Bernardo de Pace

Bernardo de Pace (San Ferdinando di Puglia, 1886 – Brooklyn, 1966) was a musician and comedic vaudeville performer of the 1920s, billed as "the Wizard of the Mandolin".
De Pace won an international mandolin contest at the age of 11, and as his grandson Bobby De Pace later put it, "From 11 to 17, he played for kings and queens." For many years, de Pace was mandolin soloist at the Metropolitan Opera in addition to his star turns on the vaudeville stage. His camp performance style is captured in a Warner Bros. Vitaphone short from 1927 (Bernado [sic] de Pace: The Wizard of the Mandolin) which was released on DVD in 2007 as part of The Jazz Singer deluxe edition, and two MGM shorts from 1929. He also released a series of recordings ranging from light classical pieces to original compositions in traditional Italian style.