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Speaker 1: Beauty school dropout, Venus so Venus, the voice of an era.

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Speaker 2: The legendary Frankie Avalon is here to talk Greece, Sinatra, Elvis,

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Speaker 2: untold stories, and the secret to a sixty three year marriage.

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Speaker 2: Frankie Avalon is my guest on this edition of A

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Speaker 2: Royal Grande. Come on, I'm Raymond Royo. Welcome to a

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Speaker 2: Royal Grande. Go subscribe to the show now.

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Speaker 1: I'm go ahead. Turn on those notifications so you know

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Speaker 1: what's coming.

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Speaker 2: And if you'd like to support our work, please go

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Speaker 2: to Raymondarroyo dot com. You'll see the donate button there.

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Speaker 2: Now to our deep dive. There are a few people

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Speaker 2: who can transport you to another time just by opening

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Speaker 2: their mouths to sing. My guest today is one of

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Speaker 2: those rare treasures. Frankie Avalon from his hits in the

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Speaker 2: fifties and sixties like Venus and Why, to his beach

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Speaker 2: party movies with Funicello, he went from teen idol to

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Speaker 2: teen Angel. Who can forget his teen Angel in Greece,

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Speaker 2: a role I found out he did not want to

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Speaker 2: play by the way. Tonight, Frankie reveals how a child

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Speaker 2: prodigy became a cultural touchstone and still moves generations. The

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Speaker 2: unheard stories of his friendship with Elvis and Sinatra, John

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Speaker 2: Wayne and Moore.

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Speaker 1: Here's the legendary Frankie Avalon.

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Speaker 2: Tell me about nineteen seventy eight. You're offered a role

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Speaker 2: in Greece. You had seen the play, Yeah, seen the play? Yeah,

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Speaker 2: so you were not keen on taking this teen Angel role?

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Speaker 1: Well, as I say, you know, I was playing golf

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Speaker 1: and I come off and my manager had the script

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Speaker 1: in his hand and he said, Paramount wants you for

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Speaker 1: this film. I said, what is it? He said grease.

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Speaker 1: I said what character? He said teen Angel and I

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Speaker 1: said na pass and I went played backside and he

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Speaker 1: said it won't take. No, they won't talk to you

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Speaker 1: about the okay. So I go a ed Randall Klauser, director,

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Speaker 1: Alan Carr, producer, and we sit and talked to why

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Speaker 1: don't you want to do it? I saw the play.

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Speaker 1: It's Presley, it's along side Burns, it's all in black.

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Speaker 1: They said we'll change me. Really yeah. I said no,

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Speaker 1: I got a style. They said we'll change it. So

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Speaker 1: they put me all in white. I did beauty school

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Speaker 1: drop up. No graduation day for you, So I sang it.

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Speaker 2: You know, yeah, not indeed drop Yeah, you did it

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Speaker 2: in your smooth style, romantic yeah and uh. And fifty

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Speaker 2: years later, almost forty five, we're close. People are still

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Speaker 2: singing this song and loving. Yeah, it's become iconic. What

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Speaker 2: do you think it is?

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Speaker 1: What is it about that moment? I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: who knows? If I knew Raymond, or you knew, or

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Speaker 1: anybody knew. You sit behind the desk and you'd be

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Speaker 1: a billionaire not knowing. You just don't know. You go

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Speaker 1: in and you do it the best you can, and

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Speaker 1: you have fun and everybody's happy, and there's no people

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Speaker 1: that are giving problems. It's just wonderful.

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Speaker 2: And it happened, and it was one of those moments. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: did they make any changes in Beauty School drop out?

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Speaker 2: In the song for you?

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Speaker 1: Do you recall? No?

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Speaker 2: No.

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Speaker 1: The only thing I didn't like was the fact that

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Speaker 1: when I did six hours or six days of rehearsals

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Speaker 1: on a soundstage marks you know, with my card, where

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Speaker 1: I go here, where I go different? And then when

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Speaker 1: I went to see the set, I had two days

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Speaker 1: of shooting totally different. It was like twenty feet in

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Speaker 1: the air. It was all white and I got to

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Speaker 1: come down these steps in cool. I hate heights. Oh

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Speaker 1: really short, I like that, stay close terrify. But and

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Speaker 1: I went to Randall Claisa. The director said, I can't

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Speaker 1: do this. I'm nervous. My leg's shaked coming down, Like,

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Speaker 1: I can't do this. I got an idea. The crew

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Speaker 1: take a break. They went and got mattresses and they

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Speaker 1: put them all alongside, oh white mattresses. So I know

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Speaker 1: if I went to a mattress, I'll go to sleep catcher.

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Speaker 1: So that worked out fine.

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Speaker 2: Why do you think it's still It touched so many people.

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Speaker 2: I mean, look, I've seen you on tour with this show.

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Speaker 2: I saw you in New Orleans, I saw you in Cleveland.

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Speaker 2: I mean you toured the country doing Greece. He did

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Speaker 2: a revival of it right, which was so much better.

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Speaker 2: I have to tell you I saw some other revivals.

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Speaker 2: It didn't quite hit the Avlon market. Yeah, yeah, And

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Speaker 2: there is a look you bring a gravataze, You bring

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Speaker 2: the entire era with you when you appear.

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Speaker 1: Is that what it is?

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Speaker 2: No?

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Speaker 1: You know interesting? When I did this scene and I

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Speaker 1: went to the director and the producer and everything, I said,

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Speaker 1: whatever you guys, do. I don't want to be a

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Speaker 1: joke in this picture. I don't want to be when

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Speaker 1: I so they handled it properly the way I did

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Speaker 1: it right. I have a review in my house which

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Speaker 1: is by a calumnists review to show the opening the preview,

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Speaker 1: and in the review she talks about the opening of

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Speaker 1: the picture and when Frankie Avalon comes on the screen,

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Speaker 1: they roared. When Frankie Avalon left the scene, they applauded. Ah,

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Speaker 1: I said, wow, I achieved. That's it. Yeah, that's great,

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Speaker 1: that's it.

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Speaker 2: And you rekindle that every look you you graced me

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Speaker 2: by joining me for a Christmas show we did in Cleveland.

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Speaker 2: When you came out and did that number the audience just.

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Speaker 1: It's euphoric.

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Speaker 2: I mean, look, it's like there's only a handful of

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Speaker 2: people I can sighte off the top of my head,

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Speaker 2: streisand and Julie Andrews and you. There's only a handful

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Speaker 2: of people who have done something on film that they

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Speaker 2: can take into live performance.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, carries on.

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Speaker 2: But there's only one of the people in those I

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Speaker 2: just mean that are still doing it, and that you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and we did it together. Yeah, you were terrific

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Speaker 1: as French. I was just a backup, no good friend.

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Speaker 1: You did I didn't know the rollers did quite fit.

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Speaker 1: But I'm going to work on that for the next

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Speaker 1: Very talented by the way you look at what you

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Speaker 1: were saying. We did that thing together. People love you.

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Speaker 1: You got albums, you got all that. It was terrific.

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Speaker 2: Being with you was such a joy. Tell me about

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Speaker 2: I want to move to the movie career for a moment.

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Speaker 2: You have done some incredible movies, including classics like The Alamo.

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Speaker 2: Tell me about that working with John Wayne. First of all,

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Speaker 2: what did you learn from him?

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Speaker 1: Okay, well, first of all, I had done a film before. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it was called Guns of the Timberland, starring Alan Ladd,

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Speaker 1: Jeannie Crane, Gilbert Roland. Right, and I'm not never active

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Speaker 1: before in my life.

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Speaker 2: You do it?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I do it. I don't know where I got

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Speaker 1: the guts. I say it nicely to do these things.

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Speaker 1: And I do the first film, and I learned. One

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Speaker 1: thing I always thought about is if you want to

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Speaker 1: advance whatever you want to do, sit and learn and listen.

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Speaker 1: Ears are very important. Listen and watch. So I would

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Speaker 1: sit in the chair and I would watch Alan Ladd,

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Speaker 1: I would watch Gilbert Rolandoors. I would pick up things.

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Speaker 1: I would say, no, can I do that? Characters. I'm

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Speaker 1: playing the Steel Pier in Atlantic City and I get

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Speaker 1: a phone call on the wall because we're doing ten

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Speaker 1: shows a day, and it's my agent, Jack Jallardi. Jack

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Speaker 1: says to me, John Wayne just saw your picture. They're

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Speaker 1: doing Pratical the Alamo. He wants you to play Smitty.

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Speaker 1: I said, are you kidding? Okay? Now, in August of

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine, I go out to the Alamo Brackettviille, Texas. Wow,

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Speaker 1: I'm a South Philly kid. The only horses I ever

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Speaker 1: saw was on the wagon, you know, or crack no

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Speaker 1: ten cents a ride. You go up and down the

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Speaker 1: street where they always want to go back to the

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Speaker 1: bar and again. So I'm on that and I see

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Speaker 1: John Wayne six foot five. Wow. Speak So my first

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Speaker 1: time I see him, I'm out of wardrobe in Bracketville.

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Speaker 1: I got the offut on with raccoon hat and my

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Speaker 1: manager says, I like his hair to be a little

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Speaker 1: He goes, well, I don't like that, Walter. I'm the director.

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Speaker 1: So now I look at him like this, Now, mister Wayne,

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Speaker 1: I'll do whatever you say that was it. I'm on

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Speaker 1: this picture for three and a half months. Yeah, months

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Speaker 1: and months, and I'll say I learned how to ride

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Speaker 1: a horse the hard way. Oh No, I rang and

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Speaker 1: I swear to God. So they give me wranglers to

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Speaker 1: ride a horse. Okay. Now, when I first start to

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Speaker 1: ride a horse, I'm like this.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Now, but his bruise they had to make a pad.

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Speaker 1: Oh to protect your Finally, Wayne says to me, well,

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Speaker 1: listen here, kid, when you ride a horse, make it

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Speaker 1: like you have got a hangar. And when you're ride

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Speaker 1: and I want you to be like this. So he

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Speaker 1: taught me that. He was very nice, he's very tough.

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Speaker 1: He really directed that picture. Yeah, you're talking about his

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Speaker 1: soul passion project. Yeah, put his own money, and of

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Speaker 1: course you like you said, it became a classic. Not

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Speaker 1: only that, but I had the opportunity of meeting my

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Speaker 1: now sister in law. How did that happen? She was

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Speaker 1: on the film. No, her husband is John Wayne's son.

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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, you right, Michael Wayne, who was third

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Speaker 1: He took care of the cows and the horse. He

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Speaker 1: came from the bottom, wound up producing his father's films.

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Speaker 1: So Gretchen is my sister in law because Kay, my

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Speaker 1: wife are sisters. Oh my god, unbelievable. You know what's

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Speaker 1: really funny, My nephew, He's really funny, he says to me.

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Speaker 1: He says, uncle frank He said, you know I was

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Speaker 1: with Joe Peshi because they belonged to the same golf club.

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Speaker 1: So Pesci says to me, Now, your grandfather is John

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Speaker 1: Wayne and your uncle is Frankie Avalon. He said, you

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Speaker 1: can't miss that's good balance.

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Speaker 2: What did I remember you telling me a story about

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Speaker 2: John Wayne that he shared with you about working on

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Speaker 2: the greatest.

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Speaker 1: Story ever told?

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Speaker 2: Do you remember that story?

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Speaker 1: I do? He said. When he was doing that, the

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Speaker 1: director George Stevens, big time director, and he really and

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Speaker 1: truly wanted to tell the greatest story ever told in

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Speaker 1: his way of the Bible. So it was very important

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Speaker 1: to him for everybody to have the passion as the

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Speaker 1: character that they were portraying. Right. So now it's the

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Speaker 1: final scene and George Stevens says to the Duke, and

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Speaker 1: he talked like, this is a very important scene, Duke,

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Speaker 1: so you know, make sure we just get the emotion

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Speaker 1: that I won. And Wayne said, well, I got you there. Pappy.

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Speaker 1: So now Steven says, it's going to be quiet on

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Speaker 1: the set. There'll be thunder, they'll be lightning and on action.

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Speaker 1: You look up and you say, this man truly is

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Speaker 1: the son of a god. He was playing longinas the

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Speaker 1: soldier right. He says, well, I got you there, slugger.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, quiet on the set, thunder lightning action. This

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Speaker 1: man here truly is that sun of God God, Duke,

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Speaker 1: it needs uh more? Oh well, I got you there.

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Speaker 1: Okay it's thunder lightning action. Oh, this man tuly is

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Speaker 1: that son I got uh God, I got it now.

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Speaker 1: Okay it's under lightning action. And the Duke John Wayne

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Speaker 1: takes out his sword and he taps.

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Speaker 2: O.

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Speaker 1: God, don't tap his foot. He's already been established. And

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Speaker 1: this went on like this, many many takes, all right,

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Speaker 1: God bless the dude.

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Speaker 2: You did not start out as a singer.

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Speaker 1: You started as a trumpet. But your father was a butcher.

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Speaker 1: Where did the trumpet come from? First of all, he

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Speaker 1: was a butcher, but loved music. There was a those

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Speaker 1: music in my home. Not my mother couldn't sing a note, nobody,

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Speaker 1: my sister good. But my father could play piano, could

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Speaker 1: play guitar to play anything. I used to walk away

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Speaker 1: from it.

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Speaker 2: Didn't like it.

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Speaker 1: Every Saturday, my mother would give me a little baggy

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Speaker 1: with like some broccolet ab and cheese of Italian sandwich.

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Speaker 1: Didn't I go for like for the whole day. You'd

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Speaker 1: sit there and you watch the cartoons, and then they

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Speaker 1: would show a film, and you waited and you were

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Speaker 1: out of there. But this film was called young Man

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Speaker 1: with a Horn starring Kirk Duttles, and I related to

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Speaker 1: not only this trumpet. I related to this young boy

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Speaker 1: that becomes something you know, and it was very inspiring.

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Speaker 1: But I also just loved the sound of that horn.

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Speaker 1: So I came back from the movie that afternoon night

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Speaker 1: and I went to my dad and said, Dad, you

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Speaker 1: know what, I want to play a trumpet. He said,

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Speaker 1: you do. He loved the fact that I want to

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Speaker 1: play music.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

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Speaker 1: Next day he went to a pawn shop for like

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Speaker 1: five dollars, he brought up trumpet for me. I took it.

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Speaker 1: I went up to my room and I didn't leave

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Speaker 1: that room, and I played a song called music, Music, Music.

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Speaker 1: I learned it myself. Bada da da da da da

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Speaker 1: da da da da da da da da Da Da

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Speaker 1: da da music music music. That was my first song,

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Speaker 1: my first day, first with the torn From then on,

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Speaker 1: it and I had such a passion for it. If

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Speaker 1: you weren't trained, you didn't go study with anybody. Yes,

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Speaker 1: later on, now I start practicing myself and I played

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Speaker 1: three four hours the neighbor I lived in a row

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Speaker 1: house in South Philadelphia. Keep that kid quiet with that horn,

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Speaker 1: you know. So now, all of a sudden, my father

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Speaker 1: gets me a teacher of a trumpet player in the neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: After working with him for about three months, he goes

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Speaker 1: to my father's name was Danny de I went to

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Speaker 1: my father and said, this kid's got talent. He needs

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Speaker 1: some real special training. So they looked it up and

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Speaker 1: I started studying with a musical trumpet player from the

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Speaker 1: Philadelphia Orchestra. Five dollars a week, I would take good

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Speaker 1: by myself. I would take a trolley car, a subway,

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Speaker 1: another trolley car, and walk to his house for a

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Speaker 1: half hour lesson. Oh my and I just loved that horn.

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Speaker 1: I had a passion. And my father would be the

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Speaker 1: five dollars, my uncle would be me the five dollars.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 1: I went a paper boy I'd do this that, whatever.

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Speaker 1: But I just had a passion for it. And by

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Speaker 1: the time I was eleven years old, I started at nine. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: by the time I was eleven years old, I was

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Speaker 1: an accomplished musical trumpet player. Unbelievable.

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Speaker 2: I mean, there's video of you on the Gleason Show,

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Speaker 2: on the Honeymooners.

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Speaker 1: Right as a child, right, just come. You're like a prodigy. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I really was. And that really was the beginning. That

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Speaker 1: was you got because of Al Martino. In the neighborhood.

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Speaker 1: Al Martino was a very big star around the world

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Speaker 1: with a song called Here in My Heart. And I

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Speaker 1: heard that they were giving him a party. So I

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Speaker 1: went and squeezed my way through all the neighbors because

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Speaker 1: he was in this one house and I had my

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Speaker 1: horn like this. I knocked on the door and the

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Speaker 1: man opened. I said, could I play my trumpet for

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Speaker 1: Al Martinez? Said who are you? I said, my name

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Speaker 1: is Frank Avaloni. I played trumpet, said come on in,

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Speaker 1: so they're having a party. I took out the horn,

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Speaker 1: I started a play, and I played a song called Tenderly.

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Speaker 1: I finished that. They applauded. Al Martino went to the

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Speaker 1: man who owned the house. He said, who was this

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Speaker 1: kitty said, I was from a neighborhood. Go and ask

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Speaker 1: his parents if I could take him. I'm roommates. I

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Speaker 1: used to be roommates with Jackie Gleeson in New York City.

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Speaker 1: He loves the trumpet. I'd like for him to play

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Speaker 1: for Jackie. That's how it happened. That's how it happened.

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Speaker 1: So they took me in. He was at a penthouse

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Speaker 1: where he was. I took out the horn again. He

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Speaker 1: came out from the top of the penthouse. Listen to

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Speaker 1: me play. He said, I love the way he plays,

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Speaker 1: and write a show. I won him on in two weeks.

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Speaker 1: That was it. They got so much response from that

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Speaker 1: performance that I did. They said to my manager, this

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Speaker 1: guy became from the house. He became my He said,

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Speaker 1: does he do anything else? So the guy said sure.

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Speaker 1: He said what does he do? He tap dances. I'd

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Speaker 1: never tap dance in my life.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.

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Speaker 1: So now another guy from the neighborhood. They get a guy,

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Speaker 1: Mike Landon was his name, and I go jack I

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Speaker 1: learned how to tap. Now three months later, I'm on

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Speaker 1: the Honeymooners and I played the horn and I take

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Speaker 1: the horn like this, and I go to a little

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Speaker 1: tap dance. Yeah, so I tap danced. And how did

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Speaker 1: you segue to the sink? I know? RCA then signed you.

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Speaker 2: Our victor signed you trumpet player eleven years old, ten

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Speaker 2: years old.

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Speaker 1: Exactly how does the singing happen? Well? I kept trumpet

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Speaker 1: for a long long time. I was first trumpet of

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Speaker 1: Rolls City in Philadelphia, and I would play on summers

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Speaker 1: out of school. I would play these little rock bands.

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Speaker 1: I was with a band called rockin His Saints and

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Speaker 1: we played at a place called Mary's Inn and five

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Speaker 1: sets at night, this, that, with that, and the rocer

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Speaker 1: would say to me, you know, singing a couple of songs.

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Speaker 1: I would sing a couple of songs and then they

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Speaker 1: go that kid, Frankie's singing a little bit more.

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Speaker 2: So.

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Speaker 1: Rocco came to me in between one of our sets.

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Speaker 1: He says, you know, they want you to sing more.

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Speaker 1: I want you to sing more songs. I said, I'm

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Speaker 1: a trumpet player. I'm not a singer. I don't sing.

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Speaker 1: He said, yeah, but that I'll give you five dollars more.

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Speaker 1: I sat with it. Your soul, so so I started

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Speaker 1: learning that this that whatever, and got more involved in singing.

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Speaker 1: And then then a new record company comes in. They

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Speaker 1: sees Roco on the Saints, they see them and they

337
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Speaker 1: sign us and we make a record for Chancellor Records.

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Speaker 1: Was their fourth ever record on that label, and one

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Speaker 1: side was Driving with the Saints, which was an instrumental.

340
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Speaker 1: The other side was Cupid, Shot and Arrow, which I sang,

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Speaker 1: huh that started my record career.

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Speaker 2: Unbelievable. Tell me about the school age, Frankie Avalot, you

343
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Speaker 2: were thrown out of school by the nuns.

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Speaker 1: At one Yeah, I came across that story. Tell that story.

345
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Speaker 2: And then some of your classmates you went to school with,

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Speaker 2: guys you would later tour with.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So well my early days. First

348
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Speaker 1: of all, I gotta be honest with you. I didn't

349
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Speaker 1: like school. I couldn't tell. I mean, I would half listen,

350
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Speaker 1: you know, and they would always say to pull me alongside.

351
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Speaker 1: You know, you've got a good mind, you could put

352
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Speaker 1: put more time into it. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: I was interest thinking about, you know, and I would

354
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,879
Speaker 1: fool around and joke around, do jokes this that, would

355
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Speaker 1: you make faces and the clown clown stuff. So this

356
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Speaker 1: one day uh, we were sweeping up on you had

357
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Speaker 1: that little brush and under your desk you would sweep entirely. Yeah. Yeah,

358
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Speaker 1: So I was like this and I was Toeeth, England,

359
00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:51,360
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden the non sister Maria and

360
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Speaker 1: and she said to me have aloning. Well, I said, yes,

361
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Speaker 1: you are. Bank kicked me like this and I grapped

362
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Speaker 1: it and I didn't it, but I grabbed it because

363
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Speaker 1: she kicked. My reaction was and I threw egg liked

364
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Speaker 1: it well that one in front of the day and

365
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Speaker 1: they expelled. I was and my Catholic education, which was

366
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Speaker 1: a great education. That got because when I went to

367
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Speaker 1: public education, I was a five day student. Oh my god.

368
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Speaker 1: That was the difference of training. As you know. Then

369
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Speaker 1: I went to high school. I did like high school.

370
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Speaker 1: I went to tenth grade or something like that. That

371
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,679
Speaker 1: didn't appeal to me. Whatever. I was doing other things

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Speaker 1: and had my mind. I had, you know, Raymond, I

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Speaker 1: just had a passion to do other things, and thank God,

374
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Speaker 1: you know, he let me do it and allowed me

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Speaker 1: to do work.

376
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Speaker 2: Tell me about your classmates, you, Fabian and Bobby Rydell

377
00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:40,760
Speaker 2: went to the same school.

378
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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is unbelievable. What was in the water in Philadelphia.

379
00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:48,800
Speaker 1: The horses were drinking out of it, so we figured

380
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,040
Speaker 1: it was those things, you know, you drink out of it.

381
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Speaker 1: I don't know what it was, but you know it was.

382
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Speaker 1: It was a combination of ethnic groups of all kinds

383
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Speaker 1: in the neighbor. He lived in a row house, you know, Normanado,

384
00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:10,119
Speaker 1: German Snodgrass, of Iris, of Avaloni, you know, whatever it was.

385
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:16,040
Speaker 1: And and of course, uh I just Rydell and I've

386
00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,280
Speaker 1: known each other since we're like ten years old, because

387
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,800
Speaker 1: he was a drummer and did impressions and he was wonderful.

388
00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:24,040
Speaker 1: And Fabian was a good looking guy that all the

389
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Speaker 1: girls went crazy for. And I was dating a little

390
00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:29,160
Speaker 1: girl there, you know that. She said, oh, this guy, Fabian,

391
00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:33,560
Speaker 1: he's so cute. He's not that cute. So it was

392
00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:35,680
Speaker 1: a great neighbor little rivalry early on.

393
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Speaker 2: I love that Later you would tour forever together with

394
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:42,919
Speaker 2: thirty eight years later. Thirty eight years wow, okay, I

395
00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:46,240
Speaker 2: want to take you back to your first song, d

396
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:47,199
Speaker 2: D Dinah.

397
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:48,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is.

398
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 2: The first song that really hits for you, right, did

399
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:52,960
Speaker 2: you expect that song with hit? Kind of a.

400
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,920
Speaker 1: Novelty song, a big novelty a big novelty song. Well

401
00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:58,879
Speaker 1: what happened was I had made a couple of rerecors

402
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,840
Speaker 1: before that, which this is bombed, and so I had

403
00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:03,959
Speaker 1: one more record to do. They took me into New

404
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,639
Speaker 1: York and they do this song called DeeDee Dina. And

405
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:09,960
Speaker 1: in those days there was only two tracks. Now, I

406
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:12,800
Speaker 1: don't know if people understand what tracks are. There's a board,

407
00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:15,680
Speaker 1: they've got one hundred tracks and the drum this one,

408
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,320
Speaker 1: this one, this one. The band was there. I was here,

409
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,840
Speaker 1: that Mike was here, there, Milanke was here, and that rehearsal,

410
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,879
Speaker 1: the the it started out that the introduction was bab

411
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:32,000
Speaker 1: ba ba but up up up up out up but up.

412
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,080
Speaker 1: So now he said cooking, I can get on the Michael,

413
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,159
Speaker 1: let's try. Sorry, I go, I love my dinat data Dyna.

414
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:41,920
Speaker 1: That my dynat daity dyna. There is no girl. Dad

415
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,879
Speaker 1: is fine out my bread. So what are you doing?

416
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,560
Speaker 1: I said, Well, so's the coatto. I'm a musician. Yeah,

417
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:51,760
Speaker 1: so dang at dady dynad. So now he said, let's

418
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:53,919
Speaker 1: make a few takes like that. Now everybody thinks that

419
00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,359
Speaker 1: I held my nose. Yeah that's what I thought. No, No,

420
00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:59,320
Speaker 1: what I did was I let my dynat data Dina,

421
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:01,920
Speaker 1: let my day adity that there is no go that

422
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:06,159
Speaker 1: is fine. That then my wreck and Rolandna Deity Dina.

423
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:10,360
Speaker 1: Now they take they put it out wow, and they say,

424
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,679
Speaker 1: your record's a hit. My record is what? That record

425
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:19,040
Speaker 1: is a hit? How am I going to follow that up.

426
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:21,920
Speaker 2: With another nose job's first big hit?

427
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 1: I know, so I had to come out with another

428
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:30,399
Speaker 1: one Gingerbread j Gingerbread, ginger bread er bad, Gingerbread anger.

429
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:34,399
Speaker 1: But for some reason, the combination of what the song was,

430
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 1: the simplicity of the song, and I was a good

431
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 1: looking kid. Yeah, good hair. You did the dancing.

432
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:45,040
Speaker 2: I saw the dancing you're doing like the mash potato

433
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:46,120
Speaker 2: very nice.

434
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,159
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, Michael Jackson took for me, he did, and

435
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:53,960
Speaker 1: not only that, the chipmunks very good. So that was

436
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 1: the beginning of my singing career. I love it. Okay.

437
00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 1: When was the first time you heard Venus?

438
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 2: You know that?

439
00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:05,119
Speaker 1: I was at home in Philly and a knock on

440
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,000
Speaker 1: the door and a fellow said, my name is Ed Marshall.

441
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 1: I'm a songwriter. I have a song I would like

442
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 1: to play for you. I had a piano in the house. Huh,

443
00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:18,920
Speaker 1: I said, okay, come on in, comes in and he

444
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,280
Speaker 1: starts to play da da da da No no no no.

445
00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:23,640
Speaker 1: I hear it like I like this. Wow, that's really good.

446
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:27,080
Speaker 1: I said, has anybody heard this song before? He said,

447
00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:31,960
Speaker 1: Al Martino again, al Martino's from the neighborhood. I said,

448
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:33,520
Speaker 1: what did he think about it? He said he thought

449
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:34,879
Speaker 1: it was a real good song, but he wants to

450
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 1: do it in an album. He said, I think it's

451
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,400
Speaker 1: really a single for you, Frankie, I said, played again.

452
00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:43,920
Speaker 1: I said, this is fantasic. I called the record company,

453
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,720
Speaker 1: which was in Philadelphia. We went up together. He played

454
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,240
Speaker 1: it No to Philly, Philly, and he played it for

455
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 1: Pete de Angelis and Bob Marcucci and they listened to it.

456
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:58,879
Speaker 1: They loved it. Now, it's really amazing about what music

457
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 1: and how it changes for different little things creatively. Pete

458
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 1: de Angelis says to Ed Marshall, I love the song.

459
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 1: I would like to make a change. So Ed Marshall says,

460
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: what do you mean? He said, I want to change

461
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:22,520
Speaker 1: one note. Said Marshall said, like what he said, And

462
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 1: he gets on the piano and he says, you wrote Venus.

463
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,119
Speaker 1: If you will please send the little girl for me

464
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,040
Speaker 1: to thrill. I want to change Venus, if you will

465
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:38,239
Speaker 1: please send the little girl for me to thrill. One note. Now,

466
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 1: Marcucci is the lyricist with the Pete d'anngeles. He says,

467
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:44,720
Speaker 1: I want to change one thing too. He said, what

468
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,440
Speaker 1: I want to change one word? So what do you

469
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:53,720
Speaker 1: mean as long as we both will live? I would

470
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,960
Speaker 1: like to say, as long as we both shall live.

471
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,439
Speaker 1: We made those two changes there. We went into New

472
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:05,440
Speaker 1: York City. I made seven takes on it live like that.

473
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 1: I waited until four o'clock in the morning on an acetate,

474
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,160
Speaker 1: took it back to my home in Philly. I didn't

475
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:18,240
Speaker 1: sleep for twenty four hours. I just knew that this

476
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 1: was a smash.

477
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 2: Wow number one, your first number one, first number one.

478
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,119
Speaker 1: Of thirty something Billboard. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I had

479
00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: a great, great record career. Yeah. What was it about

480
00:26:29,280 --> 00:26:30,200
Speaker 1: that song? Do you think?

481
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,959
Speaker 2: I mean, you still sing that now and you can

482
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:34,640
Speaker 2: feel the audience melt one day.

483
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 1: First, I think it put a lot of people together.

484
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 1: I think it was such a romantic song. Whether you're

485
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:45,520
Speaker 1: male or female, it meant something to you from your heart,

486
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,040
Speaker 1: and so I mean, I sing it and we were talking.

487
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:50,879
Speaker 1: I sing it, and I look in the audience, and

488
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,880
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, I see people hold hands, get closer

489
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:59,400
Speaker 1: together and sing it with me, and I get the bumps.

490
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 1: Just skin, don't lie, that's right, you know. And I

491
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:05,000
Speaker 1: still get the bumps watching him.

492
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 2: Elvis and Priscilla Presley apparently met listening to that song.

493
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:10,679
Speaker 2: Is that right?

494
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 1: Yeah? I read this whole story about this.

495
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:16,879
Speaker 2: In fact, apparently in the recent movie that Sophia Coppola did,

496
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:18,200
Speaker 2: she uses venus.

497
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,000
Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know movie. I know my

498
00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 1: grandkids saw it, and my wife saw it. I haven't

499
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 1: seen the picture yet. You haven't. My song. It's been

500
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:29,639
Speaker 1: in a lot of films. It's that kind of class.

501
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:30,240
Speaker 1: It is a class.

502
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:35,880
Speaker 2: Speaking of classics. In nineteen sixty three, you meet your wife, Kay,

503
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:40,440
Speaker 2: and you're married in that year. Back in sixty three.

504
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:44,960
Speaker 1: I met her, actually in sixty two, the ending of

505
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:49,159
Speaker 1: actually August thirty first, of I have a good memory,

506
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:53,480
Speaker 1: you have an amazing memory. But I met her August

507
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 1: thirty first. In sixty two. She came over with a

508
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 1: columnist who was very, very popular at the time. Her

509
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: name was Rona Barrett, oh of course, Rona Barrett, Yeah, television. Well, yeah,

510
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,200
Speaker 1: she was very controversial because she was right to the point,

511
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 1: you know. And she brought this young gal over and

512
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:16,120
Speaker 1: I'm playing cards with my buddies there and I see

513
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 1: this guy. Rona says, say, hello, this is my good

514
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 1: friend kay Diable Frankie Avalon. We sit down and we talk.

515
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:26,880
Speaker 1: We talked for about an hour. I'm out of the game,

516
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 1: but play, guys, I'm out of the game. And finally

517
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 1: when she leaves, I go back to my guys there

518
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:33,800
Speaker 1: and I says, see that girl, I'm going to marry her.

519
00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 1: Oh wow, They went, oh, come on, because I was

520
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:38,480
Speaker 1: dating a lot of gals at the time, like a

521
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: little starless and Margaret and I dated a few times,

522
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,200
Speaker 1: so then, you know, but I just knew exactly that

523
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,280
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. You were literally out of the game,

524
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. Yeah. How has it lasted all these years? Incredible? Well,

525
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,680
Speaker 1: sixty one years, we're going on sixty two this coming January. Yeah, well,

526
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,080
Speaker 1: you know, it's great. First of all, she's not you know,

527
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 1: a fly by night easy, she's tough. Well, you have

528
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,440
Speaker 1: to be eight kids, and you eight kids, I mean

529
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:07,640
Speaker 1: raising eight kids and I'll tell you what. God bless

530
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 1: my eight children, my grandchildren and the job that she did.

531
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:12,880
Speaker 1: And of course I'm a part of it. And I

532
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:15,160
Speaker 1: am a good part of it too because I am

533
00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:15,840
Speaker 1: the father.

534
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 2: You know.

535
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 1: But you know ups and downs in marriage, right, you know,

536
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: you go through times and see her. But in those

537
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 1: days you had to love and you kept that love

538
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,080
Speaker 1: and if there were moments where it wasn't happening, you

539
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,160
Speaker 1: still had love, so you made it back again. But

540
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 1: you know in these days in progress, that happens. People

541
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:37,560
Speaker 1: they have arguments, that have fights and they don't not

542
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,600
Speaker 1: get along right away. Call my attorney. You call my attorney,

543
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 1: I'll call your Attorney's a different world. If you love

544
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,920
Speaker 1: somebody and you go through thick and thin, that's a commitment.

545
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 1: And the religious could have absolutely absolute for God. And

546
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:53,720
Speaker 1: you know, my wife very religious and the children were

547
00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: all raised Catholic and it was great.

548
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,040
Speaker 2: What's the secret if you had to say, this is

549
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,680
Speaker 2: the secret too, maintaining a relationship over that time. And

550
00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 2: as you said, marriages hid up and ups.

551
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's a respect, respecting what they do,

552
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 1: what you do to each other. And in life period,

553
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 1: you know, she's an amazing woman. She's just wonderful. A

554
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:20,760
Speaker 1: great lady, A great lady.

555
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,520
Speaker 2: Okay, I want to talk about something I didn't realize.

556
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,320
Speaker 2: You were Bobby Darren's roommate.

557
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:32,280
Speaker 1: Yep, when was that? Well, Okay, Bobby Darren and I met.

558
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 1: We were studying vocal, studying with a guy by the

559
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:40,720
Speaker 1: name of Carlo Manatti. Carlo Manatt out of a Carnegie

560
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,400
Speaker 1: Hall and I was coming out of a lesson. He

561
00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:47,040
Speaker 1: was going in and Carlo introduced us and we got

562
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 1: to talk in this that whatever he had just made

563
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:55,600
Speaker 1: splishplash and no, no, he would didn't even make splish splash.

564
00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 1: At that time, I was starting to go right because

565
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,959
Speaker 1: I was study with Carlo and at the Century Hotel

566
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:04,680
Speaker 1: on forty eighth Street. We shared this room and I

567
00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:07,560
Speaker 1: always say, it's a little room the mice or hunchback.

568
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 1: You had to go in the hall to change your mind.

569
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,000
Speaker 1: And we became friends, and of course, uh then he

570
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:19,680
Speaker 1: wrote split Splash, and then we started touring together. We

571
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,960
Speaker 1: did we did these one nighters with the Cavalcado Stars

572
00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 1: with Bobby Darren, with Paul Anka, with Buddy Holly, with

573
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 1: Sam Cook, Jackie Wilson, all of us on one show Wow.

574
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,960
Speaker 1: And with the talent that he had in the beginning there,

575
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 1: he was way above us, really his now because he

576
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 1: could do everything. He was a magnificent singer, songwriter, impressionist, drummer,

577
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:53,960
Speaker 1: piano player, xeyglophones. He was just magnificent. And he was

578
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 1: a friend. He was my friend. I loved him.

579
00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 2: I really did, Okay, Beach blanket, this franchise, your next great,

580
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 2: your next great franchise. Did you ever think a that

581
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 2: these movies would land the way they did.

582
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 1: The thing that amazes me is that I was never

583
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: nominated for an Academy Award number one. It's unbelievable. Six

584
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,120
Speaker 1: six of those, right, seven, I don't know six seven,

585
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:24,520
Speaker 1: they're all the same. I don't know which one. I

586
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 1: don't know anyway. But they did capture, they did capture

587
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:30,120
Speaker 1: something of that era. You know. You know what Raymond

588
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:33,080
Speaker 1: really amazing about that. I had done a few films

589
00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 1: for AIP American International Pictures. I did one with Raymond

590
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:39,240
Speaker 1: Land directed, the Academy Award winner kind of in year zero.

591
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 1: I did another one of the Operation Bikini tab Hunter.

592
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: So I did so. Now I get friendly with the writer.

593
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 1: His name was lou Russoff. He come to my house.

594
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 1: I make pasta form that so I said, why don't

595
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 1: you write something for like a young people? He comes

596
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 1: a month later he gives me a script is called

597
00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 1: Beach Party. Right, this looked like a lot of fun.

598
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,720
Speaker 1: Now who's going to play opposite me? He said, we

599
00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:08,160
Speaker 1: got this gal from Disney called a net Funicello. I said,

600
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:10,720
Speaker 1: are you kidding? I love a net foon Oficello. I

601
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:12,640
Speaker 1: met her when she was fifteen at the at the

602
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 1: Hollywood Palladium. We did a show together. I went, I

603
00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:18,959
Speaker 1: dated her, went to her house. I answered, mother if

604
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 1: I could date and she said, okay.

605
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 2: We took.

606
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:23,080
Speaker 1: I got a little pizza with there with it, so

607
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 1: I knew her anyway. I said, great choice. We go

608
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:29,800
Speaker 1: on Bill Asher, who is the director, wonderful director. We

609
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,120
Speaker 1: do the first scene and it's where I got to

610
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,280
Speaker 1: pick her up and kick open the door and all

611
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,440
Speaker 1: the kids are there. I said, we're going to be alone,

612
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 1: whatever it may be. And I said to Bill Asher

613
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:39,520
Speaker 1: said this is going to be fun.

614
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:40,400
Speaker 2: And it was.

615
00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 1: After all that one we did a lot of it.

616
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 2: What do you think when you see them now? They'll

617
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 2: play them on Turner movie class again.

618
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:49,680
Speaker 1: Oh, I know, I think when you see them, I

619
00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:53,080
Speaker 1: think they're just cute and they it was great fun

620
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:57,440
Speaker 1: for me. We had so many stars, from Donald Rickles

621
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:02,440
Speaker 1: to Boris Karlov I mean they on and on Buster Keaton.

622
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:02,880
Speaker 2: Yeah.

623
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 1: I mean the cast they had was always terrific and

624
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 1: they were just we did those pictures, Raymond in fifteen days.

625
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:13,479
Speaker 1: That's short of shoot. Yeah. Wow, three hundred and fifty

626
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,080
Speaker 1: thousand dollars to make those films.

627
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Bill Asher, the director said they were dreams,

628
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:19,920
Speaker 2: but they were nice dreams.

629
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, they were terrific. Do you feel that what they

630
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:25,760
Speaker 1: had morals? You know, it's like every time when Frankie

631
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,680
Speaker 1: me the character Frankie would go to a net which

632
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,879
Speaker 1: was d D at the time, and he would say

633
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 1: and she'd say, no, no, until I have a ring

634
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,839
Speaker 1: on my finger. I didn't have to say anything else.

635
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,920
Speaker 1: She just knew that that was the morals of the picture.

636
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 1: Like that make her jealous, maybe she'll get you'll get close.

637
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:43,759
Speaker 2: You know.

638
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 1: It was nice, sweet fun. Yeah, yeah, innocent fun.

639
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 2: And she wouldn't wear the two piece.

640
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, well Disney Disney said, no, I don't want to

641
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,360
Speaker 1: show her Billy Button, all the other gals, and she

642
00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:57,960
Speaker 1: had a gorgeous figure too. Yeah, but that was and

643
00:34:58,080 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 1: she took to that.

644
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, you are very close and.

645
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,160
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I mean through all those pictures. And of course

646
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:08,960
Speaker 1: her husband, Jack Gilardi, it was my agent. She married

647
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:14,080
Speaker 1: Jack Gilardi. So I'm godfather to her firstborn, Gina, and

648
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:18,240
Speaker 1: Jack has godfather to my first son, frank We're family

649
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 1: and she and she.

650
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:21,880
Speaker 2: Had that well, you all did the you did the

651
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:24,520
Speaker 2: Return to the Beach movie too, Back Baby, Back to

652
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 2: the Beach, and that was her last one.

653
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 1: She was she was sick. Then she didn't know she

654
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 1: had MS until we started doing some promotional things with

655
00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:35,880
Speaker 1: Q cards and she couldn't read, couldn't see them, and

656
00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:38,560
Speaker 1: went to an optometrist and said, you have MS. And

657
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,280
Speaker 1: then we traveled for Dick Clark. We did thirty concerts

658
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 1: and her husband came to me and said, Frankie, don't

659
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 1: let her know, but I'm telling you now she has MS,

660
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 1: said MSS. And I saw her getting weaker and weak.

661
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:53,880
Speaker 1: Of what a trooper. She hung in there for every

662
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:59,120
Speaker 1: performance and never complained. And one of the most memorable

663
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:05,799
Speaker 1: things about that relationship was in San Francisco Tommy Tooon

664
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:11,960
Speaker 1: hosted an evening saluting Frankie and Annette because the fellow

665
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,680
Speaker 1: who did Beach Blanket Babylon in San Francisco was a

666
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:20,919
Speaker 1: big hit. Our films inspired him, so he recognized three

667
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 1: thousand Robin Williams was there, three thousand people, and they

668
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,600
Speaker 1: showed clips of us. They put together a whole thing.

669
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:31,480
Speaker 1: And she's in a wheelchair behind the curtain and when

670
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 1: Tommy Tuone said, ladies and gentlemen, Frankie and Annette, and

671
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 1: the curtain went up like this, and I wheeled her

672
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:41,160
Speaker 1: out again, you know, I mean, they loved her.

673
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:45,480
Speaker 2: She was great, heroic the way she and a very faithful,

674
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:47,000
Speaker 2: faithful Catholic.

675
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:51,360
Speaker 1: Oh god, yeah, just just good religious, bringing up a

676
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:55,120
Speaker 1: good family. She was wonderful, one of a kind and

677
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,080
Speaker 1: I'm glad to have spent moments with her on the

678
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:00,560
Speaker 1: screen and off the screen. It was just wonderful experience.

679
00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:04,520
Speaker 2: Incredible. Lady. Tell me about touring with your other compadres.

680
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,480
Speaker 2: You did for thirty eight years, the Golden Boys tour.

681
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:09,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, amazing, Huh what was that? Like?

682
00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 2: I just what is it about that music?

683
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,320
Speaker 1: Frankie? It never it never goes away? So what is it.

684
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,720
Speaker 1: Why do people still brave it? Because they're great songs

685
00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 1: that they fit any generation. I don't care if you're

686
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 1: twelve to fifteen. What if you hear that song, you'll

687
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:27,160
Speaker 1: like it? You know, today I must say, there's a

688
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: lot of stuff out there that you don't like. You know,

689
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 1: those songs survive because they're good songs.

690
00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:34,640
Speaker 2: Were the times really that good?

691
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,359
Speaker 1: Of course they were? They were the best?

692
00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:38,640
Speaker 2: Do you think that's what it is?

693
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:40,680
Speaker 1: See? I think the times were won.

694
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 2: The music is beautiful, but music comes from an era,

695
00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,880
Speaker 2: and that era we pine for it somewhere deep romance

696
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:48,799
Speaker 2: and morals and.

697
00:37:49,440 --> 00:38:01,560
Speaker 1: In intact society, morals, upbringing, childhood, friendships, relationships, family, neighborhood, neighbors, religion.

698
00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 1: I don't care. What very important and when you have

699
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,960
Speaker 1: those qualities. Look, when I was a kid dating fourteen,

700
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,960
Speaker 1: fifteen years old, whatever, sixteen years old, you get a car,

701
00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:17,080
Speaker 1: You went to the house, you met the mother and father,

702
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:20,000
Speaker 1: You sat down, you were a gentleman. You went to

703
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,400
Speaker 1: your car, you opened the door, you put in the car,

704
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,880
Speaker 1: you put sam on the door. You went to a movie.

705
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:28,560
Speaker 1: You put your arm around here. It got stiffly like this.

706
00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 1: You know, you had certain things that were just wonderful

707
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:35,840
Speaker 1: things that are gone, and they'll never come back. This progress,

708
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:36,239
Speaker 1: So what.

709
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 2: Do you think they'll never come back? See?

710
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:39,920
Speaker 1: I think they will come back, do I do? I

711
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:40,600
Speaker 1: hope it right.

712
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:41,799
Speaker 2: I see it in the young.

713
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 1: I see it in your grandchildren. I see it in

714
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:44,440
Speaker 1: my children.

715
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 2: They're looking back at what you all had, uh huh,

716
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,160
Speaker 2: and they realized what they don't have, and they do

717
00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:57,720
Speaker 2: particularly the romance in the courtship thing, because the phones

718
00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:00,320
Speaker 2: have killed everything. Phones killed that.

719
00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:02,200
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Yeah, how do you date.

720
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:03,399
Speaker 2: An image on the phone.

721
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:07,160
Speaker 1: Everybody's like this, this is not this is not a

722
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:10,600
Speaker 1: good time or first base kids. I know, no, you know,

723
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:12,680
Speaker 1: I come from the generator. My father said that we

724
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:14,520
Speaker 1: when I first got a Grisier. When you get a

725
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:20,680
Speaker 1: good don't ever get electric windows, you know. So the

726
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:24,239
Speaker 1: technology is whatever. But you know what, Raymond, I think

727
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 1: that the respect of your parents is very important. I

728
00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:31,800
Speaker 1: think that that if you respect your pai, you know,

729
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:35,360
Speaker 1: you could go either which way. My neighborhood, pretty tough neighborhood,

730
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:38,120
Speaker 1: South Philly. You know, you handled yourself, you knew what

731
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,319
Speaker 1: you had, some street sense whatever. Well, if you knew

732
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,440
Speaker 1: there was a couple of guys that were on a

733
00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 1: different track. They would say they let's do this. You'd

734
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:49,400
Speaker 1: go like this. No, the reason why you said that

735
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,560
Speaker 1: is because you said, I will not embarrass or hurt

736
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:56,400
Speaker 1: my parents. You had to respect, you know, and we

737
00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:59,480
Speaker 1: need to know. I go back to parents, really do

738
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:01,839
Speaker 1: to talk about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,

739
00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 1: which I cannot believe at this point has not inducted

740
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 1: Frankie Avalon into its ranks. Well, I can understand that.

741
00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:12,080
Speaker 1: What do you mean. You can understand that you were

742
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,239
Speaker 1: at you're at the founding. Yeah, but do you think

743
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:17,800
Speaker 1: that I was a rock and roll singer? No, was

744
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,960
Speaker 1: Dolly Partner rock and roll singer. No, you were part

745
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:25,320
Speaker 1: of that era. But you know what I remember, I

746
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 1: was seeing a thing Billy Joel and I loved his music.

747
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,799
Speaker 1: He's just wonderful, talented. But he once made a comedies said, well,

748
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,680
Speaker 1: not like guys that should belong in the Rock and

749
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:38,920
Speaker 1: Roll Hall of Fame, like Frankie Avalon and Fabian and

750
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:42,680
Speaker 1: because they were just pretty boys. Yes, we were pretty.

751
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:46,960
Speaker 1: Unfortunately he wasn't, but we were, but we were pretty.

752
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,439
Speaker 1: But I guess that was one of the reasons why

753
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:54,000
Speaker 1: that we weren't really rockers, and we had screaming kids

754
00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:56,680
Speaker 1: and that the policemen all the roundness.

755
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:58,480
Speaker 2: And it was yeah, you know you were you were

756
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:03,000
Speaker 2: teen idols, which surely is a qualification. Yeah, no, yeah,

757
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,120
Speaker 2: I mean tell me. You mentioned Elvis earlier that Elvis

758
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,040
Speaker 2: was the model for the teen Angel. Did you know Elvis?

759
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, tell me about Well, the first time I

760
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:14,920
Speaker 1: met him, believe it or not, was with Bobby Darren.

761
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:15,399
Speaker 2: Ah.

762
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:19,280
Speaker 1: We were both on paramount to do something and Elvis

763
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:24,560
Speaker 1: was doing a film there and we got the PR

764
00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:26,440
Speaker 1: guy to take us into his dressing room on his

765
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:28,920
Speaker 1: lunch break and we got to meet and say, oh,

766
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:33,120
Speaker 1: it was nice conversation whatever, And Bobby kind of egged

767
00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:35,960
Speaker 1: him on a little bit and said, Elvis, I understand

768
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:39,719
Speaker 1: that you're really a good karate guy. So I was, oh, yeah,

769
00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:43,560
Speaker 1: I'm good, and I said I'll show you what I mean.

770
00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:45,920
Speaker 1: We went into the sound stage and he had some

771
00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:50,239
Speaker 1: things there boards. You know, they did a couple of

772
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 1: these breaks there, and Bobby said that's also would come

773
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 1: on with that. No no, no, man, no, no, no,

774
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:01,239
Speaker 1: you're good, You're good. But then I would go to

775
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:03,920
Speaker 1: his house on Sundays because we came friendly and we

776
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:08,799
Speaker 1: played football together and barbecued, and he wanted to date

777
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:11,480
Speaker 1: my wife. What where I met her? Oh? Okay, yeah,

778
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:15,200
Speaker 1: well I'm thinking I knew Elvis was the king, and

779
00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:19,040
Speaker 1: he was a very interesting guy. When you went to

780
00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:21,000
Speaker 1: his house, you know, he'd have, of course a lot

781
00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:24,319
Speaker 1: of people there, a lot of girls, fans, and all

782
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,920
Speaker 1: of his guys six seven guys dressed just like him,

783
00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:31,320
Speaker 1: you know, And and then these doors would open to

784
00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:33,279
Speaker 1: his bedroom. Then he walked out and everybody would just

785
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:37,160
Speaker 1: go like this, the Emperor has arrived. And he sit

786
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:40,879
Speaker 1: down and all his leg would shake like this. That's

787
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,760
Speaker 1: what I noted. And had a jukebox in the corner

788
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:47,839
Speaker 1: all his songs only his other song, I did shake,

789
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:52,000
Speaker 1: That was the other what. I loved his music. He

790
00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:55,399
Speaker 1: was great, he was amazing. What about Sinatra? You must

791
00:42:55,440 --> 00:43:00,719
Speaker 1: have known Frank Sinatra, the Italian thing, my idol Sinatra.

792
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:05,160
Speaker 1: I first met him in Hawaii. I was going to

793
00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:08,880
Speaker 1: Australia and he had come back from Australia.

794
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:11,120
Speaker 2: He was and I had heard the seventies when he

795
00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:12,200
Speaker 2: had to blow up over there.

796
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:15,080
Speaker 1: No, I think it's even before that. Oh, I'll tell

797
00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:17,520
Speaker 1: you what it had it be fifty nine, oh, okay,

798
00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:22,320
Speaker 1: earlier earlier. So I had heard Hank Senacola was his manager,

799
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 1: and my record company called Hank Sanacole and said, Frankie

800
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:31,040
Speaker 1: Avla loves him and set up a meeting. So I

801
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:32,680
Speaker 1: went with a guy who I grew up with, the

802
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:36,640
Speaker 1: Hucklebucket was my roadmatag Yeah, cement mixed guy. So we

803
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 1: went and I made sure that my shoes were shining.

804
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:41,839
Speaker 1: I made sure that I had a jacket and shirt

805
00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:45,160
Speaker 1: and tycas. I knew he was impeccable. Yes, he insisted

806
00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:47,120
Speaker 1: on and I went to him. He was alone, he

807
00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:49,200
Speaker 1: was looking out the window. He turned around. I went,

808
00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:53,680
Speaker 1: oh my god, it's frank and shook his hand like this.

809
00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:56,000
Speaker 1: I said, mister Sinatra, nice to meet you. We had

810
00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:59,959
Speaker 1: a conversation and I said to him, I love your music.

811
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:02,520
Speaker 1: I love your songs, but of course you do all

812
00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:06,640
Speaker 1: those great songs. I sing Venus. He said, I love Venus.

813
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:11,640
Speaker 1: Oh nice. So from then on end we became friendly.

814
00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:14,280
Speaker 1: I'd stay at his house really out in Palm Spring.

815
00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:18,839
Speaker 1: He would call me. He wouldn't ask, So Frankie, come

816
00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,520
Speaker 1: to the house. The jet will take us to Walter

817
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:25,839
Speaker 1: we'll do it for agnew vice president. Frankie take, we're

818
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:30,200
Speaker 1: going here, Okay, Frankie, do this a charity for me

819
00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:33,200
Speaker 1: to raise some money. Frankie sing, I got these people

820
00:44:33,239 --> 00:44:35,319
Speaker 1: are paying ten thousands for the golf tournament. I want

821
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:39,840
Speaker 1: you to sing and entertainment. So I became friends. Wow. No,

822
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:42,640
Speaker 1: he was a booker. He was a booker in addition

823
00:44:42,719 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 1: to a singer. He was an amazing guy. Unbelievable. Really.

824
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:48,640
Speaker 1: I took him to a restaurant one time in New York.

825
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:53,880
Speaker 1: So we're at this great restaurant. So when the check comes, Oh,

826
00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:56,440
Speaker 1: first I go win to the to the chef, to

827
00:44:56,560 --> 00:44:59,640
Speaker 1: the owner. I say, listen, Sinatra's coming in and he's

828
00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:03,280
Speaker 1: never been here. He loves pasta. He doesn't like garlic

829
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:06,080
Speaker 1: in the sauce. He likes garlic to a saute and

830
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:08,200
Speaker 1: then take it out because he doesn't want to bite

831
00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:13,200
Speaker 1: into a garlic. Okay. So now we go into the restaurant.

832
00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:15,759
Speaker 1: Bill comes and I go, I got that, and frank

833
00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:19,520
Speaker 1: says push. He says, s my check. I said, frank

834
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,560
Speaker 1: they don't take credit cards. He said, I don't care.

835
00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:29,480
Speaker 1: They got a why and gave everybody in the restaurant,

836
00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:35,000
Speaker 1: from the busboy to whoever was working one hundred dollars everybody.

837
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:37,160
Speaker 1: He was very generous.

838
00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:41,120
Speaker 2: He was He was an incredible talent who liked somebody

839
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:42,759
Speaker 2: else that I'm sitting near.

840
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:48,440
Speaker 1: Continued to perform into his eighties. Yeah, what's the secret

841
00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:48,759
Speaker 1: to that?

842
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:49,360
Speaker 2: Frank?

843
00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:55,239
Speaker 1: Loving it, liking it and loving it traveling. I don't

844
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:56,800
Speaker 1: like it. You don't like the travel. I know you

845
00:45:56,840 --> 00:45:59,360
Speaker 1: don't like the travel part. But you know, once you

846
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:03,360
Speaker 1: hit the wing and they say ladies and gentlemen rank you,

847
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:07,640
Speaker 1: you're on and you just love it. And you know

848
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:10,439
Speaker 1: why too. You got to put this in your mind

849
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:13,759
Speaker 1: as a performer, and I'm sure you do too. I'm

850
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:17,440
Speaker 1: halfway home. They like me and I like them.

851
00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:17,879
Speaker 2: Yeah.

852
00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:22,720
Speaker 1: How can you miss pleasing the audience? Wanting to please

853
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:26,120
Speaker 1: the audience, not yourself? And that's a big that that

854
00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:29,239
Speaker 1: is almost lost today. Well, you know, Raymond, I learned

855
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:32,960
Speaker 1: from the best, Nick Castle. I learned from him. I

856
00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:35,919
Speaker 1: worked with him for months. Showed me how to walk

857
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:39,640
Speaker 1: on a stage, how to take a microphone, what's song

858
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:43,640
Speaker 1: to do after another? What pacing is? What kind of lights?

859
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:48,319
Speaker 1: Where you want a mood? Great story? I'm playing Las

860
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:55,200
Speaker 1: Vegas and in the audience is Lucille Ball Lucy. I

861
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,040
Speaker 1: happen to have done two shows with her. We took

862
00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:00,839
Speaker 1: a liking to one another. She comes to see me. Sure,

863
00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:06,279
Speaker 1: she comes backstage. You're a talent. I love talent. She

864
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:12,600
Speaker 1: says to me. There's one song. Take it out. I said, Lucy,

865
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:18,319
Speaker 1: what's up? She said, the one about the kids. I said,

866
00:47:18,360 --> 00:47:22,359
Speaker 1: but Lucy, this is a dramatic moment for me. She said,

867
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:25,920
Speaker 1: take it out. I don't like it for your audience.

868
00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:31,560
Speaker 1: Now you know why. The song was a song that

869
00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:38,080
Speaker 1: Sonny wrote for Sonny and Share. The song goes, you'd

870
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:43,319
Speaker 1: better sit down, kids. I'll tell you why. Kids. Your

871
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:48,799
Speaker 1: mother and I kids don't see eye kids divorce, right,

872
00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:51,600
Speaker 1: Lucy says to me, do you know how many people

873
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:54,520
Speaker 1: are out there that may be going through a divorce

874
00:47:55,560 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 1: that you're bringing them down? I said, it's out and

875
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:02,759
Speaker 1: that was it.

876
00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:03,239
Speaker 2: Yeah.

877
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:05,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow from a pro yep.

878
00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:08,000
Speaker 2: She was attentive to what the audience wanted and what

879
00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:10,320
Speaker 2: they needed. And I watch you do the same. You

880
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:13,040
Speaker 2: adjust the show. You do adjust your shows as you

881
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:14,120
Speaker 2: go from place to place.

882
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:17,360
Speaker 1: Sure, and the lineup, Yeah, but you still get a

883
00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:19,560
Speaker 1: thrill out of it. You love doing this, Yeah, yeah,

884
00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:22,520
Speaker 1: and I'll keep doing it until they'd say no more.

885
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:25,600
Speaker 1: I won't say no more. They'll never say no more.

886
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:26,680
Speaker 1: I don't know.

887
00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:29,560
Speaker 2: Ray, tell me about your faith and how faith has

888
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:31,640
Speaker 2: sustained you through all of this.

889
00:48:32,040 --> 00:48:35,160
Speaker 1: I grew up, you know, being raised a Catholic, and

890
00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:40,720
Speaker 1: of course from your grandma and your grandpa, to your uncles,

891
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:44,279
Speaker 1: to your aunts, to your friends, we had you know,

892
00:48:44,400 --> 00:48:46,880
Speaker 1: you went to church, you went to communion, and you

893
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:51,040
Speaker 1: revered Good Lord and God. And you know the Bible,

894
00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:54,160
Speaker 1: you know the story of Christ, and you stay with

895
00:48:54,239 --> 00:48:57,120
Speaker 1: It's always in the back of your mind. And you pray.

896
00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:01,560
Speaker 1: And I still pray every night, every morning. I pray

897
00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:03,200
Speaker 1: for people.

898
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:05,320
Speaker 2: Pray for. What do you pray for?

899
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:07,239
Speaker 1: I pray for a lot of things. I pray for

900
00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:10,680
Speaker 1: people who are in distress, who have issues, that have problems.

901
00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:13,759
Speaker 1: I pray for my family. I pray for their health,

902
00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:19,080
Speaker 1: their safetiness, a lot of prayers. Well, we love being

903
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:21,400
Speaker 1: with you and Ran. Thank you for this, Thank you,

904
00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:22,560
Speaker 1: thank you for your talent.

905
00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 2: And I'm a big fan of the old Please, I'm

906
00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:27,280
Speaker 2: a bigger fan of Frankie Avalanche.

907
00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:30,080
Speaker 1: Thank you for being here. Thank you, YoY, honor, thank you.

908
00:49:30,960 --> 00:49:31,640
Speaker 1: Here's the whole.

909
00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:35,640
Speaker 2: Frankie Avalon is still performing in his mid eighties. I

910
00:49:35,719 --> 00:49:38,760
Speaker 2: wish I had that mind. He's just amazing on stage

911
00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:43,160
Speaker 2: and off, but he balances it with grace, finding joy

912
00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:46,400
Speaker 2: in his audience and his family. And I was struck

913
00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:49,680
Speaker 2: by Avalon's humility. This is something I think we could

914
00:49:49,680 --> 00:49:52,399
Speaker 2: all use more of. Avalon was always willing to take

915
00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:57,040
Speaker 2: advice and correction from other talented people, whether Lucy Oball

916
00:49:57,280 --> 00:49:58,080
Speaker 2: or John Wayne.

917
00:49:58,719 --> 00:50:01,280
Speaker 1: He knew there was more to learn, and he kept learning.

918
00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:04,279
Speaker 2: And how about that Lucy line, your talent and I

919
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:04,960
Speaker 2: love talent.

920
00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:06,280
Speaker 1: That is so true.

921
00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:09,319
Speaker 2: You know, it takes talent to recognize it. And there's

922
00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:11,680
Speaker 2: something else that Frankie Avalon does. And I've seen this

923
00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:15,160
Speaker 2: up close in real time. He goes out with that

924
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:19,960
Speaker 2: positive mindset every time he steps on stage. They like

925
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:22,960
Speaker 2: me and I like them, and he attempts to please them.

926
00:50:23,600 --> 00:50:26,680
Speaker 2: That can be applied to any job. Try it, and

927
00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:30,120
Speaker 2: you know, I still think Frankie Avalon deserves to be

928
00:50:30,200 --> 00:50:30,719
Speaker 2: in the Rock and.

929
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:31,600
Speaker 1: Roll Hall of Fame.

930
00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:35,120
Speaker 2: Tell me what you think in comments. And with Christmas

931
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:37,600
Speaker 2: time upon us, I have a Christmas album I'd love

932
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:42,080
Speaker 2: you to check out and download. It's called Raymond Arroyo Christmas,

933
00:50:42,200 --> 00:50:46,239
Speaker 2: Mary and Bright. It features all new big band arrangements

934
00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:50,839
Speaker 2: of some incredible Yule Tide classics, and the legendary Jose

935
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:54,200
Speaker 2: Feliciano joins me on the album for an all new

936
00:50:54,320 --> 00:50:59,239
Speaker 2: take on his classic Felice Navidad. Christmas Mary and Bright

937
00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:02,040
Speaker 2: is available wherever you get your music on all the

938
00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:05,960
Speaker 2: streaming services. Make it part of your Christmas celebrations, and

939
00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:08,160
Speaker 2: I hope you'll come back to a royal grande soon.

940
00:51:08,440 --> 00:51:11,279
Speaker 2: While of a dry, constricted life, when if you fill

941
00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:13,720
Speaker 2: it with good things, it can flow into a broad,

942
00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:15,680
Speaker 2: driving Arroyo Grande.

943
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:18,279
Speaker 1: I'm Raymond Arroyo. Make sure you're subscribed.

944
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:22,200
Speaker 2: Like this episode, Frankie Avalon would expect nothing less.

945
00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:24,520
Speaker 1: Thank you for diving in. We'll see you next. Doctor.

946
00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:29,759
Speaker 2: Arroyo Grande is produced in partnership with DP Studios and

947
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:33,520
Speaker 2: iHeart Podcasts, and it's available on the iHeartRadio app or

948
00:51:33,520 --> 00:51:35,120
Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcasts