I was born into a theatrical and musical family. My maternal grandfather, Albert Edward Bogdon, was a professional magician who performed in vaudeville, lyceum, and chautauqua circuits. My mother, Sally Phipps Harned, starred in silent films from age three into her late teens and later appeared on Broadway and radio. My father, Alfred Marion Harned, toured for several years in the late 1920s as an onstage musician in a vaudeville act. In the 1930s, based in New York City, he became an arranger for big bands. In the 1940s, he moved his family to Hawaii and continued in music as an arranger, composer, songwriter and later as a teacher in schools and universities.

I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, where my father frequently did musical arrangements for local plays and Hollywood movies filmed in Hawaii. In the meantime, I enjoyed seeing Hollywood musicals at the local movie theaters, being particularly intrigued with the singing and dancing sequences. I quickly realized that I also wanted to sing and dance and began participating in local community theater productions. My entire show business experience in Hawaii is covered in “Bobby Harned And His Broadway-Bound Summer,” a chapter of my 2018 book, Unsung But Not Forgotten; Family Personalities With Surnames Bassett, Beutler, Bogdon, Charles, Green, Harned, Lane, Morgan, Phelps, Phipps.

In Hawaii, I saw myself mainly as a dancer. However, when I moved to Philadelphia to work as a professional librarian, I sustained a leg injury and took this opportunity to develop my vocal abilities. My singing style is inspired by those of Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, and Judy Garland. Fortunately, I was able to find several performance gigs at local Philadelphia coffee houses.

After I moved to New York City, I found it necessary to concentrate on my library work. It would take another ten years before the performance bug would hit me again. The result was a five-year period, 1992-1997, resulting in three cabaret acts and a two-person touring musical act aimed at schools, libraries, and television broadcasts.

Here are live performances of those four shows:

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