Snitz Edwards (born Edward Neumann, 1 January 1868 – 1 May 1937) was an Austro-Hungarian-born American stage and character actor of the early years of the silent film era into the 1930s. He acted alongside popular screen actors including Rudolph Valentino, Clara Kimball Young, Douglas Fairbanks, and many others.
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Early life
He was born Edward Neumann into a Jewish household on New Year's Day 1868 in Budapest, Hungary (then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire).
Career
Edwards immigrated to the United States and became a successful Broadway stage actor during the early twentieth century. His first show was the musical comedy Little Red Riding Hood, which opened on January 8, 1900.
He often appeared in the first decade of the 20th century on Broadway in productions for such prominent stage directors as Arthur Hammerstein and Charles Frohman. He traveled with touring companies across the United States and South America. On one trip, the company manager absconded with the box office receipts, leaving Snitz and the rest of the marooned troupers to find their way across Panama to catch a steamship back to New York City. In later years, Snitz told of touring cow towns in the American West where boardinghouses had signs saying that Jews, Indians and Irish were acceptable, but not actors.
