Arthur Treacher
Arthur Treacher
Arthur Veary Treacher (23 July 1894 – 14 December 1975) was an English actor born in Brighton, East Sussex, England.
Treacher was a veteran of World War I. After the war, he established a stage career and in 1928, he went to America as part of a musical-comedy revue called Great Temptations. He was featured in the 1930 Billy Rose production Sweet and Low.
Arthur Treacher Film Career
Treacher began his film career in the 1930s, which included roles in four Shirley Temple films: Curly Top (1935), Stowaway (1936), Heidi (1937), and The Little Princess (1939). Scenes intentionally put the six-feet-four Treacher standing or dancing side-by-side with the tiny child actress. Treacher filled the role of the ideal butler, and he portrayed P. G. Wodehouse’s perfect valet character Jeeves in the films Thank You, Jeeves! (1936) and Step Lively, Jeeves (1937). He also played a valet or butler in several other films, including Personal Maids, Mister Cinderella, and Bordertown.
In 1964, Treacher played the role of stuffy English butler Arthur Pinkney in two episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies. Pinkney mistakenly believed the hillbillies were the domestic servants of the family he was hired by, while the hillbillies believed Pinkney to be a boarder at their Beverly Hills mansion.
Arthur Treacher Mary Poppins
Treacher played the role of Constable Jones in Mary Poppins and made many guest appearances on U.S. television, in addition to being Merv Griffin’s announcer and sidekick on The Merv Griffin Show from 1965–1970 (“…and now, here’s the dear boy himself, Meeeer-vin!”) When Griffin switched from syndication to CBS in 1969, the network brass insisted that Treacher was too old for the show, but Griffin fought to keep Treacher and eventually won out. However, when Griffin relocated his show to Los Angeles the following year, Treacher stayed behind, telling Griffin “at my age, I don’t want to move, especially to someplace that shakes!”
During this period of latter-day popularity, Treacher also capitalized on his name recognition through the use of his name and image for such franchised business concerns as Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips and Call Arthur Treacher Service System (a household help agency). Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips became a popular restaurant chain in the 1970s named after him growing to nearly 900 outlets, although it is unclear if he had any financial involvement with the company. Arthur Treacher fish and chips chain continues to exist, although there are believed to be only around 45 franchises left throughout the United States.