Actors'
Colony
at Bluffton
1908 - 1938
_____________

Buster Keaton
and the
Muskegon Connection

Dick Gardner & Anna Revere

Dick Gardner
Born:  Unknown
Died: Unknown
Anna Walsh Revere
Born:  Unknown
Died: Unknown
     Dick Gardner and his wife, Anne Walsh, joined the Actors' Colony around the same time as his brother "Happy Jack" Gardner.  Unfortunately, little is known about this branch of the Gardner family.
    Along with his brothers Jack and Dan, Dick appeared in a 1897 touring performance of "Hogan's Alley," a farce-comedy built around characters from a single panel comic created by Richard Felton Outcault that beared the same name. Depicting events that take place in a fictional slum, young Gardner received rave reviews for his performance as "The Yellow Kid," a character in the comic.
(Outcault's Yellow Kid character would later explode in popularity as a separate comic and as the first merchandised comic character,earning Outcault recognition as the father of the comic strip.)
 Anne Walsh was born in Ireland, educated in England along with her two sisters Nellie and Mamie Walsh, then came to America. She performed in a vaudeville act called the Revere Sisters with her sister Nellie.
     Gardner and Walsh, (using her stage name, Revere) hit the road annually, dancing, performing original songs and bits of comedy on the stages of the vaudeville circuit.  Dick receiving high praise for his abilities with a banjo and a steel guitar, his comic cut-ups earned hardy laughs according to many reviews.
  
Dick Gardner and Anna Revere    The act continued touring the act with rather generic titles like "True Variety", "Bits of Vaudeville" and "Bits of Variety" into the 1920s.
      Like the Keaton's, Dick Gardner had a passion for baseball and his talented team, christened "Dickie Gardner's Colts" took the field against numerous Muskegon area sandlot squad, as well as pick-up teams from within the Colony.
Thank you Claire Hooker - great niece of Anna Walsh Revere!
   
 

     "Hogan's Alley" will be at the Lyceum Theater this week with the well-known Irish comedians. Gilmore & Leonard, as the principal tenants. One of the chief characters is the Yellow Kid. The author of this prodigy had a hand in fitting him for the stage, and in this performance he is described as the only and original article.
     As the other familiar characters of the alley are introduced, and they get into the
snarls and wrangles that are to be expected in such a neighborhood. Gilmore and Leonard are old vaudeville favorites, and in their advancement they have not left any of their entertaining powers behind them. The scenery in the alley is a characteristic one and shows that place up in all its turbulent glory. The entire three acts comprise a collection of entertaining specialties by clever people; and those who enjoy fun, and plenty of It. will certainly enjoy "Hogan's Alley."
     In addition to furnishing plenty of fun In the first two acts, an opportunity afforded the stars In the final act to Introduce their well-known specialty. The others of the company are all clever entertainers, and include the Gardner Brothers, Jack, Dan and Dick, musical artists. Dick Gardner, who plays the part of the Yellow Kid, has made an emphatic hit. In his drum-major specialty in the last act he is compelled to respond to four encores.

     Other interesting specialties are contributed by W. J. Hagan, who possesses and excellent tenor voice; Joseph J. Conion, singer and dancer; the Shirley Sisters, song and dance artists;  Leslie & Maivers, singers and dancers, and the Urline Sisters, duettists.  “Hogan’s Alley” was constructed for the fun-loving public.  Its plot being only to please and no farce company traveling has received more liberal prestige that “Hogan’s Alley.”  It is bright, up to date and within the keeping of the times.

For more on Hogan's Alley and The Yellow kid, please visit:
 
The R. F. Outcault Society's Yellow Kid Site