jim henson

Big thanks to my friend Big Dave for sharing this artifact from a notable theatrical flop.

Let's call this one a companion piece to my previously posted Ruth Buzzi 'shrine'.
(follow link)

At right, ▶
Ruth Buzzi astride 'Clownaround' co-star Dennis Allen.

Not too long ago, Big Dave and I were chatting about Ruth Buzzi (it's uncertain what triggered the discussion), and he mentioned that as a kid, he'd seen her perform live at The Oakland Coliseum Arena in 'Clownaround', a lavish musical stage extravaganza that featured real circus acts and was produced by
Gene Kelly.

A little research reveals that there may not be too many people around who can say that they saw 'Clownaround' - - and still have the program to prove it.

Despite big plans and high hopes for this family-themed spectacle to tour the country, it closed after only fourteen performances.

◀ Click on the image at left to see an enlarged scan of the program's cover, in all its blurry,
off-register misprinted glory.

Entertainment icon Gene Kelly was steeped in his director / producer / impresario mode in late 1971 when he was approached by the show's creators, the original idea being that Kelly would star in and choreograph the production.

Kelly was excited by the possibilities, and threw himself into the production whole-heartedly.
Billed as 'A Funny Kind of Musical for the Entire Family' mixed with circus themes, it was planned for the show to feature an enormous transformable 'Clown Machine' set /environment that actors, clowns and acrobats would perform atop and amidst.





Trouble for the show began during rehearsals in 1972, when Gene Kelly's second wife, Jeanne Coyne, was diagnosed with leukemia. He quickly withdrew from actiive participation in the production to be at her side.

Kelly's co-stars, both veterans of TV's 'Laugh-In' became the show's principals, along with "a cast of 70".

The show opened on April 27th, 1972 at the Oakland Coliseum. It played also at San Francisco's Cow Palace, and closed after only a few weeks.
Word is that the huge production ran out of money. It's also reported that two of the performers were seriously injured after falling from the 'Clown Machine' structure.

(Thanks to the site 'Gene Kelly, Creative Genius' for some valuable background information.)

(click on images to ENLARGE in a new window)

A further wrinkle to the 'Clownaround' saga is its ultra-rare original cast LP. ▶

Released on the RCA label, it was apparently only sold on-site at performances of the production.
After the show's quick close, all the unsold copies were reportedly melted down, leaving the notion of only 'dozens' of the album ever being issued.

Though it's also been reported that the music is 'less than stellar' (to put it charitably), the album has nevertheless become a much sought 'holy grail' item to collectors, fetching hundreds of dollars when one turns up.

Below, ▼ the Ruth Buzzi bio from the program.
(click on image to enlarge text)
Around the time of 'Clownaround' things were beginning to wind down on TV's 'Laugh-In'. Already past it's heyday, the series ended in 1973. Buzzi had several TV guest appearances throughout the rest of the '70s, including several revivals of her 'Gladys' character on various Dean Martin Roasts.
In 1975 she appeared opposite Jim Nabors on Sid & Marty Krofft's Saturday morning show,
'The Lost Saucer' for its one season run.

Below, ▼ it would appear that actor / comedian Dennis Allen was unfortunately at the apex of his professional career after he joined the cast of 'Laugh-In' in 1970.

Speaking of clowns, Dennis Allen had a memorable short clip that ran often on 'Sesame Street' in the 1970s, playing a sad-faced clown removing his makeup. (follow link)
Dennis Allen died of lung cancer in 1995.

Click on images below to get a better look at the stage show we never saw...



Below, more about some of the real circus acts who appeared in 'Clownaround'.
Click on images to enlarge text.

Gene Kelly's wife Jeanne passed away in 1973.
During the remainder of the '70s, Kelly made semi-regular TV appearances, continued some stage work, and was very successful with his involvement in the 'That's Entertainment' movies.

Below, more about the composer/lyricist team of Mark ("Moose") Charlap and Alvin Cooperman, set designer Sean Kenny, choreographer Howard Jeffrey, and the rest of the production staff.



(click on images to enlarge in a new window.)

When the article below ran in the May, 1948 issue of Radio and TV Mirror magazine, actor Howard Duff (1913 - 1990) had been portraying detective Sam Spade in a weekly radio series for a couple of years.

(click on image to enlarge in a new window)

His popularity in that role would propel him further into a long career in films and TV in the 1950s and beyond.



Click here to enlarge page one of this article and read the text.

Follow links to continue reading the article in a new window:
- Part 2
- Part 3

'The Adventures of Sam Spade' premiered on radio in june of 1946, airing on Friday nights on the ABC network.

The hard-boiled detective's creator, mystery author Dashiell Hammett was marginally involved in the radio production, at least at the beginning.

With the relatively unknown Duff in the lead role, the series quickly caught on, and soon moved to a more prominent spot on Sunday evenings, now airing on CBS. It shifted networks again in 1949, moving over to NBC.

In 1950, both Howard Duff and Dashiell Hammett found their names appearing in 'Red Channels', the Hollywood Blacklisting-era pamphlet that listed entertainment industry professionals with supposed Communist ties.

Howard Duff was soon able to clear his name, but not before the Sam Spade show was brought to a sudden demise. The series would be revived for a final season, but without Howard Duff, and minus Dashiel Hammett's name.
This left Duff free to pursue more movie work, which led to several kick-ass film noir roles in the '50s, among other performances.

Following his "tempestuous" late 1940s relationship with actress Ava Gardner (between her marriages to Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra, and somewhere amidst her relationship with Howard Hughes) Duff married actress/filmmaker Ida Lupino in 1951.


Episodes of 'The Adventures of Sam Spade' featuring Howard Duff can be heard online at a couple of 'Old Time Radio' locations:

-The Internet Archive has a couple of good stashes of episodes.

- The OTR.Network has a nice selection too, using Real Player and featuring sound quality that is perhaps a bit more consistent.

Singer Chubby Checker was a Philadelphia teen-ager still in high school when his recording career began.

In the late 1950s, his talent for mimicry of pop records caught the attention of Dick Clark, host of the American Bandstand TV show, still based in Philadelphia at the time.

Clark helped get him a contract with Cameo-Parkway records, and used him as something of a 'utility vocalist' from time to time on the Bandstand show, performing some of the rising chart hits of the day. Occasionally Mr. Checker performed more 'palatable' versions of popular songs from the R&B charts that were deemed too wild for the relatively conservative show.

Such was the case with 'The Twist', written and first recorded by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters, to moderate success.

But when Chubby Checker performed the song on Bandstand, he created a sensation by incorporating dance moves that Philadelphia teens had been doing to the Hank Ballard version.
Checker's subsequent 1960 cover recording of 'The Twist' was a smash hit, and he was at the forefront of a dance craze that swept America and the world in the sixties.

Other hit records followed for Mr. Checker, many of them capitalizing on other popular dances of the era, though none would quite reach the heights of his first chart-topper.

Some of his hit singles also began to incorporate more nonsensical lyrics and song titles, taken from folk songs and nursery rhymes, which is where the song featured here comes in.

'Lazy Elsie Molly' was only a minor hit, reaching #40 in the U.S. charts in 1964, but its bit of pop music history comes from it being the first commercial success for the songwriting team of Tommy Boyce and
Bobby Hart.

Boyce & Hart took an old Mother Goose rhyme, re-worked and embellished it, changed the title from 'Elsie Marley', set it to a melody reminiscent of Chubby's '62 hit, 'Limbo Rock', and came up with a song perfectly suited to be a new Chubby Checker single.

Listen to:
Chubby Checker - Lazy Elsie Molly
(Parkway Records 45, 1964)
(click for audio)

Prior to this single, Boyce and Hart had each had some fair amount of success (and failures) as writers and performers on their own. They met in Los Angeles in 1959.

(In the photo, ▶
Tommy Boyce is seated on the right,
with the guitar)

Following 'Lazy Elsie Molly' they had a much bigger hit with their song 'Come A Little Bit Closer', which became a top-ten record for
Jay and the Americans later that same year.

By the end of '65 they were working for
Don Kirshner, writing, producing and performing music for the TV pilot of what would become 'The Monkees'.

When the Monkees' TV series and records began appearing in 1966, essentially what we heard was Boyce & Hart (and their own band, The Candy Store Prophets) backing lead vocals by The Monkees.

It would get a little bit confusing as Monkeemania continued, but many of the Monkees songs we heard were written by Boyce and Hart, including 'Last Train to Clarksville', 'I Wanna Be Free', 'Valleri', and several that had initially been recorded by other bands, like 'Words' by The Leaves, 'Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day' by The Astronauts, 'I'm Gonna Buy Me A Dog' by The Gamma Goochee, and '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone' by Paul Revere & the Raiders.

Beginning in 1967, Boyce and Hart began performing and releasing their own records as a duo, their biggest hit being 'I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight' in 1968.

Their music biz and TV connections continued to merge for the next few years, and they made several TV appearances, including guest shots on 'The Flying Nun',
'I Dream of Jeannie', and perhaps most memorably, on 'Bewitched', performing 'I'll Blow You A Kiss in the Wind'.







See also:
- Boyce and Hart at AllMusic.Com

- Boyce and Hart's single, 'Out & About' at The Devil's Music

- A site devoted to the 1970s post-Monkees group, Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart


See also:
- Chubby Checker at AllMusic.Com

- Chubby Checker was also featured in director Ron Mann's 1992 documentary film, 'Twist', a fun and fascinating movie, all about popular dance crazes and their effect on culture. Worth seeking out!