Three Wonderful People and One Scared Little Kid

Having been a professional child and juvenile actor in New York City back in the 1960’s and then returning to the performing arts after retiring from the Army in 1996, I could write a whole book answering the question, "Who was the nicest celebrity you have met?  (in fact, I have written about some of those people in this blog.) If I am forced to pick just one I cannot, so I have to say my first on-stage “Mom”, the actress Mary Martin,

my first on-stage “Dad”, Theodore “Theo” Bikel

and my first on-stage “Uncle”, Kurt Kasznar.

I joined the cast of The Sound Of Music in 1960, after it had been running on Broadway for about 6 months. One of the boys who was playing Friedrich Von Trapp started to go through his voice change from Soprano to Bass, so they moved one of the boys playing Kurt Von Trapp into that role and hired me to replace the boy who had been playing Kurt. (Because of child labor laws, actors under the age of 18 can only do a maximum of 4 shows a week. Since a Broadway show does 8 performances, every child role has two or more actors alternating shows).

I had never been in a play before, not even at school, and knew nothing. Mary, Theo, Kurt (who was playing Max) - they all worked with me, mentored me and prepared me for my opening night. Mary personally taught me to dance the “Laendler” folk dance number (which she and I danced together at each performance) because I was having trouble learning it. Luckily, Mary had been a dance teacher when she was a teenager in Texas.

My “opening night” is something I will never, ever forget. I was standing in the wings in my sailor suit, waiting for Theo to blow my whistle signal, scared to death. Kurt looked at me and said the magic words in that wonderful Austrian accent of his, “Don’t worry, Richard. Nobody in the audience has the script.” Theo blew the whistle and Kurt said, “Go out there and kick ass!”. I stepped out on the stage with 1,500 people in the audience - and the first thing I saw was Mary’s beaming smile and I knew everything was going to be all right. Every scene with her, she focused that wonderful smile on me. Our dance went perfectly like we had been doing it every night for weeks.

I came out with the other kids at the end for the curtain call and we took our bows. Kurt came out and bowed, Theo came out and bowed, and Mary came out and took her bow - and then she came over to me and, in front of the cast and all 1,500 people of the audience, she gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. It was the official Seal of Approval - I was now an actor!

Over the next 9 years I was in small roles or the chorus of 6 more Broadway shows (most of which could be considered “flops”) - and Mary came to at least one performance of each show, coming backstage after the performance with a hug and a kiss and praise. And if I was the opening act at some nightclub or supper club In New York City or Philadelphia and she was in town - she was there leading the applause.

In 1962 I was cast as Friedrich Von Trapp in the National tour of The Sound Of Music - and since I needed to play the guitar in the show, Theo taught me “Edelweiss”.

Kurt and I remained close and I visited him in the hospital the day before he died of cancer in 1979.

There have been many, many nice special “celebrities” who have been part of my life so far - and Mary, Theo and Kurt definitely are at the top of the list.

What had been, before life threw me a curve

1967 - 1969 Philadelphia,  New Jersey, New York City

Between the years 1967 and 1969 when I went into the Army, with the help of two very special people, Buddy Greco (My “Buddy”) and Jimmy Durante (The Schnozzola - Jimmy Durante), I had established myself as an up-and-coming nightclub performer, even though I was still in my late teenage years. Whenever a big name performer came into Philadelphia to play one of the clubs there, I was on the list of local performers who was considered a solid opening act. Normally I would go on at 8:00 PM and at 10:00 PM, do a 20 minute singing act and then introduce the headliner. Between shows I would do my homework in the kitchen and head home usually while the headliner was doing his second show of the night.

So I thought, with that wave of nostalgia, that I would write a few words about some of those people who I had the opportunity to work with back then:

Jack E. Leonard

Imagine a nasty version and physically larger version of Don Rickles (Don always said he modeled his act after Jack E.). Jack E. pretty much invented insult comedy. He would rove around the room, going from table to table and insulting the customers – and they loved it. He would insult the band, the waiters, the bartenders, even me – but he did it in such a funny way, no one got offended.

Buddy Hackett

Buddy was a nervous wreck off-stage and a profuse sweater. He would have to change shirts between shows because the one he wore for the first show was soaked through by the time he told his last joke. Buddy, despite his chubby cherub looks, was the dirtiest comic I ever worked with. I will never forget one night, walking by his dressing room between shows. He was seated at the table with a pad of yellow legal paper and a pencil. He would scribble something, look at it, say “F**K”, crumple it up and add it to the scraps of paper littering the floor. I asked him what he was doing and he answered, “I’m booked to play the Ed Sullivan Show this Sunday, kid, and I’m trying my damndest to come up with five minutes of clean jokes. Leave me alone!” – and I hastily retreated.

Jack Carter

Like most comedians I worked with, Jack was very, very serious and self-contained. We worked together for two weeks – and I never really got to know him.

Al Martino

I rarely opened for singers, being a singer myself, but Al liked me and we got on well. Not terribly friendly but not unfriendly either. The only issue he had with me was making sure I didn’t sing anything that he was planning to sing, but that was easy to settle between us.

Dean Martin

Another one of those entertainers who Buddy Greco introduced me to and who I worked with several times. Despite his laid-back on stage persona, Dean was incredibly professional and meticulous in his work ethic. And, despite his image, "sober as a judge".

I would finish my act, glance over at the wings where he would be pouring apple juice into an Old-Fashioned glass and announce him "Now, ladies and gentlemen, direct from the bar - Dean Martin!"  He would come out, look at me and say loudly, "How did all these people get into my room, kid?" and I would exit.  He would then grab the audience, hold them in the palm of his hand and entertain them for the next hour.

Like many of the other performers, we would talk between shows and he would analyze my act and make helpful criticisms on how I could improve. We never talked much about personal things, just about entertaining, singing and music.

Sammy Davis Jr.

Sam was exhausting to be with - he had so much energy that, if they could have found a way to tap that energy, you could have had enough power to light every room in the Empire State Building. His regular opening act was Hines, Hines & Dad (Gregory & Maurice Hines and their father) but he was scheduled to play the Latin Casino in New Jersey for a week and “Dad” twisted an ankle – not good for a tap dancing act! Buddy and I were at Palumbo’s in Philadelphia and Sam came to see Buddy about 9:30 PM, while we were on break between shows, thinking to ask him to fill in for the Hines’. Buddy had a conflict so he said, “How about Rich?” (without telling me) and Sammy stayed. When I finished my closing song and was about to introduce Buddy (who I saw standing next to Sam in the back of the room), Sammy came running up, grabbed me, hugged me and told the audience that I would be opening for him at the Latin the next week. He never actually asked me, but I wouldn’t have said “No”.

The Latin Casino was packed every night. Sammy was marvelous - and even I wasn’t bad. Celebrities came down from New York City and Sammy introduced me to them – Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Louis Prima & Keely Smith, Steve Lawrence & Edye Gorme, Redd Foxx and – Frank Sinatra (yes, dear reader, the hand that is typing this blog post once shook Frank Sinatra’s hand!). Based on that week, I got booked into the lounge at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas (not as glamorous as you might think - think of the beginning of Whoppi Goldberg’s movie Sister Act.). Things were looking up!

My second day in Las Vegas I got a call from my Mom. A boy who lived down the street from us, born on the same day as I but only 4 hours later, had gotten his draft notice. I went down to the Selective Service office in Las Vegas, had my physical and found that I was 1-A prime draft material. I went to the various recruiters to see what was the best deal I could get rather than be drafted into either the Army or Marines as cannon fodder and enlisted in the Army in Military Intelligence.

My last show at the Flamingo was bittersweet. It had become my dream to graduate from Opening Act to Headliner and I felt I was almost there - and now Uncle Sam said “No, kid. You have to go to Vietnam”. 

Three days later, I was back in Philadelphia at the AFEES Station being sworn into the Army and heading off to Basic Training at Fort Dix, NJ. By the time my initial enlistment ended, the nightclubs and supper clubs were almost all gone, I had a wife, a son and another on the way. So I re-enlisted and eventually stayed in until I retired 27 years later.

The dream was gone – but the memories remain…

My “Buddy”

April, 1967 Philadelphia, PA

I was a 16 year old kid in high school, working on weekends doing local TV (Gene London’s Cartoon Corner’s General Store on WCAU - Philadelphia’s CBS affiliate), when one of my classmates asked me if I was busy the following week. I was a little confused because I knew she had a boyfriend but then she explained that it was about a possible job. Her grandparents owned a supper club/nightclub called Scioli’s and the headliner’s regular opening act was unavailable. She knew I was an entertainer and thought I might be right for the job.

So I went to the club and met Armando “Buddy” Greco. I sang for him, we talked, we shook hands - and the next night at 8:00 PM I was doing my 20 minutes set before introducing him. I did my homework in the kitchen and went back on for the 10:00 PM show, did my 20 minutes and introduced Buddy. After the second show, while the busboys were cleaning up, we sat together at the piano and he went over my set, giving me constructive criticism and making suggestions.

This was our routine for that whole week. When our last night of the engagement ended, Buddy handed me some sheet music to the songs he had been teaching me that week and said, “We’ll see each other again”.

Several weeks went by and the phone rang at home. It was Buddy and he was coming into Philadelphia to play Palumbo’s and wanted me to open for him (at, I might add, an increase in pay). And that led to another week together. Part of it, I know, was that he was originally from Philadelphia and, like me, he grew up poor and he had gotten his first big break, playing piano for the Benny Goodman Big Band when he was the same age I was then.

Other celebrities would come to see him and he would introduce me and give me a big build up. As a result, I became pretty established as a solid opening act whenever someone came into town to play the clubs. Through Buddy, I met and eventually opened for comedian Joey Bishop (another Philadelphia boy), singer Al Martino, comedians Buddy Hackett, Jack Carter and Jack E. Leonard (which led to my friendship with Jimmy Durante The Schnozzola - Jimmy Durante). On one very special night, Sammy Davis Jr. came - and that led to a week opening for him at the Latin Casino in New Jersey.

Between 1967 and 1969, I was a very busy kid with high school, nightclub work and chorus work in two different Broadway shows (both of them flops!)

Vietnam and the demise of the nightclub business ended that career for me, sadly. Buddy and I kept in sporadic contact and seriously re-connected a few years ago. He will be celebrating his 90th birthday in August of 2016 with a performance in Las Vegas (he and his wife, Leslie, live in England).

He is truly “My Buddy”.