Portland Hoffa

Who was Portland Hoffa?

Portland Hoffa was an American comedienne, actor, and dancer. One of three sisters, she is remembered best as the stage and radio partner of her first husband, Fred Allen.

A veteran of vaudeville and Broadway-level stage productions, Portland Hoffa met Fred Allen while performing in The Passing Show in 1922 and joined him in his vaudeville routines; the couple married before Allen began his long-running radio work in 1932, with Hoffa taking instruction in the Roman Catholic Church prior to the marriage.

Hoffa became familiar for her high-pitched voice, her brief routines involving jokes bounced off or from her mother, and, later, strolling Allen's Alley with her husband, after asking him what his question of the week for the Alley denizens would be. Although Hoffa performed under her real name on her husband's show, the character she portrayed as "Portland Hoffa" in the radio broadcasts was not Allen's wife; instead, she depicted an enthusiastic girl of indeterminate age, around thirteen years old. One of Allen's sponsors loathed the character played by Hoffa, and kept urging Allen to drop her from the show. Allen ignored these requests for as long as he could, then finally — in an angry outburst at a sales meeting — told the executive that the broadcasts were bearable only due to Hoffa's presence, and that if she were removed from the program then Allen would quit.