Oscar Shaw (born Oscar Schwartz; October 11, 1887 – March 6, 1967) was a stage and screen actor and singer, remembered primarily today for his role as Bob Adams in the first film starring the Marx Brothers, The Cocoanuts (1929).
He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. United States census records show that Shaw was already working as a stage actor in 1910, while still living with his mother, brother, and stepfather.[1]
In 1913, Shaw married Mary Louise Givler (a native of Carlisle, Pennsylvania), in England, where they both appeared in a show called the "First American Ragtime Review" at the London Opera House. The couple lived in the Village of Great Neck Estates until 1937, when they moved to the Thomaston section of Great Neck, first in a private home. They later lived in an apartment building on Welwyn Road.
Shaw sold his home on 9 Myrtle Drive in March 1937, two months after he had settled a lawsuit with an actress, Florence Roberts (stage name: Etna Ross), who brought a $50,000 lawsuit against Shaw, alleging that he had thrown her down a staircase while the two worked together in a road company. It is not known whether the sale of his home was related to the settlement of the lawsuit.
In 1923, he appeared as Bastien in the play with music One Kiss.
In 1924, he appeared in two shows: as Laddie Munn in Dear Sir and in The Music Box Revue, with book, music, and lyrics by Irving Berlin. As a duet with Grace Moore, he sang the famous Berlin song "All Alone", which was not written for the revue but interpolated into the show. The same year he appeared in the film The Great White Way.
In 1927, he appeared as Gerald Brooks in The Five O'Clock Girl, with Mary Eaton; and in 1929, he starred as Bob Adams in the film version of the Marx Brothers’ musical The Cocoanuts, again with Mary Eaton. Together they sang the Irving Berlin song "When My Dreams Come True".
In 1930, he starred as Todd Addison in the last De Sylva, Brown and Henderson musical, Flying High, with Bert Lahr, in which he sang "Thank Your Father" and "Happy Landing".
