Brother V. Kenneth

Kenneth was born and raised in a middle-class suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it wasn't long before the lure of show business led him to New York, where he was fortunate enough to appear with Lillian Russell in "Whirligig" in 1889. From that success, he went on to play vaudeville houses and legitimate theaters throughout the country until 1907, when the new medium, moving pictures beckoned. He was quick to sign with Selig and Imp studios and appear with the likes of John Bunny, Arthur V. Johnson, Florence Lawrence and Marion Leonard, just to name a few. He particularly enjoyed working with Marion Leonard in the "Jonsey" comedies. He was even was at the forefront of selling Liberty Bonds along with Mary Pickford. At the advent of the talking picture, he made a definitive move to radio, which fascinated him as far back as 1918, when he broadcast his voice and played phonograph records over the airwaves from the Wilkinsburg garage of Dr. Frank Conrad. Along with Vaughn DeLeath, and later with Jones and Hare, Harold Arlen, Vincent Lopez, and Bertha Brainard, he was a fixture behind the microphone for many, many years. Television, however, was a medium that never really appealed to him, so any foray into the world of the small screen was never really considered, even though old friends, Carmel Myers and Gloria Swanson wanted him to be part of that new world of entertainment in the late 1940's. With wonderful show business memories, he departed from that world and entered The Brothers of The Christian Schools, a Roman Catholic Religious Order of teaching Brothers, and taught for over forty-five years, a happy and contented man.