Who is Shirley Herman?

[Yhtapmys]

I've combed through Laura's books and I can find no mention of this woman.

This is from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 23, 1944

Shirley Herman Held Over at the Trelon
Shirley Herman, comedienne, has been held over for a second week at the East Liberty Trelon as the headline attraction in the floor show. Miss Sherman, known to radio fans as "Mrs. Schlepperman" was formerly featured on Jack Benny's program, and she shares honors at the Trelons with the Seldens, comedy juggling team.

I've found her listed on a show on an obscure NYC station in the early '30s as a singer, and then on "Professional Parade" on the NBC Blue network in the mid '30s but not much else.

Yhtapmys

[JohnM]

Here's another brief mention from the Grosse Pointe Review, June 4, 1942:

"Mrs. Schlepperman" At Club Stevadora

Shirley, Herman, the Mrs. Schlepperman of radio fame, opens this week as the featured star of the Club Stevadora show. Appearing with her are Harry Bardell, juggling expert, the Two Kays, skating whirlwinds; Jack O'Neill, Irish tenor; and the DeRoy glamour girls. Tiny Herman, crown prince of comedy, is back for another week as emcee.

http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/digitize/n ... -06-04.pdf

[shimp scrampi]

Interesting mystery JohnM! I've got no answers but here are a couple of spitball ideas -

1. Maybe Sam Hearn's real-life wife? Anyone know more about his biography?

2. I don't remember Schlepperman or Kitzel's wife ever appearing on the show ... weren't they more "Carlton the Doorman" kind of characters, referred to but never appearing? I admittedly don't know the Jell-O years as well as I do the Lucky Strikes, so maybe Schlep's wife did pay a visit. But you're right, nothing seems to show up in 39 Forever, unless she was using another name that would be referenced in the scripts.

3. "That's showbiz?" Maybe this woman was just trying to pull a fast one by name-associating herself with a popular show?

No facts, but there's some speculation ... keep us posted if you find more.

[Yhtapmys]

2. I don't remember Schlepperman or Kitzel's wife ever appearing on the show.

I do and I looked it up. Blanche Stewart played Mrs. Schlep on April 7, 1935.

I think it'd be pretty tough back then for her (or anyone) to go around saying she appeared with Jack Benny when she didn't.

Yhtapmys

[shimp scrampi]

Strange! Sam Hearn's wife was named Helen, according to his 1964 obituaries; he could've been married more than once, I suppose. Although the wording of them seems to suggest that she, Helen, helped come up with the Schlepperman character.

Hat tip to yht for breaking the mystery (I erroneously thought it was JohnM before, from his followup)

[JohnM]

Googling brought up an old fan club chat, wherein someone asked:

"Say, does anyone remember a woman playing Mrs. Schlepperman on Benny shows around 1950?"

and then someone else answered:

"Yeah. I just bought a scrapbook of a woman who supposedly played this role."

I'm not sure of the user attributions, but it might have been Brad from Georgia who answered.

The "supposedly" seems to support your #3 theory shimp. I had the same thought, and although Yhtapmys makes a good point about padding one's C.V. so brazenly, maybe it did happen at the lower echelons of the provincial nightclub circuit?

Alternatively, didn't the Schlepperman character appear on other shows/movies? Perhaps Shirley played his wife on one of those, and the "Jack Benny" bit was a faulty assumption by the local newspaper writing up the coming attractions blurb.

Finally, maybe Blanche Stewart changed her name to Shirley Herman?

[Yhtapmys]

Alternatively, didn't the Schlepperman character appear on other shows/movies? Perhaps Shirley played his wife on one of those, and the "Jack Benny" bit was a faulty assumption by the local newspaper writing up the coming attractions blurb.

John, this is kind of what I was thinking, though I'd have to go through the rest of Laura's book for some clues about the Benny Show. I just looked at one season.

Yhtapmys

[shimp scrampi]

Googling brought up an old fan club chat, wherein someone asked:

"Say, does anyone remember a woman playing Mrs. Schlepperman on Benny shows around 1950?"

and then someone else answered:

"Yeah. I just bought a scrapbook of a woman who supposedly played this role."

According to that chat transcript page, it would be Laura who bought the scrapbook. I'm sure she'll chime in with any info (or during chat this Sunday) when she has a chance to catch up.

The "supposedly" seems to support your #3 theory shimp. I had the same thought, and although Yhtapmys makes a good point about padding one's C.V. so brazenly, maybe it did happen at the lower echelons of the provincial nightclub circuit?

Yeah, perhaps not so brazen a stunt in the pre-TV and pre-Internet era. Especially when you're doing the nightclub gigs mostly on the east coast from these scanty references. Who knows, but I don't see much of a fuss being raised or chance of being caught if someone untruthfully claimed they played a very minor radio character. Then again, I can't see it as much of an advertising draw either. Hey, kids, let's go see MRS SCHLEPPERMAN LIVE tonight! ???

[hjh27]

There's apparently a family connection between Sam Hearn and the Herman family that I am trying to track down. I was told by a now deceased relative that Sam Hearn and Lou Hearn changed their surnames from Herman (my last name) and that I am related to Sam and Lou Hearn. But I haven't been able to determine the degree of relationship. My guess is that Shirley Herman was a close blood relative of Sam Hearn, but she does not appear on the a partial family tree of my family that I have.

[Mister Kitzel]

Why would anyone want to change their name from something everyone knows how to spell to something that would be misspelled half the time?

[loveinbloom99]

Interesting mystery...

I searched through my newspaper archives and came up with nothing relating to a "Mrs Schlepperman"; however there was a widely printed photograph of Ms Herman that accompanied an article about army hostesses that appeared in a number of papers in 1944 - I've attached the photo from one of the articles. Ms Herman is referred to as "Jack Benny's swing-singing comedienne". Perhaps she appeared with him during some of his USO tours?