Charlotte Arren, also known by her married name Charlotte M. Broderick, (born Charlotte L. Ehrenberg, 9 July 1911 – 30 September 1986) was an American comedienne, actress, singer, and dancer. A native of Chicago, she grew up touring as a child entertainer in her family's vaudeville act, the Four Arrens; performing alongside her parents and brother Charles from 1917 to 1922. After this she formed an act with her brother, the Arren Kids, which was active from 1922 to 1930. She concurrently began performing in stage musicals in American regional theatre during the late 1920s.

As an adult performer, Arren was one half of the comedy, dancing, and musical duo Arren and Broderick which also featured her husband, the pianist and composer Johnny Broderick. This act premiered in vaudeville 1932 and was active until as late as 1970 in performances in musicals, nightclubs, variety theatre, and film. The duo was particularly known for their sketch "Opera in the Rough" in which Arren parodied operatic divas with Broderick as her accompanist.

Early life and child performer

The daughter of Frank L. Ehrenberg and his wife Charlotte Ehrenberg, Charlotte L. EhrenbergCharlotte L Ehrenberg 1920 United States Federal Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. (NARA microfilm publication T625, 2076 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA. Note: Enumeration Districts 819-839 are on roll 323 (Chicago City).Charlotte Ehrenberg 1930 United States Federal Census, United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls. was born in Chicago on 9 July 1911.Charlotte Broderick in the U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 Charlotte's parents were singers and comedians who used the surname Arren on the stage. They passed down their craft to their their children. The Ehrenberg family worked together in a variety entertainment act known as the Four Arrens.

Charlotte sang duets with her older brother Charles in the family act. The Four Arrens were performing as early as September 1917, and as late as July 1922. The popularity of Charlotte and her brother led their parents to rework the act into featuring just the children in a singing and dancing duo. They began appearing as the Arren Kids with the billing "The Baby Grands of Variety" as early as November 1922.

In 1923 the Arren Kids act was booked in the Orpheum Circuit. They also worked under the billing of Charles & Charlotte Arren; including in a return to the Orpheum Circuit in 1925. The duo worked primarily out of Chicago and the surrounding region until relocating to New York in the summer of 1927. They were billed as the Arren Kids in American and Canadian radio broadcasts in 1929.

Arren ventured out on her own when she landed a featured part in the musical comedy Swim Girl, Swim which opened at the Metropolitan Theatre in Boston in September 1927 with a cast led by Bebe Daniels. In this show she sang and danced in the musical number "Asleep in the Deep". Soon after she was cast in a show called Joy Bells at Shea's Buffalo in which she sang the song "Call for Mr. Brown". It was produced by John Murray Anderson. She subsequently toured nationally in this show in 1927-1928, but by the end of March 1928 had left this show to reteam with her brother in vaudeville.

Arren and Broderick By October 1932 Arren was performing with pianist and composer Johnny Broderick in the vaudeville act Arren and Broderick in the sketch "Opera in the Rough" at the Lyric Theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana. The act involved Arren doing a parody of a coloratura soprano with Broderick as her assisting pianist. The duo also did another set where they performed comedic versions of popular songs. This act played the Orpheum Circuit in 1932 for performances at the Orpheum Theater in Davenport, Iowa, Orpheum Theatre in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Arren and Broderick act continued to tour for performances around the country; sometimes performing live in conjunction with screening of movies and other times appearing in variety theatre. Theaters they performed at in 1933 included the RKO Capitol Theatre in New Jersey, both the Fox Theatre and the RKO Bushwick Theatre in Brooklyn, the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, both the Carman Theatre and Fay's Theatre in Philadelphia, the Fox Theatre in Detroit, both the Capitol Theatre and the Steel Pier Theatre in Atlantic City, the Penn Theatre in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Shea's Buffalo Theatre, the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, the Palace Theatre in Chicago, the Metropolitan Theatre in Boston, and the Roxy Theatre in New York City among other venues.

At some point Arren married Broderick prior to October 1935. They continued to work professionally as a stage duo until as late as 1970. In 1935 the husband and wife duo were cast members in the Broadway musical revue Earl Carroll's Sketch Book which played at first the Winter Garden Theatre and then the Majestic Theatre. That same year they starred in the short musical film The Doorman's Opera from the Broadway Brevities series. They were also featured in the British musical film Calling All Stars (1937).

Arren's performances with Broderick during the 1930s and 1940s earned her a reputation as one the era's great female comics. Her parodies of opera prima donnas involved humorous facial contortions that invoked a "grotesque effect", shrill screams, cross-eyed looks, and cramped gestures. Her spoof of an operatic soprano was featured in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film Broadway Melody of 1940 in which she performed a humorous rendition of the famous vocal waltz "Il bacio".

With the end of vaudeville, Arren and Broderick moved into working as nightclub entertainers from the 1940s to the 1960s. In 1957 they returned to Broadway as Jerry Lewis's co-stars at the Palace Theatre in the variety show Jerry Lewis at the Palace. As late as 1966 they were booked as entertainers at the Nevada Lodge in Lake Tahoe for 15 weeks of performances. In 1970 they were booked as musicians at the Ponce de Leon Festival in Port Charlotte, Florida.

Death Charlotte M. Broderick died in Orlando, Florida on 30 September 1986.

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