Dennis question

[Yhtapmys]

Saying that "Dennis and Rochester probably did not use their stage names away from the stage and that their friends and families may not have called them by these names" is hardly a blanket statement. .

Nowhere did I say it was. You mused about something and I mused on the same topic based on my experience.

Yhtapmys

[Roman]

Yhtapmys raises a good point that some obviously were more than happy with their new names, as shimp scrampi points out about Mary. Others like Dennis and Rochester appear to have accepted it more as part of the business and, at least as far as we know, didn't register any overt unhappiness about it. And still others like Lauren Bacall preferred their friends to call them by their real first names. I think I read also that Gracie called George "Natty" off-stage.

[Yhtapmys]

Here's another example from the radio column of the L.A. Times, July 25, 1936:

Sam Hearn is seriously considering dropping his trademark, “Schlepperman,” because of the growing tendency for the nom de plume to become accepted as his real name. The comedian’s billing in his first picture "Florida Special," was "Schlepperman" and now his cast name in "The Big Broadcast of 1937" is "Schleppy.”

Even in his obit in 1964, the headlines say that Schlepperman is dead, so poor Sam got stuck with it.

I'm in the radio business where some people have stage names for a variety of reasons. Some had worked in rock radio ages ago and were told they couldn't have "ethnic" names. One had the same last name as an infamous killer and didn't want people to think they were related. One took a new name because more than one co-worker couldn't pronounce his real one on the air.

At least three people I worked with changed their names to avoid confusion with other radio people. I would have likely had to change my name if I had worked on the air in the old days because my last name is the same as a certain cheap, 39-year-old violinist (though I spell mine correctly). My uncle, unfortunately, had the first name of Jack. He preferred to be called John by just about every one but family because of the inevitable and constant (and I imagine annoying) comparisons.

Yhtapmys

[Mister Kitzel]

Back in the 70's an old man came into my father's business regularly. His name was Roy Rogers. He was born with that name, used that name, and hated being asked about the actor with that name.

[Maxwell]

Back in the 70's an old man came into my father's business regularly. His name was Roy Rogers. He was born with that name, used that name, and hated being asked about the actor with that name.

I would imagine it would really irk him since Roy's real name was Leonard Slye.

[epeterd]

Well, I know how they feel. People think it's funny to ask about me being a banker because my last name is Drysdale. Very rarely I'll be asked if I'm related to Don Drysdale, but the majority of the time, if I get a comment, it has something to do with the Beverly Hillbillies. And half the time people act as if they're the first to think of it.

[Maxwell]

Reminds me of the generations of kids in my family who have had to listen to kids say, "Hickory Vickery Dock...."

[JohnM]

I got teased as a kid because my name was similar to the title character on a well known TV show.

My brother is in pop/rock radio and had to come up with a stage name for his first gig because his boss thought his real name sounded like a history professor. He's still using the stage name after 25 years and is well known by it in the town where he's worked all that time.