Smith & Dale

Smith & Dale were the quintessential vaudeville team. For over 70 years they partnered to bring laughter to their audiences. Although the team in Neil Simon's play and film "The Sunshine Boys" were roughly modeled after them, Smith & Dale never argued, and never broke up.

Charles Marks (born September 6, 1882) and Joseph Sultzer (born February 16, 1884) grew up in the Jewish ghettos of New York City. Many of the fine comic performers of vaudeville, radio and movies came from the same place in the same era: Gallagher & Shean, George Burns, Eddie Cantor, Georgie Jessel and The Marx Brothers to name a few. In 1898, two stagestruck young men met at the corner of Eldridge and Delancey Streets in New York. Unfortunately, they both were on bicycles at the time (the huge front wheel-tiny rear wheel type). After they dusted themselves off and became acquainted, they decided to work together. Early in their partnership, a local printer was selling (at a discount, because they had broken up) business cards advertising a comedy-dance team named Smith & Dale. So, Joe Sultzer became Joe Smith, and Charlie Marks became Charlie Dale.

In 1901 or '02, they joined two singing comedians (Irving Kaufman-later a successful crooner-and Harry Godwin) and called their act the Avon Comedy Four. It became one of the most successful comedy turns in Vaudeville. For over 15 years the Avon Comedy Four were top of the bill including on Broadway, debuting in 1916 in a show called "Why Worry?". By 1919, the act had run its course, and the Four broke up.

Smith & Dale took up where the Avon Comedy Four left off, playing Broadway, vaudeville (including the ultimate, the Palace Theatre), and making some short comedy films in the late 20's during the Talkie boom. However, Smith & Dale relied on verbal interplay and timing, and worked slowly in making changes to their act. This meant that their material could be exhausted by a short film, and they never became big film stars.

During the 20's, one of the sketches they performed became, like "Who's On First" for Abbott and Costello, Smith & Dale's signature. "Doctor Kronkheit and His Only Living Patient" is truly one of the comedic gems of the 20th century. The sketch, involving a nurse ("I'm his nurse." "What! The doctor sick too?"), a doctor ("Are you the doctor?" "I'm the doctor." "I'm dubious." "Hello, Mr. Dubious."), and a patient ("It's terrible. I walk around all night." "Ah! You're a somnambulist!" "No, I'm a night watchman."). The patient has a sore neck ("Well, Mister, sit down and open your neck.") ("You should go to Mt. Clements for rheumatism." "Is that a good place?" "That's where I got mine. You see..."). There is an examination ([the doctor spits] "What are you doing?" "I'm sterilizing the instruments.") ("Be careful with yourself there, doctor..."). Finally, the diagnosis ("My opinion is you need eyeglasses."), which is not accepted by the patient ("You owe me $10." "$10!! For what?!?" "For my advice!" "Doctor, here's $2, take it: That's MY advice!").

Smith & Dale worked on Broadway and Off-Broadway, on radio, night clubs, and television variety shows until Charlie Dale's death on November 16, 1971. This brought to an end 73 years of entertainment history, but not Joe Smith's career. He continued to work, mainly on TV sitcoms in guest appearances, until his passing on February 22, 1981, at the age of 97.