A Brooklyn undertaker whose real name was Hugh McGowan, he was spotted
one day sleeping on a park bench by producers
J. Stuart Blackton and
Albert E. Smith of
Vitagraph Pictures. Vitagraph's biggest star at the time was short, fat
comic
John Bunny, and Blackton and Smith thought that since Bunny was so
popular, another short and fat comic might be popular too, so they woke
him up and offered him a job.
