[Deathwatch] Charles Eaton, Member of Famous Theatre Family, 94

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Charles Eaton, Member of Famous Theatre Family, Dies at 94

By Robert Simonson
23 Aug 2004

Charles Eaton, one of two surviving members of a once famous family of
stage performers, died Aug. 22 in Norman, OK, the New York Times
reported. He was 94.

Mr. Eaton was the most important performing male member of the clan
once referred to as "The Seven Little Eatons." The most prominent
siblings were Charlie and his sisters Doris, Mary and Pearl. All
appeared, at one time or another, in "The Ziegfeld Follies." (Only
Doris Eaton Travis survives Mr. Eaton).

"Florenz Ziegfeld, to us and our family, was just a delightful person,"
said Travis, in an interview with Playbill On-Line earlier this year.
"My sisters Mary and Pearl, my brother Charlie and I all worked for
him, and he treated us just beautifully, almost like a father... My
brother Charlie originated the character of Andy Hardy on stage."

He achieved the latter distinction in a 1928 Broadway play called
Skidding which ran for 472 performances?Mr. Eaton's biggest hit.

Charles Eaton made his Broadway debut in 1918 in Mother Carey's
Chickens. He was seven years old at the time. He would act in 10
Broadway shows in total, including The Awakening, The Ziegfeld Follies
of 1921 (in which he shared the stage with W.C. Fields), A Royal
Fandango (with Ethel Barrymore), Peter Pan, Incubator, Tommy, Growing
Pains and Lady Luck. He also performed at vaudeville's storied Palace
Theatre; toured in plays like Don't Count Your Chickens with Mary
Boland; and acted in a dozen, mainly forgettable films in the late '20s
and early '30s, the most famous being "The Ghost Talks," 20th Century
Fox's first talking picture.

The Eatons' heyday was short. Offers from both Broadway and Hollywood
dried up with the arrival of the Depression. Charlie's last four
Broadway outings ran less than 100 performances combined. He didn't
handle the reversal in fortunes well. Mr. Eaton, like his sisters Mary
and Pearl, battled alcoholism.

Long after his showbiz career was over, Mr. Eaton served as a captain
in the Army Air Corps in Foggia, Italy. Once, when dining with fellow
officers at a headquarters hotel, composer Irving Berlin walked in with
a couple of generals. When his companions refused to believe his boast
that he knew Berlin, he walked up to the composer's table. While the
general shot him disapproving looks, Berlin hopped up and shouted,
"Charlie, how the hell are you?"

In 1940, he went into business with his sister Doris, who had gone into
business with a thriving Arthur Murray Dance Studios franchise in
Detroit. The franchise eventually grew to 18 studios. After some years
living on his own in Detroit, he moved in 2000 to Ms. Travis' ranch in
Oklahoma.

"Charlie never lost that sense of childhood wonder and discovery,
nurtured by his early life in the fantasyland of the Broadway theatre,"
Ms. Travis remembered in his memoir "The Days We Danced." "I surmise
that he still thinks that all the world is a stage and that we?the
people he deals with every day?are the somewhat peculiar characters
playing around on it."