Lester Allen

Lester Allen was an American actor, dancer, singer, and comedian. Born in Utica, New York, he began in entertainment as a boy acrobat and later worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus in the early 1900s. He then performed in minstrel shows, burlesque, and vaudeville, and made his Broadway debut in 1907 in Miss Pocahontas. During the 1910s and early 1920s he won success as a dancer and acrobat in revues, including George White's Scandals and the Ziegfeld Follies, and he mixed comedy into those performances. In the 1920s and early 1930s he starred in Broadway musical comedies such as Florida Girl, Top Speed, and Shady Lady. He moved into films, appearing in more than 15 from 1941 to 1950. His roles included Judy Garland's uncle in Vincente Minnelli's The Pirate (1948) and Geoduck in the Ma and Pa Kettle series, where he teamed with Chief Yowlachie. He died in 1949.