Tweet Swedish dialect comedians/actors in film/vaudeville

In my on going research into the life and career of El Brendel, I am searching for other comedians/actors who used the Swedish dialect during their career in the years El Brendel would have been working in either vaudeville or film, about 1913 until 1964. I already know of John Oscar (still need any personal info on him if anyone has any) and Yogi Yorgesson, so any others I can add to my list I would greatly appreciate!

John Qualen seemed to play Swedes as often as not, most notably in Our Daily Bread, The Searchers and several other John Ford films.

John Qualen seemed to play Swedes as often as not, most notably in Our Daily Bread, The Searchers and several other John Ford films.

Thanks Rob. I will check him out.

John Qualen made his film debut as the Swedish janitor in Samuel Goldwyn's production of STREET SCENE, directed by King Vidor. Qualen had been in the original Broadway cast of Elmer Rice's play, along with Beulah Bondi. (It was her first film, too!)

There's the Olson sisters. They did Norwegian dialect but most non-Scandinavians tend to lump Sweden and Norway together. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonora_and_Ethel_Olson" target="_blank

Kathryn Forbes wrote "Father said a Swede was a Norwegian with his brains knocked out"

Yes John Qualen is an excellent choice.

Joseph Cawthorn often played Swedes and so did Kathleen Freeman.

Great! Thanks for all the names!

Though Christian Rub was German-born it appears that he often portrayed a Swede, as in THE TRIAL OF VIVIENNE WARE. The character name "Olaf" turns up quite a bit in his filmography.

Does Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter count?

I think Peter Graves played her "comical" Swedish brother.

Karl Dane (a.k.a. Rasmus Karl Therkelsen Gottlieb) was of course Danish, but he must have played the odd Swedish character. Do any come to mind beyond my top-of-my-head surmising?

BTW, Louis, did you see the sheet music with El Brendel on it that I posted a link to in the Sheet Music thread? His face is included with a bunch of other stars on a piece from New Movietone Follies of 1930 (which apparently was also known as "Svenson's Big Night Out" and "Svenson's Wild Party." Svenson, of course, was played by El.)

The name of it escapes me, but what about that Vitaphone short with the man in drag as a very stupid and extraordinarily ugly swedish-ish maid?

What about Virginia Christine ? she was raised in the Scandanavian communities of Iowa but it seems she had no accent. She spoke swedish too.

How about George F. Marion as Chris Christofferson (ANNA CHRISTIE)?

~Roger

I just remembered Knute Erickson playing the blacksmith in The Deadline 1931 : he had such a strong accent!
In Shane 1953 Douglas Spencer played a swede with an accent too. There are plenty of "Swede" characters in movies!

and Lars Hanson

There was a 5-sister act called the Barrison Sisters who performed risque songs and dances. They were Lona, Sophia, Olga, Inger, and Gertrude. Some sources list them as being Danish. Gertrude made at least one film, in Germany in 1921.

John Qualen sometimes portrayed Swedes, sometimes Norwegians, and sometimes just unspecified Scandinavians. His parents were Norwegian immigrants, and in the film Knute Rocke All-American (1940), he has some actual Norwegian dialogue and speaks it very well. If memory serves, in The Prize (1963) he gets some dialogue in Swedish, playing a Stockholm hotel employee.

His fellow "Ford Company" member John Wayne portrayed Swedish sailor Ole Olsen in The Long Voyage Home (1940) and at times almost out-Brendels Brendel: "I'll yust have a yinyer beer."

In Move Over Darling (1963) Doris Day briefly poses as a Swedish masseuse and does her version of the dialect.

The character Wally Walrus in the Woody Woodpecker cartoons had a marked Swedish accent, but I'm not sure if this was consistent through all of them. Among those who provided the voice were Hans Conried, William Demarest and Paul Frees.

BTW, Louis, did you see the sheet music with El Brendel on it that I posted a link to in the Sheet Music thread? His face is included with a bunch of other stars on a piece from New Movietone Follies of 1930 (which apparently was also known as "Svenson's Big Night Out" and "Svenson's Wild Party." Svenson, of course, was played by El.)

Yes, I saw that and have a copy. The alternate title is "Svenson's Wild Party", and why the film had this title in certain markets, I have no idea. Certainly the print which survives lists the film as "New Movietone Follies of 1930".

I have never found any documentation for the alternate title of "Svenson's Big Night Out". It may be confused with the early title from his 1933 film "Olsen's Big Moment" which was "Olsen's Night Out" and has just gone down in history as lore.

The name of it escapes me, but what about that Vitaphone short with the man in drag as a very stupid and extraordinarily ugly swedish-ish maid?

That would be Billy "Swede" Hall.

His fellow "Ford Company" member John Wayne portrayed Swedish sailor Ole Olsen in The Long Voyage Home (1940) and at times almost out-Brendels Brendel: "I'll yust have a yinyer beer."

OK, I HAVE to see this role!

Thanks for all the heads-ups, I got my work cut out for me!!

If other recording artists besides Yorgi are of interest, this blog may have useful information. Some of those listed had limited distribution, I believe, being geared especially towards the Minnesota/Wisconsin Scandinavian communities.

http://scandihoovia.blogspot.com/2010/01/discography-thus-far.html

I've heard Bernie Jones ("Ole Swenson") on the Spike Jones track "Å Din Skål, Å Min Skål". He can be seen in an obscure 1953 film, Dance Hall Racket, as "Punky, the Swedish Sailor". This was also the film debut of a young Lenny Bruce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m88E8zhByIg

Has anyone seen any of the many 1910s shorts starring Wallace Beery as Sweedie, the Swedish maid? Of peripheral interest here, I suppose, but I'll bet the titles were just chockfull of "Yumpin' yiminys"!

I've seen one of the Beery "Swedie" films but I guess there are several extant.

If other recording artists besides Yorgi are of interest, this blog may have useful information. Some of those listed had limited distribution, I believe, being geared especially towards the Minnesota/Wisconsin Scandinavian communities.

http://scandihoovia.blogspot.com/2010/01/discography-thus-far.html

I've heard Bernie Jones ("Ole Swenson") on the Spike Jones track "Å Din Skål, Å Min Skål". He can be seen in an obscure 1953 film, Dance Hall Racket, as "Punky, the Swedish Sailor". This was also the film debut of a young Lenny Bruce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m88E8zhByIg

Has anyone seen any of the many 1910s shorts starring Wallace Beery as Sweedie, the Swedish maid? Of peripheral interest here, I suppose, but I'll bet the titles were just chockfull of "Yumpin' yiminys"!

Thanks, I think the two records El made for Imperial in 1950 were a direct answer to Yogi Yorgesson's success. So far only the "Yumpin' Yimminy"/"A Pinch of Snoose" disc has surfaced, still looking for the one.

I saw one of the Beery shorts at Slapsticon, thanks for reminding me!

There's also, in the silent era, Bobby Vernon as a Swedish immigrant in the short "Splash Yourself" (1927).

Louise Fazenda was a Swedish maid in "I Married a Doctor" (1936), as she was in the silent version, "Main Street," of 1923.

If I remember correctly, Charles Bickford played Lee Remick's father in "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962) with a slight Swedish or Scandinavian accent. It was very understated but extremely effective for the character, who was meant to be a hard working counterpoint to Jack Lemmon's easy-come-easy-go advertising executive. A different example of what you might be looking for, Louie?

Didn't Bickford also sport a Swedish accent in Anna Christie? Seems he also played a "Bohunk" miner in a film with Irene Dunne.

Bickford's character in Days of Wine and Roses was Norwegian, and I don't recall his accent being particularly exaggerated for comic effect, any more than Irene Dunne in I Remember Mama or other straight dramas about Scandinavian immigrants.

Louise, I suspect this may already be old news to you, but just in case - an article about the original "Yon Yohnson" character and the 19th Century play in which he first appeared:

http://sahswi.org/bits-and-pieces-of-swedish-american-history/

More on Gus Heege who wrote and starred in the Swedish immigrant trilogy Ole Olson (1889), Yon Yonson (1890) and Yenuine Yentleman (1895):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Heege

And there is the neverending "Yon Yonson", quoted by Kurt Vonnegut in "Slaughterhouse Five":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yon_Yonson

All this would have been before El's time, but these early productions and songs may still have directly or indirectly influenced him.

As a sidenote, I'm sure it's not easy for outsiders to distinguish between Swedish and Norwegian pronunciations of English, but for us natives there is a clear difference. I once read a joke, said to originate from the 1800s, that went something like this:

Sven the Swede and Lars the Norwegian enter a saloon. "What'll you have, gents?" asks the bartender. "I'll have yin, please," says Sven, and everyone in the saloon laughs. Lars says, "I must apologize for my friend here. Like me, he's lived in the States for over thirty years, and he still hasn't learned to pronounce shin correctly."

All this would have been before El's time, but these early productions and songs may still have directly or indirectly influenced him.

Interesting but I don't know how much this influenced El and his Swede routine. He originally started out as a German dialect comedian and made the switch after the sinking of the Lusitania and depictions of Germans became unpopular.

That's pretty easy to do, it's on Turner Classic Movies tomorrow at 10:00 p.m.

His fellow "Ford Company" member John Wayne portrayed Swedish sailor Ole Olsen in The Long Voyage Home (1940) and at times almost out-Brendels Brendel: "I'll yust have a yinyer beer."

OK, I HAVE to see this role!

Thanks for all the heads-ups, I got my work cut out for me!!