Background
He was born into a theatrical family on November 1, 1890 in Gloucester City, New Jersey, the son of James Charles Barton, an interlocutor with the West and Primrose Minstrels, and Clara Anderson, a dancer and singer.
He was born into a theatrical family on November 1, 1890 in Gloucester City, New Jersey, the son of James Charles Barton, an interlocutor with the West and Primrose Minstrels, and Clara Anderson, a dancer and singer.
During those years of touring, Barton picked up schooling wherever he could; his formal education ended with the sixth grade in Camden, New Jersey.
Barton made his first stage appearance at the age of two in The Silver King, and by the age of four he was playing Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin. From 1897 until 1903, the Bartons had a family act in which James was billed as "the boy comedian. " As a young man, Barton worked in stock companies and vaudeville shows, and in 1915 he signed on as a dancing comedian in Twentieth Century Maids, a production of the Columbia burlesque chain. His first big break came in 1919, when he was to play in The Passing Show of 1919, a Broadway revue. But before the show opened, Actors Equity Association called a strike. A benefit was planned for the strikers, and Barton was scheduled to make a minor appearance. His dancing stopped the show. And when The Passing Show of 1919 finally opened, he again was a hit.
Over the next fifteen years Barton became known as a top hoofer on the stage. He compiled an impressive list of Broadway credits, including The Last Waltz (1921), The Rose of Stamboul (1922), Dew Drop Inn (1923), The Passing Show of 1924 (1924), Artists and Models (1925), Palm Beach Nights (1926), and No Foolin' (1926). In 1928 and 1929 he was on the road with Burlesque. He returned to Broadway in 1930 and appeared in Moonshine and Sweet and Low. Between 1928 and 1932 he also made numerous appearances as a headliner at the Palace Theater.
In 1934, Barton, who had been called "the man with the laughing feet" and who had entertained audiences by dancing, singing, and imitating drunks, replaced Henry Hull as Jeeter Lester in the play Tobacco Road. Over the next five years he played that role 1, 899 times, and his earthy portrayal of the crude, degenerate Lester won him not only plaudits but also recognition as a genuinely versatile performer. Barton's success in Tobacco Road led to motion picture contracts. (He earlier had made a few two-reelers in which he mostly danced. ) He played in Captain Hurricane and His Family Tree (1935). The latter film especially allowed him to exhibit his repertoire of Irish brogue, dancing, and comedy. Barton also played a character role in The Shepherd of the Hills (1941). Back on the stage, Barton appeared in Free and Equal (1942), Bright Lights of 1944 (1943), and The Girl from Nantucket (1945). In 1946 he was cast as Hickey in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. His portrayal of the loquacious salesman - a role that entailed delivering an eighteen-minute soliloquy - won Barton more critical acclaim.
In 1948, Barton played the boozy, bragging old Indian scout in the screen version of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life. He also appeared in Yellow Sky, a western in which he played a clever, whiskey-drinking old prospector. In the following two years he was in two lighthearted Hollywood productions, The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1949) and Wabash Avenue (1950). He made three more movies in 1951: Here Comes the Groom, Golden Girl, and The Scarf, the last a drama that featured Barton as a salty old turkey rancher who befriends an accused murderer. Typecast in Hollywood as a supporting actor in musicals and westerns, Barton returned to Broadway in 1951 to star in the musical Paint Your Wagon. Again he had the role of a hard-drinking old westerner, Ben Rumson. Barton subsequently appeared in a few more movies and in several television plays, including The Iceman Cometh. He also starred in a short-lived Broadway drama, The Sin of Pat Muldoon (1956). He made his last screen appearance in The Misfits (1961). Barton died in Mineola, New York.
A trouper of the old school, often noted for his coarse mannerisms and tough temperament, he spent his entire life in show business. An accomplished performer, he was equally polished and confident in vaudeville, on the legitimate stage, or in front of the camera.
In 1912, Barton married Ottilie Regina Kleinert. The couple, who had no children, separated in 1926. In 1933, the Bartons were divorced, and he married Kathryn Penman, a former Ziegfeld girl.