Theatre Register

Buster West

Shows · Buster West

Actor 1901–1966 On stage 19261954

James "Buster" West (31 March 1901 – 19 March 1966) was an American dancer and actor who was a featured performer in vaudeville, the Broadway stage, motion pictures and television. West was known as being one of those performers who was "born in a suitcase", as his father John West and mother were both vaudeville performers and he performed with them as a child.

On stage 4 productions, 28 years

1926 George White's Scandals [1926] Apollo Theatre · Original 432 perf.
1936 White Horse Inn Center Theatre · Original · directed by Max Rivers 223 perf.
1944 Follow The Girls New Century Theatre · Original · directed by Harry Delmar, Fred Thompson 882 perf.
1954 The Pajama Game St. James Theatre · Original · directed by George Abbott & Jerome Robbins 1,063 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once4 names

Patricia Martin 2 productions
Myra Green 2 productions
Lorraine Latham 2 productions
John Barry 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 4 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

Also credited on1 work

George White’s Scandals

These come off the person record, which names a work and not a production. So we can say this name is attached to the work and we cannot say which staging, or in what capacity. For a composer or a writer that is the whole career we hold; there is no cast list to find them in.

In the literature2 passages

  • Cast: Willie & Eugene Howard, Frances Williams, Harry Richman, Tom Patricola, Ann Pennington, McCarthy Sisters, Fairbanks Twins, Buster West, Portland Hoffaebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • Cast: Gertrude Niesen, Jackie Gleason, Buster West, Tim Herbert, Irina Baronova, Frank Parker, William Tabbertebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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