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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