PHOTO GALLERY
"THE ROY RADIN VAUDEVILLE REVUE"
FROM 1973 TO 1979
I started on the ROY RADIN VAUDEVILLE REVUE in October of 1973, in my junior year at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. I started as the band leader and in 1976, I moved up to conductor, when Buddy Freed left the show. All the musicians, the first 5 years, came from Berklee.
The tour was the greatest education any musician could get. Working on the road, in less than perfect conditions, was unequaled in teaching young musicians how to cope with adverse venues and how to think quickly on their feet. We performed in every type of venue, from Boston's famed Symphony Hall to a small high school auditorium in Lorain, Ohio. We often did 40 one- nighters, in 40 different cities in 36 days. We would also do hops of several hundred miles, leaving right after a show and driving all night to get to the next city. We had no less then 10 acts on the show and it would run about 1 1/2 to 2 hours in length. We hit blizzards, breakdowns and hotel workers strikes and even had run-ins with local musicians unions, who objected to us not using local musicians, even though we had a traveling contract from the Federation. It was a lot of work and also a lot of fun. The musicians became a family, as did the acts. Anyone who worked on the Roy Radin Vaudeville Revue has a link to the last touring Vaudeville show in the country and is a member of that family. We all stay in touch, even after all these years and to talk to someone from those shows, is like talking to someone you haven't talked to in a couple of weeks, the bond is so strong.
This section is my loving tribute to those of us who are still around and those of us who have long since passed on. To my friends and family in work and play, enjoy these pages.
7 YEARS ON THE RADIN TOUR BUS
RONNY SPECTOR AND THE RONETTES SONYA ARROYO - RONETTE
JOANNE WORLEY GODFREY CAMBRIDGE
Rowan and Martin's Laugh In theme
FRANKIE FONTAINE HENNY YOUNGMAN RED BUTTONS
MOREY AMSTERDAM, The Dick Van Dyke Show FORREST TUCKER
Morey actually co-wrote the Dick Van Dyke theme
F-Troup theme
GEORGE KIRBY
PAT SUZUKI
This is a caricature of me, drawn by Pat Suzuki, while on the bus on the Roy Radin Tour 1976. I thought it made me look kind of scruffy, which I guess I did back then. She gave it to my father with this note written on the back. She was one of the first acts I conducted for and she was also one of the sweetest.
To do the show justice, I have separated this section into several areas. If I didn't, the pages would take too long to load. Click on the photos to see that section.
Some of these pages may take a while to boot up, but they are worth it.
MAIN I O'CONNOR I FISHER I BERLE I MEKKA I BARTY I RADIN I JAZZ FEST I PHOTO GALLERY
