- Born
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- Birth nameRobert Waltrip Short
- Bobby Short was an attraction at Manhattan's Cafe Carlyle for three decades (he doubtless got his greatest exposure there in a scene from Woody Allen's film Hannah et ses soeurs (1986)). Short is the quintessential New Yorker, the Fred Astaire of saloon singers, an international icon of style and glamour.- IMDb mini biography by: anonymous
- A Newsweek review once stated, "He is an easily acquired taste -- like champagne and caviar." And so he was. The hallmark of cabaret sophistication and intimate entertainment, husky-toned Bobby Short was one of a kind. Deemed a child prodigy, he started singing and playing the piano in the mid 30s at an early age in vaudeville houses, cocktail lounges and bars, promoted as a "miniature King of Swing".
Born Robert Waltrip Short to a musical family on September 15, 1924, in Danville, Illinois, he was the ninth of ten children. Playing piano by ear at age 4, he was singing Duke Ellington standards at upper-class parties by age 9. Discovered quickly by talent agents, he was ushered out to perform decked out in little white tails à la Cab Calloway. Bobby moved to New York in 1937 (age 13) and became a nightclub sensation at such hot spots as the Apollo Theatre despite being criticized for catering to white audiences. He returned to Danville, however, to finish his education, but started performing again following high school graduation.
Avoiding the boogie-woogie rage, he polished up his chic repertoire of Ellington, Noël Coward, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, and the brothers George and Ira Gershwin during the war years. He finally earned his big break in 1948 with a three-year stint at the Cafe Gala on L.A.'s Sunset Strip, which he considered his 'saloon' years. The grand master interpretor of the "Great American Song" grew to legendary status equipped with a smooth charm, breezy elegance, infectious good cheer and unrestrained joie de vivre. Bobby recorded more than a dozen albums and received three Grammy nominations in his life time, including one for his "Late Night at the Cafe Carlyle", the hotel where he reigned supreme for more than three decades (from 1968).
On camera, Bobby was a unbilled guest singer ("Goin' Home Train") in the Fox musical Call Me Mister (1951) starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey. He went on to appear in guest cameos in a handful of films, including a sequence set at the Cafe Carlyle in Woody Allen's Hannah et ses soeurs (1986). He also played the support part of Buddy in the film Blue Ice (1985) starring Michael Caine as a former spy-turned-jazz club owner. In addition, he offered the title tune in the film Sauvages (1972). He would later enjoy singing in a long-running TV commercial for Revlon's Charlie perfume. In 2000, the Library of Congress designated Bobby a "Living Legend", a recognition established as part of its bicentennial celebration.
Upon his death of leukemia at age 80, on March 21, 2005, in Manhattan's Presbyterian Hospital, America lost one of its "last bastions of nighttime society". Never married, he was survived by his adopted son, Ronald Bell, and his brother, Reginald Short. Bobby couldn't retire and performed practically up to the end, once emphatically asking, "If I don't work, what do I do?".- IMDb mini biography by: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- In the 1950s, Cole Porter heard Short play his work, and - although badly crippled - made his way across the room at the Carlyle to thank him personally. On the 100th anniversary of Porter's birth, the family presented Short with their 'You're the Top Award' for his outstanding contributions to the composer's legend.
- He was a classmate with Dick Van Dyke.
- Performed at the White House for decades, entertaining the Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Clinton administrations.
- Close friends included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Gloria Vanderbilt, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Merv Griffin Stephen Sondheim, and Carroll O'Connor.
- He was instrumental in spearheading the construction of the Ellington Memorial in his beloved New York City.
- A young man told me, 'How dare you insult your race by not singing the blues?' I still get feedback about that. I'm a 76-year-old black man living in a white society; I've gone through the medley. I'd like to think my legacy included having done something positive to help eliminate the problems between races. I never let racism into the core of me.
- I was a black performer seated at the piano singing songs from Broadway shows. There were no dos and don'ts. I had the freedom to be myself.
- I go back to what I heard Marian Anderson say once: 'First a song has to be beautiful.' However 'beautiful' covers a wide range of things. I have to admire a song's structure and what it's about. But I also have to determine how I can transfer my affection for a song to an audience. I have to decide whether I can put it across.
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