banjo skills – a far cry from the episode where Bernardo’s attempt at playing guitar to cover for Diego when acting as Zorro.  The same act was done for The Perry Como Show in which Perry referred to Gene as one of “great pantomime artists”.  Those same comedic snippets, along with the bewildered or simplistic facial expressions would serve him well in his portrayal of Bernardo.

Around 1928, Sheldon’s act also featured Loretta Fischer, who had the speaking parts opposite Gene’s pantomime.  The link provided here shows a copyrighted photo of Gene and Loretta together:     http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/famous-vaudeville-comedy-team-gene-135666086.  It also describes Loretta as “Sheldon’s Stooge”.  There have been many posts on genealogical boards that would indicate that Gene and Loretta did marry, but a relative indicated they were divorced.  Dates for both are not known.  Posts on Genealogy.com from family members would indicate that he was not married to Margaret McCann as Wikipedia states.

Sheldon’s film debut was in Susie’s Affairs with Betty Grable (1934).    The following year he did a banjo solo in a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film, Roberta (1935).

He appeared on Broadway in Take a Bow (1941), and The Priorities of 1942, in which his character was modeled after his idol, silent film comic Harry Langdon.  

 

His other films from that decade included Where Do We Go from Here with Fred MacMurray and The Dolly Sisters with John Payne and Betty Grable (both 1945).  His next film, Golden Girl

THE DOLLY SISTERS

(1951) featured Mitzi Gaynor and Dale Robertson (“Tales of Wells Fargo”).  Sheldon teamed up with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in 3 Ring Circus (1954).  Television brought more opportunities for Mr. Sheldon which included The Colgate Comedy Hour (1955), and the Tommy Dorsey Stage Show (1956) which also featured a newcomer named Elvis Presley.  It was Walt Disney who provided much of his work for the 1950s and 1960s.  Not only was he the beloved Bernardo from Zorro (1957-1961), he was part of the Disneyland Golden Horseshoe Revue in Disney’s anthology series.   

TOBY TYLER

He was cast in films Toby Tyler (1960) with mouseketeer Kevin Corcoran and Babes in Toyland (1961).  Both of these would reunite him with Henry Calvin (Sgt. Garcia of Zorro).  He had two more appearances – a 1963 episode of Jackie Gleason’s American Scene Magazine and a 1970 TV movie, Howdy.

Sadly, nothing more is known of this man who touched our hearts with his performances.  Eugene Russell Search, aka Gene Sheldon died on May 1, 1982 of a heart attack in Los Angeles.  If you either own the DVDs, or watch COZI-TV, you can watch him as Bernardo.  There is a Facebook page dedicated to him at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gene-Sheldon/138600882819006

Adiós, pero no olvidado, Bernardo! (Good-bye, but not forgotten, Bernardo!)