Trivia

In 1935, having completed their last short for R.K.O., Clark and his partner Paul McCullough went on tour in a version of "George White's Scandals." The frenetic pace of touring emotionally discombobulated McCullough and, suffering from nervous exhaustion, he entered a sanitarium in Medford, Massachusetts. In March 1936, he was released. As he was driving home with a friend, he decided to have a shave. They stopped at a local barber shop where McCullough struck up a friendly conversation with the barber. Without warning, as the barber's back was turned, McCullough grabbed a straight razor and slashed his own throat and wrists. In critical condition, he was taken to a nearby hospital where he died several days later. Clark was emotionally devastated by the loss of his old friend.

He appeared in five Broadway shows for producer Mike Todd, all of them successes: the musical revue "Star & Garter" with Todd's paramour Gypsy Rose Lee in 1942-1943; the Cole Porter musical "Mexican Hayride" in 1944-1945; a production of Molière's play "The Would-Be Gentleman" in 1946); the musical "As the Girls Go" in 1950; and the musical revue "Michael Todd's Peep Show" in 1951, which he wrote the book for and directed. Clark, the "master of high dames and low comedy, was such a lucky charm for the profligate Todd that in the 1950s, he had to stage two Clark shows to pay off his considerable debts and reestablish himself financially and professionally, as a Clark revue featuring comedy and statuesque showgirls was such a sure thing on Broadway. Clark, whose career was revitalized by Todd's "Star & Garter" and "Mexican Hayride" at the beginning of World War II, was grateful to the producer, and obliged him by appearing in his shows though he didn't need the money. He also hosted Todd's segments of the TV show The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950).

Vaudeville comedian with Paul McCullough as Clark and McCullough.

The great comedy team of Clark & McCullough are little known in the 21st century, despite their great popularity in the first half of the 20th Century. One of the reasons likely is the fact that their short films were not packaged and sold to television in the 1950s, unlike The Three Stooges and Laurel & Hardy, who then went on to entertain new generations of fans. Bobby Clark wrote much of the dialogue, and it was very risqué and was considered borderline in the more liberal 1930s. Clark & McCullough shorts were geared towards adults, and thus would have been inappropriate on television in the 1950s as the comedy shorts of the Stooges and Laurel & Hardy were programmed for children. The short films of the equally famous-in-the-1930s and now-almost-forgotten comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey were never released to commercial television either as they were considered too vulgar.

Clark coined the motto of the Clark & McCullough comedy duo: "Omnia Cafeteria Rex" ("We Eat All We Can Carry").

His last major stage credit before his retirement was as the devilish Mr. Applegate in "Damn Yankees." He played the part created in the original Broadway production by Ray Walston on the road tour. well.

In addition to his better-known stage and film credits, Clark also directed and appeared in such Restoration Era comedies of manners as Congreve's "Love For Love." Clark was genuinely interested in this period of theater, and lectured on it at the American Theater Wing.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. Pg. 105-106 (article "Clark and McCullough"). New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

The Clark and McCullough along with Leon Errol and Edgar Kennedy RKO shorts were released to television in the 1950s.

At the Lambs, two actors were having a fight when Bobby Clark intervened, then asked them to shake hands, they refused to shake hands. Clark then pleaded with them: 'Then shake hands anyway, and not mean it' Lawrence, Kansas, Saturday, February 20, 1960).