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Will Mahoney Vaudevillian Mahoney family photo
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Will Mahoney Vaudevillian

Will Mahoney first performed on stage in 1902. He and Frank ('The Mahoney Bros') devised an act and eventually played on the vaudeville circuit. By 1914 they had toured North America and Mexico, and had visited Melbourne Australia. (He was born in Montana.)

After his brother left the act, he devised a xylophone platform, 17 ft long, on which he danced with small mallets attached to his shoes, the tunes matching his rapid patter and slapstick comedy. Wow! He allegedly earned $5500 per week by the early 1930s and was the highest earning act in the U.S.

He then moved on to the U.K. and Australia, wowing crowds and while returning to the US once in a while, eventually settled in Australia. Quite an entertainer!

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, NYWTS ... show more

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William James "Will" Mahoney

Mini-biography
Born: 1894
Died: unknown
Also in this photo: William James "Will" Mahoney at 62 years old