Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D2527-2
Date(s)
- 1936-08-28 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
A Tacoma druggist looks doubtfully at the potion being offered to him by an exotic "swami" in a turban. The man in the colorful dress is identified in the Richards photography records as "Yogi." He is believed to be Tacoma native Harry Stewart, better known in comedy circles as "Yogi Yorgesson," the Hindu mystic with the Swedish accent. Harry was born in 1908 to the Skarbo family of Fox Island. He was adopted as a young child, after the death of his mother, by the Stewarts and was raised in Tacoma's Proctor District. He graduated from Stadium High and got his start in radio at KVI in 1927. In 1931, he moved to Los Angeles and began his comedic career as Yogi; cracking jokes, singing songs and answering audience questions by gazing into an upside down fish bowl. He died on May 20, 1956 when he fell asleep at the wheel and flipped his automobile. (the Harry Stewart Biography at yogiyorgesson.com)
Pharmacists--Tacoma--1930-1940; Turbans; Swamis; Stewart, Harry;