Biography
Bert Bernard, born Herbert James Maxwell in Boston, Massachusetts, began his showbiz career on the American vaudeville stage and in musical comedies as a juvenile dancer. He teamed up with George Bernard in 1932, changing his name to accommodate a billing with his new partner as the Bernard Brothers. In 1938, their act, which was largely about dancing, took them to Paris, France, where they appeared in the Folies Bergeres. It also took them that same year to London, England. Returning to the U.S. at the start of WWII, the act was put on hold while Bert served in the US Army Air Force, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. George, in turn, continued to perform, primarily traveling with USO shows. They resumed their association after the war, discovering, while joking around at parties, a well-received talent they had for lip-syncing and miming popular recordings of songs. Calling their routine 'Off the Record' and adding the cross-dressing feature of being in drag, they soon found their act much in demand. In 1948, they appeared in the Royal Variety Show along with Danny Kaye, Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen, i.e. Flanagan and Allen, Ted Ray and a young Julie Andrews. The French producer/director Ralph Baum cast them in his movie Paris Nights (1951), which made a big splash in Europe. They were soon briefly in Hollywood making another big splash, sometimes even literally, in Gobs and Gals (1952), but soon thereafter returned to Europe and the venues they preferred. Great favorites at the London Palladium, they performed in many of its variety shows throughout the early 1950s. During this same period, the musical theater, the Lido, in Paris, France, became for them a kind of second home. However, this very popular part of their act came to a screeching halt when record companies in the mid 1950s decided to refuse permission for them to use any copyrighted recordings. In greatly diminished form, they carried on as comic dancers until George's death in 1967. Bert, ever the trouper, returned to America where he continued to do club work for many years with another partner, who took on the name Les Bernard. For all his work on the stage and in films and as a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, i.e. Water Rat 536, a London-based charitable organization, made up primarily of show people like Bob Hope, i.e. Water Rat 772, Bert's legacy continues.
