Began Performing for Coins in Bowery : Vaudevillian Eddie Parkes Dies at 92

Eddie Parkes, a singer and dancer whose career spanned both the beginning and the demise of vaudeville, died Wednesday at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center at age 92.

He had begun performing at age 5 when he, Jimmy Durante and Irving Berlin would compete for nickels and dimes on New York’s Bowery.

The son of an Irish actor who deserted Parkes, his mother and his five brothers and sisters, the young hoofer managed to support his family with the coins and occasional bill he earned at Pelham’s Cafe on Pell Street. There he and Durante and a singing waiter named Israel Baline (Irving Berlin) sang and danced such tunes of the day as “I’m the Kid That Built the Pyramid” and “The Lobster Is the Wise Guy After All.”

Earning $300 a Week at 15

Parkes became a member of Gus Edwards’ troupe of young entertainers, which also included Eddie Cantor and George Jessel, and by age 15 was earning $300 a week at Oscar Hammerstein’s Victoria Theatre. From there he moved to the national vaudeville circuits and worked theaters around the country until films eventually doomed that form of entertainment.

He and Jackie Coogan’s father, John, were behind the unsuccessful formation of a union for vaudevillians, which resulted in Parkes’ being blacklisted for two years. He returned to eventually perform his Lancashire Clog dance and showcase his booming singing voice at New York’s Palace Theater, the mecca for vaudevillians.

He also appeared in the last Ziegfeld Follies--1943 with Milton Berle--and in 1981 made his final commercial appearance in the film “In God We Trust,” in which he played an old man tap-dancing across country. His first picture had been in 1902, a Vitagraph comedy with John Bunny.

Parkes also appeared occasionally at the Variety Arts Club in Los Angeles and in June ascended his last stage and danced before members of the Hollywood Comedy Club.

There are no known survivors. A memorial service is scheduled Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood.