The 14th of 17 children of a French Canadian father (Charles Goucher) and an Irish mother (Bridget Mary Dowling), Joseph Nelson Goucher reportedly "feared his surname was 'too French', and would keep him from working with people who were not", according to a niece, Bea Whitman. Thus, he adopted his mother's maiden name to form his professional surname, Eddie Dowling. He appeared in the Broadway Ziegfeld Follies in 1918 and 1920. He also hosted the The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, a radio show broadcast on CBS in the 1920s and 1930s.
