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Maurice Max Broida- What??

“Maurice Max Broida”- World War II ‘Old Man’s Draft” registration card, via National Archives and Record Administration/Ancestry.com partnership for public records.

BROIDA Family (Click for Family Tree)

Our beloved Max Broida, AKA Buster Brodie (1886-1948), should never surprise me- but somehow he always does. So it seems he is still entertaining people…

This was an exciting find- we had found no World War I or II draft cards for Max despite searching for years. The sudden appearance of this card was actually more than surprising– astoundingly, somehow we have had his name wrong all these years??? His real first name was… “Maurice”???

No, we have never seen that on a census, voter’s list, in a movie set of credits or database. No family records known to us show his name as anything other than ‘Max Broida’ or ‘Buster Brodie.’ No portrait has that name on the back, even the lovely portrait he shopped around to studios that had all his details written on the back, by Max/Buster himself.

We know this is “our” Max/Buster because the handwriting matches and he listed Joseph J. Broida in Pittsburgh as the person who would always know his address. Joseph was the oldest of the seven Broida brothers, and the address Max gave for him matches up with Joseph’s own WW II draft card for 1942 and the 1940 census. The home address Max gave, 5640 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood, California, is a known residence for him. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was listed as his birthplace- check- and his birthdate as Oct 11, 1885. Oops- 1886 is the year listed in most of his records, and there was no advantage re: the draft for him to make himself a year older. (If you are noticing the math doesn’t work, good math skills, but Max- er, Maurice, er, Buster- registered in April of 1942, so had not yet had his October birthday when he would turn 57.)

On the back of the draft card his height was listed as 4′ 9½” and weight 122 lbs.- “our” Max was a small person, with his height 4′ 10″ and weight 107 lbs on the back of his studio portrait, when he was much younger. The box for “Bald” was checked, and that fit our Max perfectly, since he often billed himself as, “The Hairless Man.”

The Registrar of the local draft board in Los Angeles, California would have been there as Max completed the card, and there were penalties for falsifying information, so it seems that Max- er, Maurice, er, Buster- would have filled the card out truthfully.

Even without all this cross-checking, it so obviously has to be “our” guy- at the very top of the card, Max- er, Maurice, er, Buster- added, “Known as Buster Brodie.”

He also listed his mailing address as being the same as his residence, but then added “Buster Brodie (for mail).”

We have one last section that confirms it all:

“Maurice Max Broida”- occupation information on his World War II ‘Old Man’s Draft” registration card, via National Archives and Record Administration/Ancestry.com partnership for public records.

This confirmation of occupation, plus he also signed his name as “M Max Broida” in addition to Buster Brodie.

And then, not one to stop researching, a look at the Social Security record for Max- er, Maurice, er, Buster- noted his birth year as 1885. So it is more likely that year was correct as compared to census information, etc.

And then another surprise. Under the Social Security Applications and Claims Index on Ancestry.com, the transcribed notes (no original images) stated that in Jan 1937, his name was listed as Buster Brodie- and also, Maurice Max Broida.

Well, this skeptic is sold- nice to meet you, Maurice Max Broida, AKA Buster Brodie. I am off to review yet again those censuses and voter registrations that listed a “Max M. Brodie” [middle initial possibly for Maurice?] living in Los Angeles. We have not found other persons in the census in that area that could be Maurice-Max-Buster, so have wondered for years whether that salesman job was the pay-the-rent persona of Maurice/Max/Buster. Stay tuned!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Various draft cards, censuses, city directories, etc., found at Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, etc. See previous posts on Max Broida for more details.

 

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Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
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Buster Brodie- The Family Clown, Literally!

“Buster Broidie”, AKA Max Broida, as a clown. Date and other details of this image unknown. From the “Broida Family Collection circa 1850-2009” at the Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library in St. Louis, MO. Kindly used with the permission of the family and the library.

BROIDA Family (Click for Family Tree)

Regular readers will note that this is yet another post about Max Broida, who used the stage name “Buster Brodie” for his work in vaudeville and the movies.

Max has been interesting to research- from a character that some family members were not even sure existed, we have learned that he ran away as a teen (or maybe younger) to join the circus. He likely learned the ropes and jokes as a clown there, and honed those skills and his comedy timing when he moved on to vaudeville. Next were silent movies and then the ‘talkies.’ Always a bit player and never truly the star, we have been surprised that Max has lived on in so many hearts. We have heard from movie historians and people who bought his picture at an antique store just because they liked it, and then they sent it on to the family via this blog. Max is included in books and images sold through ebay, etc.- he is an important part of the cult following of the 1932 film, “Island of the Lost Souls.” And we know he is one of the Flying Monkeys in “The Wizard of Oz” though it is hard to tell which, so his work remains as well.

At only 4’9-1/2″ and ~120 lbs. himself, Buster would not have been as intimidating to little kids- he was not too far from kid-sized! He probably had little trouble being the last squeezed into the clown car!

We don’t know if Max ever had a wife or children, so the above image is especially sweet.

To read more details about Max, click here.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. A current as-of-this-post listing of Max Broida/Buster Brodie articles. Please use the search box in the future to see any added. — https://heritageramblings.net/?s=buster+brodie. 

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2021 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about the copyright or use of “Heritage Ramblings” blog material.

John Zelig Broida and Fannie Rubenstein Broida in Tel Aviv

John Zelig Jacob Karklinsky Broida and his second wife, Fannie Rubenstein Cohen Broida, in Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1927. (Sorry for quality- this is an older photocopy.)

Broida Family

John Zelig Jacob Broida was born in Eišiškės, Lithuania, around March, 1857. He was the first of the Karklinsky family to immigrate to the United States, sometime during 1874-1875. We are not sure if he arrived in New York or Pennsylvania, but he changed the family name to “Broida.” (It was not changed at Ellis Island by officials- Ellis Island had not yet been built, he is not listed at its predecessor Castle Garden, and the family story is that John chose ‘Broida’ himself.) John may have lived in New York for a while and worked as a ‘rag picker,’ collecting and possibly processing the rags before selling them to a company. He moved on and settled in the Pittsburgh PA area. We don’t know if he married his first wife, Sarah Gitel Frank, in New York or in Pittsburgh, as we have not found any marriage license, but they married sometime probably in 1881. She too was born in Lithuania (around Nov 1859), and we do not know if the two knew each other in Lithuania, if it was an arranged marriage, or if John and Gitel met in New York or Pittsburgh. We think we have found Gitel’s immigration and arrival to the US on 13 July 1881 in New York, so the marriage would have been after this time, since she traveled under her maiden name, but before the birth of their first surviving son, Joseph Jacob Broida, who was born 15 May 1882 in Pittsburgh.

John’s ‘rag’ business was stepped up in Pittsburgh, because he became a “jobber of notions” and then dry goods. He eventually sold “men’s furnishings”- including fine men’s clothing, a profession followed by a number of his sons. John and Gitel had 7 sons who survived into adulthood, plus one son and two other children who did not survive their infancy or young childhood. (If the 1890 US Federal Census had survived, we might know more about these children.)

Gitel succumbed to tuberculosis in 1901, and the children went to live with relatives, some in other cities such as St. Louis, around the time of her death. On 14 April 1904, John applied for a marriage license in Jefferson County, Ohio, (about 45 miles west of Pittsburgh) to Fannie Robinstein/Rubenstein; she had previously been married to Jacob Cohen and they had a daughter, Ethel (1892-1973). Upon the marriage the Broida household finally added a girl, this daughter Ethel, to the household, and some of the sons may have come back to live with John and Fannie, since the youngest was just seven at the marriage.

John “Zelig” Broida and his second wife, Fannie (Rubenstein) Broida, 2 November 1924, possibly taken in Palestine.

John’s granddaughter, Gertrude Broida Cooper, stated that he always spoke with a thick accent. John yearned to be a part of the new state of Palestine, to be with his own people. The last record we have of John as a resident in the US is a St. Louis, Missouri City Directory for 1917. John and Fannie emigrated to Palestine in September of 1920. John was 63 that year, and starting over- again. Fannie was 46.

We recently ‘found’ the above wonderful image of John and “Auntie”- most probably Fannie Rubenstein Cohen Broida- taken in 1927 in Tel Aviv. It suggests that she was called “Auntie” by John’s sons, although we do not know who labeled the photograph. This is a poor, older photocopy of the actual photo, so we would be very interested in getting a good scan of this photo if anyone out there reading has an actual photo, or a better photocopy. (Please contact us!)

John returned for a visit to the US on 10 June 1930, arriving from Jaffa, Palestine, on the ship Alesia. He appeared to be traveling alone, as we find no mention of Fannie on that passenger list. (Maybe they could not afford passage for two? Or was she ill so stayed in Palestine? She died on 14 Jan 1933.) The famous-within-the-family ‘seven brothers’ photo was taken on John’s U.S. visit.

John Jacob/Zelig Broida and his seven surviving sons. From left- front sitting- Max Broida, standing- Phillip Broida, Joseph J. Broida, Morris Broida, Louis Broida, Theodore “Dave” Broida, Harold Broida. Sitting on right, with beard- John J. “Zelig” Broida.

John returned to Palestine and Fannie. She died in 1933, and he on 9 Nov 1938. Both are buried in Israel’s Mount of Olives Cemetery, not far from each other.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Thank you to the dear aunt who shared this treasure of an image after her pandemic cleaning unearthed it!
  2. “Tombstone Tuesday: Fannie & John Broida”
     https://heritageramblings.net/2019/02/12/tombstone-tuesday-fannie-john-broida/
  3. Many other Heritage Ramblings posts tell the stories of John, Gitel, and Fannie Broida and their children. You can use the search box on the left side of the website to learn more. Also, please keep in mind that older posts have not always been updated, so use the more recent posts as the most current data if some is conflicting.

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2020 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
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Tuesday’s Tip: Elsie Janis- Not Always Where Expected

Elsie Janis from cover of "My Yankee Doodle Girl," a song from "The Slim Princess."
Elsie Janis from cover of “My Yankee Doodle Girl,” sheet music for a song from “The Slim Princess,” 1910.

 

Beerbower Family, Helbling Family (Click to go to tree)

You never know where one’s genealogical ramblings might lead, or where you might find your ancestors, so it is smart to keep an open mind.

While working on cleaning up e-files on my desktop after some marathon research sessions, I decided to listen to D. Joshua Taylor’s presentation at RootsTech/FGS 2015. He has a circus performer in his family so was talking about Cyndi’s List, the genealogical wonder that was created and is maintained by just one woman. Cyndi has a listing for ‘Entertainment’ so I jumped on the webpage and started searching for relatives who had been in the entertainment industry: Max Broida/Max Brodie (his stage name) and Elsie Janis (Beerbower). No hits for Max but Elsie came up under “Vaudeville Homepage,” which has a transcription of acts from the “Manitoba Free Press” in, surprisingly, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, for 1913. I never expected to find Elsie there! According to the description of the website on Cyndi’s List, Winnipeg was part of the main vaudeville circuit for North America, so it does make sense when we understand the context. I had never thought to look at Canadian newspapers!

At the Winnipeg “Orpheum,” acts during the week of June 2-7, 1913 included:

“Miss Orford and Her Wonderful Elephants is the headline act. The finale consists in the sensational rescue of Miss Orford from a burning building.”

[Wonder if they used real fire? How exotic to have tropical elephants in the far north!]

“Lamberti gives impersonations of famous composers, living and dead. Not only does he assume the guise of each, but he plays compositions from their pens.”

[Edutainment…]

“Ida O’Day in her original songalogue.”

[ A ‘songalogue,’ as you may surmise from the compound word, takes lyrics- sometimes from multiple songs- and instead of singing them, they are spoken and/or acted out. You can find YouTube videos of people doing that today. Ida was actually Ann (O’Day) Maples, who billed herself as ”Ida O’Day, the Merry Musical Maid,.’ She performed at the height of vaudeville, and spent 20 years on the stage; she gave it up when she married. Ann died at age 106 in 1987.]

“Foreign music halls have long been glad to welcome Carl and Lotty, a pair of most original eccentric dancers. Their work is not so grotesque as it is graceful, however, in spite of its general designation.”

[Interesting description of their dance style. They might have done very well on today’s programs such as “America’s Got Talent.”]

“There will be a new set of Edison Talking pictures, orchestra and photo plane.”

[‘Edison talking pictures’ are of course movies, but I have been unable to determine what ‘photo plane’ is in this context. It is a technical term in photography- “The plane in which a film or plate lies at the moment of exposure.” but it is still unclear as to what that meant inside the theater.]

And finally, here is what our Elsie, at age 24, was presenting:

“Elsie Janis presents three protegés of hers, in a sketch written, staged and rehearsed by herself. The trio consists of Val Harris, Rita Roland and Lou Holtz in a sketch called “Three in One.”

Elsie was a writer for stage and later screen, as well as a song-writer, comedienne, and actor.

See also “Wishful Wednesday: Elsie Janis.”

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Cyndi’s List- Thank you, Cyndi, for all your hard work for so many years! http://www.cyndislist.com

2) Vaudeville Homepage: http://members.shaw.ca/winnipegvaudeville/.

3) “Stage star ANN O’DAY MAPLES, 106, who toured the United…”, Orlando Sentinel, September 5, 1987- http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1987-09-05/news/0140320099_1_vaudeville-oday-john-d

4) “My Yankee Doodle Girl” copyright 1910 by Chappell & Co. Ltd. Sheet music in collection of the author.

5) “Wishful Wednesday: Elsie Janis.” http://heritageramblings.net/2014/08/27/wishful-wednesday-elsie-janis/

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
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Tuesday’s Tip: Max Broida’s Head

Max Broida, circa 1894, so about age 9; cropped from a family picture.
Max Broida, circa 1894, so about age 8-9; cropped from a family picture.

Broida Family (Click for Family Tree)

Tuesday’s Tip:

Look at data- and images- in context.

Look at data- and images- in sequence.

And look again.

 

We have had the pictures in this post for many years, and the new image we found on eBay of Max Broida makes a total of five (if you don’t count his film images). It wasn’t until after writing the Sunday post, however, and looking at the other four images we have of Max, that a new thought presented itself. So make sure you revisit old data and pictures periodically, since you have new information (hopefully) that will help you understand more about an ancestor.

We know that the picture posted Sunday of Max was most likely taken around 1924, because that is when he lived at 1020 W. Pico St. in Los Angeles per the City Directory, and that is the same as what he wrote on the back of the picture. Max/Buster signed himself as, “The Hairless Man”- had he performed in the circus under that guise? In vaudeville? He certainly had many Hollywood roles where his bald pate featured prominently.

Well, then what do you think of the two images in this post? Although they have been posted before, it didn’t click until now that Max had hair in these images. Max apparently was not born without hair, unless they had purchased a wig for him as a boy in the above picture.

Lucy and Dave's Wedding
Max Broida at the wedding of his brother Theodore “Dave”Broida and Lucy Shatzke, 20 Aug 1916. Family photo.

Max was born in 1885 or 1886, so was about 30-31 when his brother Dave got married. Again, unless that was a wig in the above picture, he had hair- receding quickly for a young man, but nevertheless, he had hair.

What was Max doing and where was he living in 1916, when the wedding picture was taken? We have found a ‘Max. M. Brodie’ in Los Angeles, age 30, noted as a salesman and  Republican on the Voter’s Rolls. He was living at 651 W. 42nd Place. Is this ‘our’ Max? We posted previously about this mystery and still cannot determine if these are two different men or just one with an alter ego, or in the process of becoming an actor. Having the same address on his publicity photo as what we expect might be a different man is now quite puzzling.

BROIDA_Max-as Buster Brodie_portrait_reducedWill Max’s slightly-more-than-Mona-Lisa-smile in 1924 give us more of a clue?

Here’s Max on 25 July 1930:

John Jacob/Zelig Broida and his seven sons. From left- front sitting- Max Broida, standing- Phillip Broida, Joseph J. Broida, Morris Broida, Louis Broida, Theodore Broida, Harold Broida. Sitting on right- John J. "Zelig" Broida.
John Jacob/Zelig Broida and his seven sons. From left- front sitting- Max Broida, standing- Phillip Broida, Joseph J. Broida, Morris Broida, Louis Broida, Theodore Broida, Harold Broida. Sitting on right- John J. “Zelig” Broida. Taken 24 July 1930 when John “Zelig” Broida returned from Israel for a visit. Family photo.

Sure hope there are some California family members out there who can give us a bit more insight into the life of Max Broida and/or Buster Brodie.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Use our search box to find other posts about Max Broida/ Buster Brodie.
  2. Photos from the Family Treasure Chest.

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.