An Interview with Marty Allen - Part Two

Kliph Nesteroff: I found a billing from November 1950. You and your comedy partner Rex Dale playing The Monte Carlo in Pittsburgh. You were on the bill with a female tap dancer named Lu Claire and a singer named Mildred Don and...

Marty Allen: Yeah, so?

Kliph Nesteroff: Backed up by Bobby Cardillo's Orchestra...

Marty Allen: Yeah, so what?

Kliph Nesteroff: Well, what do you remember about...

Marty Allen: Well, those were the early days when I was the local comic. The comic that was starting to come up out of the ranks of Pittsburgh entertainers. I remember playing there with Lu Claire, the girl dancer. If I remember correctly her brother was the agent. I worked with a lot of people and it was like training in baseball or football. You train in the minors and try to improve yourself and try to decide which way you want to go as a performer. This was the training period in which you try to build yourself and figure out who you are.

Kliph Nesteroff: Eventually you and Steve Rossi became identified with The Sands in Las Vegas...

Marty Allen: Uh huh.

Kliph Nesteroff: But you played The Last Frontier hotel in Vegas as early as 1953 with your comedy partner Mitch DeWood. Was that your first appearance in Vegas?

Marty Allen: No, I believe I played The Sahara first. It was all building toward the big thing. It's all your past. It's all [part of] maturing as a performer.

Kliph Nesteroff: You formed the comedy team Allen and DeWood in 1951. Mitch DeWood was...

Marty Allen: Who?

Kliph Nesteroff: Mitch DeWood. Your comedy partner. He was the cousin of Danny Thomas.

Marty Allen: Oh yeah. Yeah, they were cousins.

Kliph Nesteroff: Did the fact that he was a relative of Danny Thomas help you two...

Marty Allen: No. Danny was a very brilliant comic. A very brilliant comedian. He encouraged us, but he didn't do anything... anything that happened came from our basic talents.

Kliph Nesteroff: Before you and Mitch DeWood broke up you had a taste of big time show business. You played The Copa together. I read that on your closing night you had both Jackie Robinson and the Duchess of Windsor in the crowd.

Marty Allen: (grunts)

Kliph Nesteroff: (silence)

Marty Allen: Well, there were always many celebrities in the audience. There was a restaurant called Danny's Hideaway where all the celebrities used to congregate, have dinner and whatever and usually he would bring whichever celebrities were dining at his restaurant over to The Copa for the opening night. So you'd never know who was going to be in the audience and on any given night there were any number of celebrities - so I can't single out any one particular person. I don't know. Was that in a column?

Kliph Nesteroff: The Billboard vaude-review section.

Marty Allen: Yes, well, I couldn't pick out one or two. Whoever was appearing in town you'd have show up at your opening night. Many a night you'd have the biggest actors, actresses and comedians. You never knew who was going to be in the audience.

Kliph Nesteroff: I heard that while you were playing a gig in Canada, you met Paul Anka long before he was famous.

Marty Allen: Yeah. Yeah. I met his parents. They came to see me at a show and invited me to their home for dinner. That's when I first met Paul. He hadn't begun his career yet. He was just starting singing and writing.

Kliph Nesteroff: Speaking of Canada - did you get to know the comedy team of Wayne and Shuster? Along with Allen and Rossi they were one of Ed Sullivan's favorite comedy teams.

Marty Allen: Oh, yes. Many times on the Sullivan show. They did so many. They were an excellent team and Ed loved them. I don't know how many times they appeared, but I know they did many.

Kliph Nesteroff: They hold the record.

Marty Allen: I'm not sure if they hold the record.

Kliph Nesteroff: Another mainstay of Vegas was comedian Joe E. Lewis.

Marty Allen: He was very likable and a very fantastic comedian, very funny. You know what happened? Sinatra made a movie of his life and he was one of the first acts I remember meeting. I thought he was just so wonderful. What was nice about him was that he was a nice guy to everybody. He wasn't aloof. Just an excellent comic.

Kliph Nesteroff: In 1961 the comedy writer Jay Burton had written a screenplay with Allen and Rossi in mind called Baby Boy.

Marty Allen: Nah.

Kliph Nesteroff: Around the same time you hired Bob Hope's former writer, Gig Henry, to produce some material.

Marty Allen: Well, there were a lot of people that wrote for us. You never knew who they were. I couldn't say it was Bob Hope's writer or this one's writer. They were writing for everyone so you can't single out any one particular writer. All were very good comedy writers and they would write material for you. You never knew what they were going to come up with and if it fit your type of comedy then you were very lucky.

Kliph Nesteroff: Who would be in charge of curating comedy material for Allen and Rossi? Would your manager call for submissions? Was an ad placed in the trades?

Marty Allen: No, no. If you knew of a comedy writer and you told him you had an idea then they would submit it. If it worked out and it was what you had intended then you would buy if off of them. That's how it worked. There were a lot of great comedy writers that eventually got into television and movies. I didn't know if they were Bob Hope's writers! They were comedy writers! They'd submit it. If it was good you would buy it.

Kliph Nesteroff: You and Steve Rossi performed often on The Garry Moore Show. Carol Burnett, of course, was a regular on The Garry Moore Show.

Marty Allen: Yeah.

Kliph Nesteroff: In the early sixties Allen and Rossi teamed with Carol Burnett for a nationwide tour.

Mary Allen: Yes, when she went out on her first tour, which was a smash hit, she was absolutely the darling of everybody on television. Very talented, very likable, and everybody loved her. I believe we went to The Sands Hotel together in Vegas and she broke all records. I had a number that I did with her and Steve and I did something also. The Garry Moore Show was excellent. Garry was very likable and one night we were on with Robert Goulet and Barbara Streisand. We did many of those shows. I eventually ended up doing every show. I got the title "Darling of Daytime Television." I did every game show that was ever on television. I went up and down the dial. I did everything from Beat the Clock to Circus of the Stars. You name it, I've done it.

Kliph Nesteroff: I've seen that episode of The Garry Moore Show with Allen and Rossi, Barbara Streisand and Robert Goulet.

Marty Allen: And I knew right off the bat that Carol Burnett would become one of the biggest stars on television - just by watching her work. She was dynamic.

Kliph Nesteroff: I found a press release from around that time that announced Garry Moore was planning on producing a show that was going to star you and Steve Rossi.

Marty Allen: I don't know what that is. Never heard of it.

Kliph Nesteroff: Allen and Rossi were also slated to have their own TV series in the Fall of 1965 called Hello Dere.

Marty Allen: They always came up with ideas. I don't know how far they'd... you never knew from day to day whether you were going to do a television show or a Broadway show or if you were going to do a movie. Everybody said they were going to do something for Allen and Rossi and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't work. I don't remember it.

Kliph Nesteroff: You two did lots of comedy records and...

Marty Allen: We did a lot of albums and they were big sellers. We did Hello Dere, Hello Dere Again, Batman and Rubin... I remember a whole gang of them. We did very well with the record albums.

Kliph Nesteroff: You also recorded a couple of straight songs...

Marty Allen: I did?

Kliph Nesteroff: You did a single called Israel.

Marty Allen: Oh! I wrote a thing... yeah. Yeah, a long time ago. Uh huh.

Kliph Nesteroff: I read that you sang it on The Mike Douglas Show and then it was released as a single on Roulette Records.

Marty Allen: Uh huh. Uh huh. Yeah. I have it in my files. I believe it was... I'm trying to think when that was. I remember doing it on Mike Douglas and it was very dramatic. It was a different side of me. It was a side of me as a writer and it pleased me very much.

Kliph Nesteroff: That's why I ask. A real departure.

Marty Allen: In fact, I've just finished a book called Hello Dere! Welcome to My Life. It's in the hands of someone who is thinking of publishing it.

Kliph Nesteroff: I saw a photo of you and Steve receiving an award from the National Association of Gag Writers. The award was for Comedy Team of the Year and it was presented to you by the old vaudeville comedy team of Smith and Dale.

Marty Allen: Smith and Dale? The comedy team?

Kliph Nesteroff: Yes.

Marty Allen: What year was it?

Kliph Nesteroff: 1962.

Marty Allen: Oh yeah? They were way, way in the early days of vaudeville. Smith and Dale were the Martin and Lewis of that era. Well, we were getting all kinds of awards. I know they were a very popular team. To get an award from them was quite an honor. We kept getting all kinds of awards. It was very rewarding to get these awards. As we kept moving up the ladder we were getting all kinds of, thank goodness, wonderful awards and what they said about us was very, very good.

Kliph Nesteroff: Yes, you guys were on fire.

Marty Allen: Yeah, we caught fire.

Kliph Nesteroff: You got to know Jimmy Durante fairly well, didn't you?

Marty Allen: Yes, very well. He was a wonderful, lovable man. Very talented and a very lovable man. Very nice man. Very warm. I remember doing something with Jimmy. I think I did an interview with him and he was very kind with me. I knew his wife very well. His wife was a former Copa dancer. My wife and her became very dear friends and I'd go over to his house several times in Beverly Hills. He was one of the greatest performers in our business. One of the great stars of all time.

Kliph Nesteroff: Were you influenced at all by the heyday of Martin and Lewis?

Marty Allen: No. I thought they were wonderful. I thought Dean was a phenomenal straight man and Jerry was a brilliant comedian. They were top notch, but my style was altogether different. I always felt that my style was different. I speak to Jerry... Jerry and I have always gotten along very well. There was no rivalry or competition. We just became very good friends.

Kliph Nesteroff: In the late sixties you and Steve put out a comedy record called Allen and Rossi Meet the Great Society...

Marty Allen: Yeah.

Kliph Nesteroff: There was also a book called Allen and Rossi Meet the Great Society.

Marty Allen: Yeah. The book was a cartoon book. We had our own captions put above [our photos]. It was very funny. A really funny book. We used all kinds of images of people from Washington and people from the movies and it was our own cartoon book and it sold very well.

Kliph Nesteroff: You were the ones who actually wrote the material that's in the book?

Marty Allen: I wrote a lot of the... we wrote a lot of the captions.

Kliph Nesteroff: When you two broke up you started doing dramatic roles. You did an episode of Big Valley with Barbara Stanwyck.

Marty Allen: Yes. I was nominated for all kinds of acting awards because it was a dramatic bit. How it happened was they saw me in Vegas and they told me they had this part. At the time I had the wild crazy hair. He said, "Would you cut your hair?" I said, "Yeah." I played the part of a Jonah. A Jonah is a bad luck guy. If you were on the range or something and the cattle ran away - they'd blame it on the Jonah. They said he was a bad luck kind of guy and he should be off the ranch.

The Barbara Stanwyck and Linda Evans characters come to my defense and say there's no such thing as a Jonah. It was very dramatic and I received many accolades after I did it. Then I did other dramatic bits. I was running up the dial. Steve and I parted very amicably. After we did all these shows and had great success I started getting offers to do all these shows and they couldn't use two guys. We had reached a peak. We parted very friendly and then I became a regular on Hollywood Squares and I got that title "Darling of Daytime Television." I must have done hundreds of game shows. Every game show that came out I was on. Password. Beat the Clock. You name it and I did it.

Kliph Nesteroff: I saw you do a dramatic turn in a low budget film from 1972 called The Ballad of Billie Blue.

Marty Allen: Ballad of Billie Blue. Yeah.

Kliph Nesteroff: What do you recall about that experience? It was a Christian film.

Marty Allen: Yes, it was a religious... well, it became a religious film. It was one of the first dramatic things I did. Then I did a very wonderful film called Mr. Jericho with Connie Stevens and Patrick Macnee from The Avengers. We went to Malta and filmed it in Malta. It was for television. I believe it was for ABC.

Kliph Nesteroff: You mentioned that the Ballad of Billie Blue "became" a religious film. Does that mean when you accepted the part it wasn't initially a Christian movie?

Marty Allen: Well, I... it wouldn't matter to me if it was or if it wasn't. I was offered a part and I went ahead and did it. Then after that I did a film called A Whale of a Tale where I played a fisherman. Whether it was religious or not... I think it eventually became religious. I think it wasn't supposed to be at the beginning, but somehow it turned out that way.

Kliph Nesteroff: What was the experience of doing The Last of the Secret Agents like? When I spoke to Steve Rossi he told me it was miserable. He said you two were at odds with the director and the writers.

Marty Allen: Well, the movie was very funny and it was a very excellent movie.

Kliph Nesteroff: (silence)

Marty Allen: We wanted to do more of our routines [in the picture] because it would prove who we were as a comedy team. The director went in a different direction. When you're doing a big film like that and you're a comedy team, you want to do your comedy material. One or two of your [signature] routines to enhance it, but he went in a different direction. But the movie... people say they love the movie! We got tremendous reaction. Have you ever seen it?

Kliph Nesteroff: As much as I could.

Marty Allen: Oh no, it's an excellent movie. Very funny.

Kliph Nesteroff: (silence)

Marty Allen: Nancy Sinatra was in it and wonderful character actors...

Kliph Nesteroff: Lou Jacobi.

Marty Allen: Lou Jacobi, yes. I have people that keep calling me to see if they can re-release it. They think if they showed it today it would be considered a comedy classic.

Kliph Nesteroff: (silence)

Marty Allen: I don't know if Paramount still owns it, but I enjoyed the movie. Every time I have watched it I thought it was funny and not only that, but it was done very well. Very tasteful.

Kliph Nesteroff: What was the experience of working with director Norman Abbott like?

Marty Allen: Well, he was a good friend of ours. We had no problems. It wasn't like we didn't know who Norman Abbott was. He directed in a different way and made it more like a story rather than playing it like us doing routines in the movie. It had a wonderful story idea. And everybody that ever saw it - they thought it was a classic comedy! If it was brought back today people would relate to it.

Kliph Nesteroff: How did you two know Norman Abbott?

Marty Allen: I knew Norman because I had done some things with him for television and we became very good friends.

Kliph Nesteroff: And working with Nancy Sinatra? The movie has a great title song at least.

Marty Allen: Oh yes. I was friends with Nancy long before the movie. I knew her and Frank Jr. for a long, long time before the movie ever came out because I knew the family very well. I knew her mother Nancy Sr. and I knew Tina. I knew them all. I thought she did an excellent job in the movie.

Kliph Nesteroff: I watched you recently on a Dean Martin Roast of Redd Foxx. How well did you know Redd?

Marty Allen: I knew all these guys because we were all working different gigs together and came in touch with each other. We just became friends. Not bosom buddies. In the early days we all used to meet in New York when we were all playing different gigs. There was a drugstore, I remember, called Hanson's Drugstore. All the comics would meet there after they played their different gigs. That's how we all met and got to know each other. We bonded. They don't have that today. It's a whole different ballgame. There isn't one place where they all meet.

Kliph Nesteroff: So many of the guys talk about Hanson's reverently. Hanson's and also the B&G Coffee Shop and...

Marty Allen: Yeah! You know, you'd meet in a coffee shop, "Hey! How'd you do?" "Oh, it was wonderful!" "Where'd you play?" At that time the Catskills were hot and all the comics were playing the Catskills and the different hotels. A lot of them were playing different places in New York, you know, and we'd all meet and talk about the particular places we played. That's how we got bonding between each and every one of us.

Kliph Nesteroff: Did you enjoy being a solo performer in between comedy teams?

Marty Allen: Yeah. Mmm hmm. I did. I enjoyed it very much. I could have matured into a single performer. I worked toward it but... I certainly could have made it solo.

An Interview with Marty Allen - Part One

Kliph Nesteroff: I want to ask you a little bit about the parts of your career that nobody knows about. You started out in a team with the "Singing Star of the Blue Baron Orchestra." Someone named Tiny Wolfe.

Marty Allen: Oh, Tiny Wolfe. That was a long time ago. Yes, just for a very short while in Pittsburgh. It wasn't actually like a team. We more or less got together... he was doing gigs and I was doing gigs and they started putting us together, but we didn't actually go out and become a comedy team or anything like that. He was a singer and I was doing comedy. They kind of wanted all of us together and I don't even know how all of that happened! It didn't last that long anyhow.

Kliph Nesteroff: I had heard he was the house emcee at the Club Casino.

Marty Allen: Yes, he was the house emcee at a club and he kept calling me back because he was very outgoing and full of life and he took a liking to me. He said, "I want you on as often as I can get you." But it was not a big deal.

Kliph Nesteroff: The billing I found is from January 1950 and the newspaper blurb says, "Marty Allen, the Squirrel Hill comedian makes his first downtown appearance..."

Marty Allen: I started playing all the little clubs around Pittsburgh and I became one of the favorites and that's how it all began. One day I got the call... this was after the war... then one day they said to me, "We want you to work with a singer." I said, "Where?" "At a club. This is going to be your big deal." I said, "What's the big deal?" It was with Sarah Vaughn. I went, "Oh my God!" And she took a liking to me. She called Nat King Cole. At that time, all the singers at the agency were using comedians [to open for them]. If Tony Bennett went out - there was a comic. If Tony Martin went out - there was a comic. If Nat Cole went out - there was a comic - and she told him about me and that's how I got connected with him.

Kliph Nesteroff: There was another man you briefly teamed up with that nobody has ever heard of. July 1950 - you teamed with Rex Dale.

Marty Allen: Yeah, I worked... well, I worked with different guys, but not for long periods of time or anything of consequence. Rex was a very talented guy out of Philadelphia. For a while we did gigs together, but it wasn't like we were going to team up forever.

Kliph Nesteroff: But learning your craft along the way...

Marty Allen: (grunts)

Kliph Nesteroff: You two performed at Boston's Latin Quarter with Billy Eckstine, May 1951.

Marty Allen: Yeah, we did pretty good together. He was an excellent straight man. We played all kinds of gigs together, but it was never going to be a long term deal. None of that ever happened, actually, until I got with Steve Rossi who had been the production singer at The Sands. Nat King Cole, more or less, put us together. That's when we got hot. Now I work with my wife who is not only a phenomenal singer and piano player, but she's a great straight woman and they're calling us the new George Burns and Gracie Allen... only I'm Gracie Allen!

Kliph Nesteroff: Now what can you tell me about Mitch DeWood...

Marty Allen: Who?

Kliph Nesteroff: Mitch DeWood. You were in a comedy team with him for eight years.

Marty Allen: Oh, yeah. I was with Mitch for a while. He was a relative of Danny Thomas. We worked together for quite a while and then we broke up and I started doing singles again. It seems that I always ended up with these straight men kind of guys. It was good for a while, but it was in the period in which I was developing.

Kliph Nesteroff: You did have some major gigs with him.

Marty Allen: Oh, yes. We did some major things together.

Kliph Nesteroff: You and Mitch DeWood played one of your first big gigs at The Paramount on Broadway with Nat King Cole...

Marty Allen: Yes and we played The Latin Quarter and The Copacabana and all of those places.

Kliph Nesteroff: Why did you and Mitch DeWood choose to part ways?

Marty Allen: Well, all of these things were amicable. I was either going into something else or... it lasted for a while and we were very good. Mitch and I were very good together. I went off to do other things. Then I started getting calls. They started calling me for game shows, but they couldn't use two people. Steve and I parted very amicably also and I became a regular on Hollywood Squares. I would do other game shows and one thing lead to another and I was doing a dramatic bit with Barbara Stanwyck in Big Valley. Different things happened. That's how it all developed.

Kliph Nesteroff: I want to you ask about some other comedians that were around Pittsburgh and Philadelphia back then. Fisher and Marks.

Marty Allen: Oh, yes. They were a very good team out of Philadelphia. Yes, I knew them very well. For a while they were very hot and they very well known, at that time, in the nightclub circuit. We were friends for a long, long time and I think the one guy passed away. Maybe both of them. I haven't heard from them in years. I remember Louie and I remember them as a very good act.

Kliph Nesteroff: There was a fellow named Jackie Heller.

Marty Allen: Yeah, well, he owned a nightclub. It was a boat on the river on the Monongahela. He was a very talented singer and very well known nationally. He had a club. Jackie Heller's, what was it? The Showboat?

Kliph Nesteroff: The Carousel?

Marty Allen: Yeah, maybe The Carousel. I remember Jackie too. He was a very talented guy and a very good singer.

Kliph Nesteroff: Never a comedian.

Marty Allen: No, not a comedian, just a very good singer and the owner of the club. And very well-liked.

Kliph Nesteroff: So it was Nat King Cole that eventually suggested you pair with Steve Rossi...

Marty Allen: Yes, well, I was with Eydie Gorme at the Chez Paree in Chicago. I was working alone. Steve Rossi was a production singer at The Sands. He told Nat he was tired of being a production singer and he wanted to do something else. Nat King Cole said, "Well, Martin and Lewis exploded. There's always room for another team. There's a guy that's very funny who I've used by the name of Marty Allen. Give him a call! Maybe he'll want to team up!" He called me and at first I said, "I don't know. I don't know if I really want to do anything like that." Eventually I said, "Okay, well, why don't you fly in..." So he flew into Chicago. He looked like Rock Hudson and he sang phenomenal. I said, "Well, let's give it a shot." We started playing little clubs and you could tell right then, as you're working, whether there's a reaction or if something is catching fire. We noticed that the people were reacting to us! That's how it all began! And then when we were ready we went with Nat. We played The Copacabana, The Chez Paree, The Sands playing with Nat King Cole, Sinatra, Lena Horne, Paul Anka and that was the thing. We skyrocketed.

Kliph Nesteroff: Of course. You guys were everywhere. It's ridiculous.

Marty Allen: (laughs) Yeah.

Kliph Nesteroff: There wasn't a show on TV that you guys didn't appear on. It's amazing. You mentioned The Copacabana. Do you remember anything about Jules Podell?

Marty Allen: He was a nice man. He really knew how to run the club, I'll tell you that. If you played The Copacabana and you did well there - it was all over, baby! From then on you could go anywhere. If you played The Copa and you made it - the columnists - Earl Wilson and Dorothy Kilgallen - they gave us rave notices - and that's how it all happened.

Kliph Nesteroff: I heard that you two initially put off appearing on television because you wanted to be cautious.

Marty Allen: Well, no. We had a deal with the Sullivan show. We did so many Sullivan shows... he just kept calling us back, one show after another. People say, "You were on The Ed Sullivan Show?" I say, "I did more Sullivan shows than Ed Sullivan!" That's my line (laughs).

Kliph Nesteroff: Great line.

Marty Allen: We scored everywhere. We became Allen and Rossi. Hot. I started getting offers. They said they could use me. They'd like me to become a regular on this and that and I'd get a call to do a dramatic bit and Steve and I parted very amicably. I see him occasionally. We didn't part in a feud like Martin and Lewis. Very friendly.

Kliph Nesteroff: You mentioned Dorothy Kilgallen. It is fun watching you two on What's My Line and I've Got a Secret...

Marty Allen: Yeah, we were on those. I think Dorothy was the one, when they had the masks on, Dorothy was the one who knew who we were.

Kliph Nesteroff: I think you're right.

Marty Allen: Yeah. Have you ever seen that?

Kliph Nesteroff: Yes, I have.

Marty Allen: We broke 'em up. They were hysterical. We did Allen Ludden's Password all the time and we were doing all of those things.

Kliph Nesteroff: I'm a bit too young to have experienced that whole era, but one of my first introductions to you was a game show you taped in Toronto called The Joke's On Us hosted by Monty Hall and featuring Nipsey Russell and Jack Carter and yourself.

Marty Allen: Oh yeah, yeah. Jack Carter was on that (laughs). Are you from Canada?

Kliph Nesteroff: I live in Vancouver.

Marty Allen: Oh my! What a city! It's the greatest! We just got back from Hawaii and then we were in Vancouver and we had to fly from Vancouver back here [to Las Vegas]. What was the place in Vancouver called back then... The Cave?

Kliph Nesteroff: The Cave, yeah.

Marty Allen: Yes, I remember that. The city itself is phenomenal. Are you writing a history of show business?

Kliph Nesteroff: Well, I'm always working on pieces related to showbiz history. Right now I'm writing a piece on Shecky Greene.

Marty Allen: Ah, Shecky. I just saw him. I went to see him when he was here at the South Point. Shecky is one of the guys I love. I think Buddy Hackett and Shecky and Rickles - these are the kind of comics that turn me on. I always enjoy watching them. 

Kliph Nesteroff: I love watching Shecky because he is so inventive.

Marty Allen: Yes, his mind is brilliant in that respect and Buddy Hackett was one of the funniest guys there ever was.

Kliph Nesteroff: I have heard that Buddy Hackett could be difficult.

Marty Allen: I had no problems with him. We were always friendly and I knew him from the Catskills. Never had any problems with Buddy, but some people said they had problems. I never had any problems with anybody. When I go to see a show, I go to enjoy. I don't go to criticize. I don't go to take material from them. I just go to enjoy the show, you know? That's the way I've always been and I have my favorites. Buddy was funny. Shecky was funny. These are the kind of guys that appeal to me. When I go to a show, no matter who the comedian, I just go to enjoy. 

Kliph Nesteroff: Do you remember your first appearance on Ed Sullivan?

Marty Allen: Oh dear God, no (laughs). I can't remember.

Kliph Nesteroff: I suppose they would all blur together. 

Marty Allen: There were so many. I don't think I appeared on there with Mitch DeWood. It was all Steve and I. We did so many.

Kliph Nesteroff: What was the experience of doing the show like as a whole? Last minute changes?

Marty Allen: Let me see. We were doing a Peace Corps [sketch] and I was playing like a... Zulu Warrior. Steve was interviewing me and I had this outfit on. Steve was talking to Ed. Ed happened to ask, "Which routine are you doing?" Steve said, "We're doing the Peace Corps and Marty is playing a Zulu Warrior and I'll be interviewing him." Ed said, "Oh! No you are not!" Steve said, "What?" Ed says, "Because I've got Zulu dancers on the show tonight!" I had no idea (laughs). 

I walked downstairs and there were Zulus wearing almost the same outfit that I had on! I ran up the stairs, "There's Zulus!" We had enough time (laughs) and Steve and I changed it real fast. We went next door where there was a novelty shop. I bought bifocal glasses and a cap with a Japanese emblem and I became the head of the World's Fair something Japanese. We switched the lines and did that. Two weeks later Ed said, "Okay. Now you can do your Zulu routine." But that was one of the funniest things. They kept looking at me and I kept looking at them. I said, "Oh. My. God." They didn't think I was making fun of them or anything. It was hysterical. What are the odds they would have Zulu dancers?

Kliph Nesteroff: You did so many episodes of Ed Sullivan - you did far less - if any - appearances with Johnny Carson. Was there a reason for that?

Marty Allen: I don't know. We did several and then... I don't know. I'll tell you the ones we did mainly were Merv and Mike; Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas.

Kliph Nesteroff: Right.

Marty Allen: Then I started doing Mike Douglas even after I had split with Steve. He would use me in all kinds of situations. Like he'd say, "Come down - we're going to have you jump off a building." Or some crazy stunt and he'd say, "I need Marty Allen for that." We did Johnny Carson a couple of times, but certainly not a regular kind of thing.

Kliph Nesteroff: Did you get to know Johnny Carson at all?

Marty Allen: Yeah, he was very nice. In fact, I've got some pictures from when we met and... I'm trying to think of some of the clubs we would have met at. I think when he was here. I think he was at The Sahara when I went to see him.

Kliph Nesteroff: You two also appeared on Joey Bishop's short-lived talk show. You must have known Joey Bishop fairly well - a fellow Pennsylvania product.

Marty Allen: I knew Joey from before, yes. That's how I got to meet Regis because Regis was his sidekick. Regis and I became very friendly. Such a nice man. I think he is one of the... he's a gem at what he has done on television.

Kliph Nesteroff: Regis has probably clocked more hours on television than anybody else alive - spare maybe Betty White or Hugh Downs.

Marty Allen: Uh huh. Yeah. He's just a wonderful guy. Joey Bishop was playing nightclubs. He was ahead of me, but he would play Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and different places. We came in contact. I didn't become... I was always working and I didn't have [time for] camaraderie with different people. For the while I worked with Mitch DeWood - it was great. Rex Dale - it was good. Tiny Wolf, you know, I was building myself. Creating Marty Allen. And that's it. I remember the other comedy team that was really good was Pepper Davis and Tony Reese!

Kliph Nesteroff: I don't remember them.

Marty Allen: Oh, yeah! They were excellent! A marvelous comedy team! Very popular. I think they were out of Philadelphia. Look that up. They did very well for a while. Them and Fisher and Marks. They were the two hot comedy teams when I was starting out.

Kliph Nesteroff: I know Fisher and Marks because I have a comedy record by them.

Marty Allen: I don't know if Pepper and Tony did any recordings, but they were very hot. They were an excellent team. You might find some information on them. Pepper Davis and Tony Reese. Anyway, the local paper is here and they need to get something in there for Sunday's paper - so call me back next week.