Эдди Лоуренс: Американский артист и «Старый Философ»

American dramatist (1919–2014)
the Welsh footballer
Eddie Lawrence (born Lawrence Eisler; March 2, 1919 – March 25, 2014) was an American monologist, actor, singer, lyricist, playwright, artist, director and television personality, whose comic creation, "The Old Philosopher," gained him a cult following for over five decades.

Born Lawrence Eisler in Brooklyn, New York, he began performing at the end of The Great Depression. As a young man, he gained a minor reputation as an original comic/raconteur who performed bizarre elocution of whimsical free verse in small clubs in the New York area as well as on the "borscht belt" circuit in the Catskills. His first confirmed radio broadcast was on Major Bowes Amateur Hour in 1943, where he did World War II themed comic impressions of Charles Boyer, Ronald Colman, Roland Young and Clem McCarthy. A preserved audio transcript of his performance was one of the selections included 16 years later on the 1959 LP Original Amateur Hour 25th Anniversary Album (UA UXL 2). On the recording, Major Bowes is heard inviting "Larry" to come out of the audience and tell us all he knows. Lawrence later moved to Paris to study painting under Fernand Léger; his paintings were signed with his birth name, Lawrence Eisler. By the early 1950s, now known as Eddie Lawrence, he continued to appear in clubs of minor reputation, honing his comic timing, while taking bit parts in the numerous live television productions then prevalent in New York. His first major stage role was in the second revival of The Threepenny Opera, which opened at the Off Broadway Theater deLys on September 30, 1955 (an earlier production, without him, lasted for 96 performances in March–May 1954). A member of the original cast, Lawrence sang the role of Macheath's henchman, Crook Finger Jack. The second deLys incarnation was more successful, running over six years, for a total of 2611 performances and finally closing on December 17, 1961. However, Lawrence stayed with it less than a year while working on the monologue which was to make his name.

In 1960 he began a six year association with Paramount's cartoon subsidiary Famous Studios, providing the voices for thirteen animated shorts, starting with Scouting for Trouble. He also wrote the stories for most of them, including a seven film series about two characters named Swifty and Shorty whom he used to recreate a number of his routines, such as Panhandling on Madison Avenue and Fix That Clock (both 1964). Ultimately, however, defining changes in the financing and distribution of mass produced short subjects, meant that neither Eddie Lawrence nor another creative talent at the studio, Ralph Bakshi could stave off the demise of the theatrical cartoon, as Famous Studios closed its doors in 1967. Eddie Lawrence's final gift for the studio was the Swifty and Shorty vehicle, Les Boys, released in January 1966. In 1994, he appeared in two episodes of Garfield and Friends as The Feline Philosopher, a parody of the Old Philosopher. Lawrence recorded his dialogue for Garfield and Friends at one of the studios where he recorded for Paramount. All of the films, except one, clocked in at 7 minutes. An extended length title, Abner the Baseball, was a 16 minute special seen in November 1961, based upon a tale which was among the tracks on The Kingdom of Eddie Lawrence LP. It is a first person account by an anthropomorphized baseball describing its experience of being hit out of Briggs Stadium by Mickey Mantle in a September 10, 1960 home run against the Detroit Tigers. Bizarre whimsy, as usual, was the order of the day. It was also in evidence in 1963's 7 Characters in Search of Eddie Lawrence (Coral 57411), his fifth and final Coral LP. It had three new "Old Philosopher" routines, including "The Lawyer's Philosopher" — "Hey there, Mouthpiece. You say you represent a man for jaywalking and they hang him? Is that what's marrin' your day, Darrow? Well, lift your head up high and sway that jury in a high baritone voice  remember — if crime didn't pay, you'd be out of work!"

Concurrent with his work on the Famous Studios cartoons, for a 13 month period from September 1963 to October 1964, baby boomers who lived within reach of New York City's television stations, also had the opportunity to see Eddie Lawrence Monday through Friday afternoons on independent station WPIX Channel 11 which, along with another New York independent, WNEW Channel 5 was, during the 1950s and 1960s, the station with the greatest number of "kiddie shows" on its broadcast schedule. The management of WPIX realized that Lawrence's monologues were popular with adolescent boys who were the core audience for The Three Stooges two reelers shown, at the time, nationwide by television stations which considered them children's programming. Long time WPIX children's favorite "Officer" Joe Bolton relinquished his Three Stooges post in favor of hosting Dick Tracy cartoons and Eddie Lawrence was invited to step in as the half hour program's host. His daily recitations of "Old Philosopher" monologues and other comedy routines, most of which were only tested on the show and never committed to record, built him a faithful and dedicated audience and made him a cult figure.