Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Frankie Avalon Encore

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

GGACP keeps the summer vibe alive with this ENCORE of a 2014 interview with singer-actor and star of the "Beach Party" movie series, Frankie Avalon. In this episode, Frankie talks about breaking into show business as a child prodigy, receiving 12,000 pieces of fan mail per week and working alongside Hollywood greats Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball, and Groucho Marx. Also, Frankie looks back at his humble beginnings in South Philly, his years as a teen heartthrob and his decades-long friendship with onscreen love interest Annette Funicello. PLUS: Remembering "Skidoo"! “Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine”! Dueling Draculas! The Duke makes Laurence Harvey cry! And Cesar Romero and Arnold Stang hit a strip joint! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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24 seven freshness from pits to privates with daily use. It's so gentle. We've never smelled so good. Shop Old Spice Total Body Deodorant now. Hi, I'm Gilbert Gottfried with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. Today, a legendary singer and actor who's worked with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Groucho Marx, Jackie Gleason, John Wayne, Lucille Ball, and Jack Benny, just to name a few, my fellow teen idol, Frankie Avalon. Zero, spelled X-E-R-O, is the online accounting software and platform for your small business.

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run your back office, and much, much more. It's no wonder over 370,000 customers in more than 180 countries use Xero. And you can too. Sign up for a free 30 day trial at zero.com slash podcast. That's zero.com slash podcast. And not only that, Zero randomly selects five people a month who have signed up to receive a mystery box of goodies. Zero plus from a company that already swears by zero. Zero. Beautiful accounting software. Our guest today went from trumpet player to a teen idol selling millions of records to sharing the big screen with Groucho Marx, Bob Hope and John Wayne, not to mention Boris Karloff, Ernie Koufax and Buster Keaton. Please welcome to the show the original team i don't frankie

i have a lot thank you why are you yelling but a good job though i guess that i have a thank you very much is really nice to be with you and frank and uh... kind of talk about things that they've been part of my life against that we have something in common both being teen idols but how did it happen for you actually it it happened uh... i was with a band i was a trumpet player started as

a trumpet player and i was with a band called rocko in his saints and i played uh... trumpet and uh... we used to play this one place in in jersey right outside of philadelphia called murray's in and uh... people kind of it would come up to the stage and say a frankie can you We used to play this one place in Jersey, right outside of Philadelphia, called Murray's Inn. People would come up to the stage and say, hey, Frankie, can you play this? Say, Frankie, can you play that? And, Frankie, can you sing this?

Frankie, can you sing that? Finally, Rocko, who was the leader of the band, said to me, you know, you've got to start singing. I said, hey, you paid me as a trumpet player. That's what I do. He said, I'll give you an extra five bucks. I said, I'll do it and that's how i really started and of course that a new record company came along uh... chancellor records and they

came in to see uh... one of our uh... shows that we stood five sets a night we went went down to atlantic city and then we started playing these little clubs they came in and they signed our band and uh... we recorded the first record we did was called uhupid Shot an Arrow, which I did the vocal on, and the other side was called Jivem with the Saints. And it came out and nothing really happened with it except that they put me out there. He bought me a $12 suit and they put me out there and I started to go around the country doing these record

hops and things and kids started to say, how can we write to you? What's your fan club? How this and all of a sudden my manager at the time Bob Marcucci said I think he got something these kids like and that started. And how did the big break come with with Jackie Gleason? That happened I was about 11 years old I went to see a movie called Young Man with the Horn and I just fell in love with the sound of the trumpet and I guess I related to the the young boy who really grew up to be the best trumpet player in the world and I related to that and I came out of the movie I was there all day you know my mom used to have lunch yeah Kirk Douglas and and pack a lunch

and I would stay there and I watched the Kurt Douglas and and pack a lunch and I would stay there And I watched the movie all day and I came home and I said to my dad I said dad Can you buy me a trumpet? He said you want to play Trump because he loved music my father I said yeah, and he went to a pawn shop He got me a horn and I I took the horn into my bedroom and I didn't come out until I played my first song That started it and but the way you met down police and jackson yes well what happened was

al martino who is from the neighborhood of south philadelphia was a big star at this time johnny fontana godfather exactly as he had he had this one song called here in my heart which was number one around the world. And in the neighborhood, they were giving him a party for his success, you know, and there was crowds all around, you know, these row homes and little streets in South Philadelphia there. And I took my horn and I wiggled my way through and I knocked on the door, a guy opened the door and I said, could I play my trumpet for Al Martino?

They said, who are you? I said, my name is Frank Avaloni. I live around the corner. He said, come on i play my trumpet for al martino they said who are you i said my name is frank avaloni i live around the corner he said come on in and the party was really happening i took out the horn i started a plan is like an old movie you know everybody kind of stopped and i played very well for uh... little kid and uh... al martino said to the guys who had his house

he was at said uh... who was this kid is a recent his name is avalone lives around the name is that that's that's call his mother father see if we could take him to new york i think this kid can play so they did my mom uh... and dad uh... agreed and they took me into new york uh... and i went to a uh... big agency at the time called g a c general artists corporation and jack sobel was the agent and I took out the horn and

I played for him. He said, I got an idea. This kid plays good. We handle Jackie Gleason. He's got a penthouse at the Sheridan Hotel. We'll go and take him and he'll play for Jackie. Loves the trumpet Jackie. So I go in there and the writers are there and this and Gleason wasn't there. Well, it was a penthouse. I didn't know where he was, but I took out my horn and I started to play and in the corner my i a c gleece and come out of the room i finished the song and he yells down right a show i want to want to weeks

so what was police and like to work with he was phenomenal first of all you know it is his mind uh... uh... he he he knew everybody's lines and everything he was uh... a genius really you know it is his mind uh... uh... he he'd be he knew everybody's lines and everything he was uh... genius really you know and he was a wonderful guy very quiet really a quiet kind of a guy uh... i'd i i worked with him not only that time as a young boy playing trumpet but i also did uh...

his show later on uh... and and uh... in his life in my life out of uh... florida although my baby show by i was in jail yeah and of course i would and we just finished doing a picture together and i spent a lot of time with them i had about had a uh... uh... picture was called skidoo not say over there well familiar yes before on that i'm sorry i am sure frank frank and i are big fans.

Okay. All right. Well, now, auto-premature directed, and you know, I'd heard a lot of stories about auto-premature as a director being really tough, you know. And I didn't know exactly what to expect, but the first day of shooting, for me, I had no dialogue, and it was where I was supposed to drive this car, and Arnold Stang was in the scene and and and you know as I hit my mark and all this always all of a sudden I hear Premier that everybody talked about saying but do you doing you're not an actor to Arnold Stang this with the John Philip law and all this other stuff so

now comes second third day shooting were up san francisco and i've got the scene with caesar amaro jackie glee sin carol channing and uh... i've got a couple line and and glee sin says to me is something in the end and he smacks me across the faces and and premises that would go over and practice you know the slap in so i go with glee sin and jackie says pally sister at faudville go over and practice, you know, the slap. So I go with Gleason and Jackie says, Pally, he says, Thodville, just when I touch your face, just go.

I said, okay, Jackie, that's fine. Now it comes to the scene and Premier says, Rotem and action. All of a sudden, he smacked me across the face. Are you kidding? Gleason it. Yeah. Well. all of a sudden he smacked me across the face are you kidding me so that yeah well my ears were ringing finally after about four or five takes you know they had to stop makeup and because I had fingerprints all over my face you know Jackie vaudeville I said Jackie yeah yeah now that we finished the picture and I'm doing Jackie show down in Miami and I and i go into stressing me says have you seen the picture i said yeah he hadn't seen it yet

he said what do you think as a jacket embarrassing he said really he said all my god i'd listen to premature i went with him everything he wanted me to do i see he said will i be embarrassed to go to the opening the premier i said yeah i really wasn't that honest yeah because the picture i thought horrible it's what it's one of the great bad movies of all time

and we got a tremendous cult following yeah i know she up up we had leon shamroi you know uh... was the lighting director did all maryland monroe pitch and we had the best the cast as you know sure everybody's in a very hard can be a caesar a more frank portion and which we had the best, the cast as you know. Sure, everybody's in it, Frank Clark and Caesar Romero, Frank Gorshin. And he just, let's face it, he had no sense of humor. Well, he wasn't known for directing comedies. No, no. And I should throw in the John Philip Law quick bit of information that for people who

don't remember John Philip Law, law very very handsome uh... leading man and he was offered to movies at the same time one was skidoo and the other was midnight cowboy wow yeah what a choice uh... yeah and uh... i guess he felt well listen jackie glee sonny graham joe martin about auto premature guys credits were incredible the funny thing is that he wouldn't even see me for the role you played a mobster son you played right right

but he wouldn't see me and my agent uh... who is still my agent every film i've ever done he'd be made the deal for me is jack gelardi and he said i got an idea and so he means that what he doesn't want to see you because he says i want this beach boy in my picture he said i'm gonna say it's frank aviloni so i said jackie can't do that he said listen to me

we go into paramount studios i go to big office big desk in, and Otto Premger's sitting behind the desk there. And I walk in and Premger says to me, buddy, you're bringing me this beach boy. So I sat down and in no longer than 10 minutes he said, okay, you got the part, I'll talk to your agent. And that was it. Now, you worked there, one of the many times you work with him cuz just last night i

was watching a clip of you on you bet your life yes singing i can't give you anything that i would with graham show you know what tell us about graham show marks well maybe he was you know i i as later on in years because i did a lot of the game shows at those times in a lot of the you know guys would do these games shows in groucho did a lot of them to you know not only you bet your life but you know guest appearances and i always kind of said you know he's a dirty old man

and i think that was out there you know look at their legs look at this you know and uh... he always had remarks of course you know and all crummy dirty people her uh... but what you did you bet your life i mean he comes back in your life all these years later yeah in in skidoo that had to be that had to be strange absolutely i mean all through the years the guys that i've worked with uh... one time or another it's a it amazes me and when i think back in all those things that i've done i see wow i was

with the best i was with guys that and you know i i i really became a student of of the of the the art of trying to act and watch these guys and how they'd work the camera and all this uh... so i'd sit on my chair there just watch all these guys and how they did it to consider you know they were they were pros all 100% pro and before we turn the mics on I remember I was basically saying you know shut up Frankie you save all this for the show and tell us about Sinatraana uh... and ranks in archer

absolute i don't and of course uh... everybody else's too but he was he was incredible he uh... you know i i got the hang with them which was really kind of need and state is house you know and we're amazing about them uh... is that if when i would stay at his house you know he had these uh... casitas they were called and little houses in call one would be uh... my way the other was is the palm springs place yet palm springs i would stay there and you had access to twenty four-hour

whatever you wanted i don't care if you wanted a car at this uh... anything that you wanted you got you know and you wouldn't see sinatra frank would only come out about five thirty at night and we'd have dinner go someplace and have dinner but all day you'd stay by his pool or go play golf or whatever it is in you know he he just wouldn't see you until he wanted to see you and uh... and you know many times ice state up with him where he was drinking and you had a stay in the you try to sneak out where you go on know and you listen to his stories and all this other stuff he was quite

well but an artist though and he was just brilliant you know you you were telling how he used to learn his song yeah Jimmy Darren James Darren that we're from the same neighborhood in South Philadelphia and we're very good friends and he's really close to the Sinatra family and I said to him Jimmy Sinatra how did he learn songs you And I said to him, Jimmy, Sinatra, how did he learn songs? I said, because we're both musicians, so we could read music.

And he said, well, they would play him songs, and he would say, I want to do that one. And then they would give him the lyrics. And he would take the lyrics alone for two weeks and just keep it, read it like a book. And after the two weeks of really learning what that song was all about and and uh... the concept of the writer and the lyrics then he would get involved but with getting a piano player

and starting to learn uh... the music and it and um... uh... i will i will i remember a story that hearing Boris Karloff taught Frank Sinatra, he said you sing with your voice, you have to learn to act with your voice. And Boris Karloff used to give Frank Sinatra acting lessons. Really? Yeah. I never heard that.

Yeah, his daughter told us that. Wow. Sarah Karloff. Karloff, I worked with Karlo carlisle to that was a little bit party when one of the children one of the beach and she uh... he was in a couple of them i think i was the i don't think we'll run together for you know that he's acting all the same did did you uh... get to know carlisle fed on no no uh... yeah i mean i i talk

with them a bit but you know we were so busy we did those pictures in fifteen days so i mean i was learning i was playing dual roles this that number and uh... you know i just kind of cab conversation small conversation let's go back to south philly for a minute we'll get to the we'll get to the beach movies it's not sure where that sounds of we came from

i think that's carla it might be so many people came out of south philly where you have this particularly singers eddie fisher mario lons of bobby ridell who we were talking about rather return the mics on chubby checker right what do you attribute that to bob but buddy greg gody reko al martino and now you know i don't know uh... i i i think you know when you're from uh... a neighborhood you know uh...

all different kinds of uh... ethnic uh... groups you know and music in whether be jewish italian uh... black whatever it may be everybody saying everybody liked music and i think was just a the run of the the time i guess now now just recently uh... uh... your co-star uh... net fun a chill out passed away and um...

it's could you tell us some memories i said i'd heard like unlike so many movie teams who hate each other on camera you to actually loved each other well yet you know uh... uh... when i first met and that uh... before we even started doing films together we were doing a show for dick clark

uh... at the hollywood bowl and she was about fifteen i was a little older than internet and uh... i thought she was awfully cute and uh... i asked if i could give her a call in maybe take on a date or something she gave me a number and i called of course i had to go to the house and meet the mom and dad

and i took to have a slice of pizza and that was our first meeting and then later on in years uh... we've been uh... they cast me to do uh... frankie and and uh... the first beach party and i said who's playing uh... dvd what was the characters and they said in that for the children's hope great and uh... the first scene we did together uh... i said the director bill asher i said you know this is really going to be a lot of fun and it was in we had the best time we made about seven eight pictures together a lot of television together

And we never had an argument never a disagreement It was just a wonderful friendship And it's a shame that she she had this disease that was so debilitating and it was terrible life for her and It's it's funny like Disney always had a habit of finding these cute girls who would later on become objects of lust to any boy out there. Like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez and all that. And it's like she, I don't think she was trying to be a sex symbol.

Never, never. But everyone noticed she was developing. Yes. Each movie. Quickly. And largely. She was a great looking gal and never played on it, you know. She had that it, you know.

That was it. And when did you, you said, I think you first noticed something was wrong during Back to the Beach, which was a takeoff on your movies. Yeah, well first of all, she had gotten very thin for that role, you know. Most women always want to look, you know, lighter pounds wise because of the screen. Put some extra weight on you. But she was very thin and... Just this around eighty seven now that is a picture and uh... you know she did to very well she's very good in that picture and uh...

uh... we had finished shooting but we had to do a lot of promo stuff so we would go and and and and do some things uh... in front of the camera promoting our film and the cue cards and she couldn't see him couldn't see and finally uh... she was stumbling around and when we were shooting on the beach and i said you know we don't have a bar uh... sand legs anymore you know what it was and finally she went and got uh... went to an optometrist uh... for her eyes and and they really that's when she was diagnosed with ms and then we went on the road and her husband said to me

and he said uh... uh... he's coming little buddies a little buddy can i meet you a little earlier because we were rehearsing putting our show together for the road theaters and i said sure so i got there about uh... our earlier than our call time to rehearse and he said that i said one thing something i want you to be very quiet about this i want you to say anything not even to her

but she has disease ms and i went to what transit you guys are great teams of great chemistry and such energy and she was saying before she guys are a great team, such great chemistry and such energy and she was saying before she was a very vibrant performer very lively. Yeah, terrific gal. And also what's so funny about that movie Back to the Beach is it's you and Annette like poking fun at yourself.

They sort of took the Brady Bunch movie approach where they did a parody of the Beach movies. I love when you're using the kid's head as a battery. Right, right. Funny scene. And everybody turned up in that. I mean, Don Adams is in it and Bob Denver and Alan Hale and Pee Wee. They all, oh, Pee Wee loved our original films. And when we had asked him to do it, because he was very hot at the time with the playhouse sure

and he came on and we we just loved him he's a wonderful guy talented guy and it was a great scene in there another great scene is with uh... uh... stevie ray vaughn oh yeah and dick dale oh sure what a kind by the issue yeah what a great is a bit of the for the songs great you can find a lot you know you have been watching

and once again i have to ask you about another performer because she worked with all of them and that's uh... the great jack benny all benny was wonderful i did my first uh... meeting with him and working with him was his the jack benny show and uh... it was a nice cute little show about me recording and he's never been to a recording session and he comes in and

he does all these things in the studio. But after that he said, Frankie, I want you to work with me in Las Vegas. I want you to open for me, which I did. And I loved working with him because he would give me such advice, like we would do a sketch, he would say to me, Frankie, why is it that all singers are Italian? And I'd say, yeah, that's right, Mr. Benny. And I'd say, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Al Martino. And he said, well, you know, we have a lot of Jewish singers too. So I'd

say okay and he'd say well like Tony Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. so now he would say to me now wait until I come back to you to read your next line okay so I would say Sammy Davis Jr... and i would say uh... sammy davis junior and he would do is little take in a while and come back and then he say to me funny his uncle was in and he was great to work with sir and you know all that frugal stuff about him you know being cheap uh... cheap

guy knows it at the end of the performs he gave me it's uh... pair of cufflinks that were beautiful sapphires and very generous man and i i heard everyone said benny was like the nicest person just terrific just really was beloved yeah and you know and not uh... as at the opposite lucy lucy when you would go into read for i did a few lucy shows you know you go around with the writers and who was in the cast and so forth and pencils are all over the place in you

you know you make changes in she would make changes constantly benny would just sit there and say that's good that's good you know you'd accept it because he he trusted the the writers, you know. I heard Benny was also like brilliant as far as he would hear a joke, he would get a tremendous laugh and he'd say, that's a really great joke, but it just doesn't fit in with the show. It could be, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, a lot of performers are like that like that you know it it's good but it's not for me it's not what i represent that you know you gotta be careful uh... of i mean if you do have uh... a path and away for your career and you believe that you got to stick with it you just don't go off and you know because uh... there's some

uh... off color humor that you're going to do that i learned a long, long time ago a cheap joke is not worth it. Do something worth it. Well, then I would have no career life. It's true. One writer that I worked with and I loved him, his name was Bobby O'Brien and he wrote for Lucy and a lot of other people too. And he would say to me, don't do cheap jokes. Say something that maybe isn't a belly laugh or a laugh, but let them

take you home. Let them talk about you and what you said around the table in the morning. Interesting. And so Lucy was a bit of a general on the set, huh? Oh my God. Are you kidding me? Controlling every detail. Are you kidding me? She'd say, come up up stage a little more Frank you played to this camera here Do that I mean she she knew everything yeah, yeah, yeah, of course She learned it from Desi or she loved Desi to the day they both went you know and he invented the multiple camera Oh, yeah, yeah format. Yeah, it's I we were talking to

Robert Osborne from Turner Classic Movies. And, well, I mean, everyone knows, like, Desi Arnaz was like this unsung genius. Everything we know about TV he invented. And he said that after they divorced, after he was cheating on her and everything, she still remained in love. In love. In love? I mean, Lucy, I really got to know her. And as an example, I would talk to her, you know, we would come back from a plane trip or something on the flight, and she would talk about Desi and tell me how brilliant he was. An an example with desi lou studios she told me that you know in his broken

english uh... on the floor had plans of where cameras were going to go in this and maybe and she was you know thrilled to just tell me about all this other stuff and she really did love them all the time mission that love never left i was doing a show uh... what in vegas and lucy came in to see me and uh... i was doing it uh... i tried to do something a little bit different little

dramatic thing uh... in my show and lucy came back after the show and she said take that number out as a which number lucy she said the one about the kids i said but but luc I'm trying to establish something that's a little more dramatic for me. She said, I don't want to hear that song and neither does the audience. I said, why? She said, well, listen to what you're saying. It was a song that Sonny and Cher did called, You Better down kids I'll tell you why kids your mother and I kids don't see eye to eye kids. It's about a divorce

Yeah, she said to me you not many people are out there that are going through that She said take it out and she was right interesting. Yeah, we will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast but first a word from our sponsor. Now I gotta ask you about another hero of mine, Peter Lorre. Oh, I love Peter Lorre. He constantly would say to me, I love Italians. Of course, he loved wine. He was a big wine drinker. constantly was saying I love Italians I love wine and and Walter pitch and work oh yeah I was the bottom of the city I'm sure

we'll get to that too thank yeah before I just want to get all the movies but let's just go back a second and and talk about how you go from teen idol to movies. I mean you make Dee Dee Dinahs the first hit. Right, right. And first of all is it true that you held your nose while you were recording that? Well I sang through my nose.

Okay. I sang through my nose. Okay. That's the way I did it. Right. Because to me it was a very staccato arrangement and you know everybody's you know kind of learning their parts and all this other stuff and after a while and i'm saying and i'm i don't need a little bit

then uh... after a few rehearsals and the bank and it didn't end up and then it did eat and and and the producers said we don't accept house sounds very staccato should do it like that he said yes it's a gimmick sounds to it those are so you don't like now i can't get out yeah and of course they put it out and it was my first it writes and i have a jim how did we get to venus which which changed

the venus happened because again in the neighborhood uh... there was a a knock on the door and i was in south philly and and i open the door and the guy introduced himself is a man is that marshal of the songwriter can apply song for you i said yeah come on and i have piano and he sat down at the piano and he played the data data data data data data data data and he starts singing this being as goddess of love that you are

and i was aside went what but the play that again please plays it again i called the record company right there and i said i got a song you've got to hear this song i'm gonna bring him over to because of record company was out of philly and i said to him have you played the song for anybody else he said yeah i'd just come from al martino's house i said what about the kid he said he liked it but he think would be a good song for an album

interesting took it and date three days later I came into this city, Bell Sound Studios, I did seven takes on it, I waited until four o'clock in the morning with the acetate so I could take it back to Philly. I played it constantly, I just thought this song was the best song I've ever had offered to me. What was it, was it just that you fell in love with the song musically or you sensed a hit or both? Both, both, yeah. I just loved the fell in love with the song musically or you sensed a hit or both both both? Yeah, I just loved the song

I thought that the melody was wonderful that the message was just great and When we were going Pete De Anzis wrote the arrangement and of course we Bob Marcucci was my manager. We were driving into New York he was driving Bob and Pete was in the back with the guitar and you know learning the song and more feel to it this that whatever and uh... he said we do hear the arrangement as a people who we mean we don't hear the arrangement i said you haven't heard it he said yeah i wrote it

i said but you haven't heard it yet said i got in my head it's great then we went into the studio and it was just magic and how many records that Venus sell a lot? Oh, I wish I got paid for as many as yeah And and that's the teen idol thing basically hap starts to happen at that point no no way that before that before yeah Yeah, okay, I'll never forget calling Dick Clark on the show live The American Bandstand and he said Frankie got anything new coming out I said I've got a song coming out dick and I think it's it I love this song and I hope that the kids like it too

and I said he said what's the name of this it's called Venus and now what was happening with that movie the Idol maker yeah well that's based on Bob Marcucci yeah right exactlyarky and peter gallagher yeah and and critically acclaimed moves a good movie yes very down to our hackford what happened in that uh... you know fabian uh... had come to me and said we ought to sue because they really took our lives without any

uh... saying yes to you know or any kind of a deal you know the tommy d characters based on new and the peter gallagher character writes baby in and i said that you know if they if i can't do it that these this guy made my life how can i do that not really knowing that if i sued really wouldn't be bob marco g would have been transamerica or the studio you know but for some reason i said i can't do it he made my whole life and i didn't

fade wound up sewing and got some money on him but uh... i didn't nothing nothing in the movie is uh... i've heard you say you distance yourself from from the way the characters portrayed things didn't really happen that way no no uh... they made me a uh... pill poppin kind of a guy and i wasn't uh... working trumpet player right and do you remember the song from the movie i don't have seen it in years baby

baby i'd just want to take you where i'm going to end really peter gallagher sings that all that that was a baby in care yeah yeah yeah yeah interesting guy the bob marco g well i have any was the idol maker he really was and he took when he found me and started and had belief that you know why i don't know but he had believed and i was dating a little gal uh... in the neighborhood there

and she was in junior high school and uh... she said you know there's a kid uh... and our school here the girls just go crazy for and i said what's his name she said fabian said same all of a sudden all i know is that bob marcoot she found him in the neighborhood his father had a heart attack was an ambulance parked on the street yes yes a strange story yeah and and and saving a standing outside waiting for the ambulance or whatever

and bob marcoot she sees this good-looking kid because he'd looked at you as a combination of uh... of the elvis and uh... ricky nelson you know good-looking boy and uh... bob signed him and and uh... started he would be no musical background whatsoever just a kid sitting on a stoop right a street you know what he's deep save all through his career and even to this day because we do it but show called golden boys

and it's bobby right del and fading in myself three guys from the neighborhood and uh... he still is popular as ever but he had a quality that people just love you know uh... he'd be he'd be he says you know i'm not the greatest singer but you know he he does a great job on stage they love him they stand uh... when he when he finishes his uh... has sat down the uh... career yeah yeah

so why was it hit and venus was a hidden d. So, Why was a hit and Venus was a hit and D.D. Dinah was a hit and you're getting mail, lots of mail. 12,000 pieces like a week or something like that. Yeah. Right. But you know what's interesting about the song Why? Uh-huh. That's the last number one song that ended the decade of the 50s. It was December 31st, it was number one. Interesting. 1959. So, with the 12,000 pieces of fan mail a week, the studios come calling. That's what happened. Yeah.

Warner Brothers says, hey, this kid, he's got a following. Let's get him in with a major star and he'll bring in some young people. They have something to do with the fact that Elvisvis was doing movies at that point and they probably have probably and i went in and i did my first picture uh... called guns of the timberland with alan last great jeannie crane gilbert roland and um... you know it it started my whole and and it was the first movie

that was written and produced by arron spelling interesting was a young producer yeah yeah and done anything to that right about jumping up ahead how did you get that part in greece you know that's that's really some of the first of all i had seen greece here on broadway i did a promotion i was playing the copa cabana which was like the spot to play and that they had asked me to do this promotional thing a marketing thing uh...

tie-in and i went to the uh... theater where with the work there was playing at and i met the cast in the at the time and uh... i i'd watched the plane years went by three four five years whatever and i was playing golf at Lakeside Country Club, and I come off the first nine. I went in to get some cold drink, and my manager was there. And he says, I got the script. Paramount wants you for this picture.

I said, what is it? He says, it's called Grease. I said, what role? He said, Teen Angel. I said said forget it that's not when i played the back come back in and he's still there he says they will not accept no they said at least would you please come in and talk with them

i said all right so i go to paramount and uh... we're sitting around the table with alan carter producer and stickwood and the director randall klyzer and he says to me why don't you want to do this i said listen fellas i'd love the show was great but you know that the character of teen angel is an extension of elvis and i'm not that type that i've got a style that i saying and and and the play you, he's all in black and long side

burns. They said, we'll change it. We want you for this role. So they changed it and I got by a piano and I did my rendition of the song. They put it all in white. I'm all in white and all this other stuff. Six days rehearsal on the sound stage and two days of shooting a five minute song. So they really took time with it. And I didn't think anything of it. I did four

takes on it. And you were concerned that they were going to make you look like a joke. Very much so. I said, look, I don't want to be treated and handled like you know when i come on the screen that you know this is a joke you know the the thing that just thrilled me to death was when they previewed the the screening uh... in hope in hawaii believe it or not uh... the the the writer i can't remember her name which a very big writer

uh... wrote the article and review of the picture and said when frankie avalon comes on the screen there's a yell when frankie avalon leaves the screen there's an applause what's a great it's a great with funny little song and you think you use that you have to sing it straight in a way but you also have to play the comedy over which you do i mean i singing songs about about hooker. Your only customer is a hooker.

Right, right, right. I'm going to the big mall, chopping the sky. But you find the laughs. I mean, it had to be sung by somebody that could do comedy. Well, you know, what's amazing about that, even today, I mean, I'll meet someone who's 12, 13 years old. You know, they know that picture. That picture goes on for ever

it's amazing met people that have said to me i've seen that picture they count sixty three times twenty eight times and if it's on television if you start to observing the channels and you see grease you'll stay with it so my wife's obsessed with it all you don't get all that you know yeah it's an amazing and now when i, when I'm being directed by Randall Kleiser, second day of shooting, he comes

to me and says, Frank, did you remember me at all? And I said, from what? He said, the beach pictures. I said, no. He said, I was one of the extras. Oh, wow. He was an extra in our beach pictures. Interesting. He directed The Blue Lagoon, too, and a couple other popular movies. And you worked with another great comedian, Milton Burrow. Another genius. I mean, just terrific. He knew everything. From the music to the cue cards to the sketches. He was just brilliant. And he would call me at times and say, let's go to the motion picture home. He was really an advocate of doing shows.

And you'd go in there and I would see Larry Fine of the Three Stooges, you know, who had a stroke. And I would do, in those days, I was not only playing the trumpet, but I was doing a lot of impressions. I would do... And... What impressions did you do? Oh, I did all of them and i i i ended up doing it

we can't let you get away uh... the the one that i would do and and i'd learned uh... step for step did uh... cagney dance in yankee doodle dandy and my whole bit was the fact that uh... that would play bad at that other than another hollywood and uh... and my played bad at that at that at that at that at that at that hollywood and uh... and my piano player would start playing boom boom boom boom boom boom and you'd say uh... and i would say but you know the actors have to make auditions and that they get the part and you would say okay and i would step back

and he would say uh... uh... mister wayne mister john wayne and i would do the walk and i'd say well what do you want yet it's a uh... are you ready to do your part? Well, you're damn right I am. And I would do Wayne, I would do this one, that one, and at the end I would do, I'm a yankajewdle jangy.

And then I learned how to do the dance. And I would do some dance, and it was, all right, I'm a yankajewdle guy. So I would do that and... I gotta twist your arm and what what was some more of the voice who would I do these were mostly visual thing yes I would do Dracula Oh welcome I can play the part I know Gilbert does a little Dracula himself. Dude, let me hear it. Okay, gotta drink some water. Look at dueling vampires here.

Listen to them, children of the night. What music they make. I can't believe we're doing- Don't be afraid. Sometimes in our dreams dreams the mind plays strange tricks I love it. A spider spinning its web on very play pray the blood is the life Mr. Enfield. Mr. Enfield. Spelt backwards, what was it? Was Dracula? No.

Dracula was Alucard. And son of Frank- John Carradine? Oh, Lon Chaney Jr. I can't believe that me and Frankie Avalon are doing- Doing impressions. Yeah, dueling, he'll go see- But the best one I do, nobody does it.

And I do this for Rydell, which he falls off his chair. Edwin. Oh, great. A perfect fool. There he goes. My son, Keenan. Well, I'll tell you this. He's really a good actor, you know.

Edwin. Well, I'll tell you this, he's really a good actor, you know. And I can't believe I stumbled on a Dracula line, so I have to do it again. Listen, oh, a spider spinning its web for an unwary fly. The blood is the life, Mr. Enfield." That's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And remember when he would come down the steps. Oh, brilliant. Yeah, and he walked down and the girl was always screaming,

someone's been in my room, don't be afraid. Sometimes in our dreams, the mind plays the game. You need the sedative, if you would say. Oh, yes, yes! You need the sedative. You mentioned would say. Oh yes, yes! You need the sedative. Thank you. That's great. You mentioned John Wayne. Go ahead, Gil.

Oh, did you ever work with Lugosi? No. No. No, he was gone by then, yeah. You were talking about John Wayne before. And so, again, you do the teen idol thing, that's exploding, the studios want you, you do the Alanan lad picture the alamo

uh... the alamo uh... uh... he had called warner brothers and he wanted to see some of the dailies that i was doing with the the alam a directed that picture to tell me produced a direct and he'd like to write didn't thought that you know i was i was about um... so you made that picture in 59 so I was like 19 but I was playing like 14 you know and um he put me in the picture and um had a great friendship with him

it was really amazing is that my wife a sister uh... was married to his son Michael who produced a lot of his film. Interesting. So I really got to know the family, you know, and of course working with the Duke, he was tough. Boy, he was... I mean if you weren't in, didn't know your lines or whatever, I mean he he had Lawrence Harvey in tears. The only guy he didn't fool with was Richard Widmark, you know, because Widmark was such a pro. They were good to you, Lawrence Harvey in tears the only guy he didn't fool with was richard widmark it was written with

mark was such a probe they're good to you are just a gesture rift and i was richard widmark like you know what he was a very quiet man he only he really only hung out me and the two guys that i brought with me because you know i never wanted to leave the neighborhood i felt very comfortable with hucklebuck which is a guy who didn't have a guy by the

name of a kid on the work in the and sunny troy was my guitar player and worked south philly kids you know about it but we're doing a picture in bracketville texas you know in the middle of nowhere can imagine and we would go to the commissary each other and they built the whole Alamo, replica of the Alamo. And we would come back from, you know, and we'd say, watch that snake! You know, just to kind of tease one another until one time we were coming back and Sonny

Troy said, watch that snake, I swear my mother. When he said that, there was a snake, you know. There were pieces that you knew that he wasn't a Fibonacci. Now another person I have to get to from all your beach movies was Eric Von Zipper played by Harvey Lembeck. Now what do you, can you tell us about Harvey? Well I first met Harvey, I worked with Harvey in a picture I did over at Columbia called Sail a Crooked Ship with Ernie Kovacs and Robert Wagner. We have to ask you about Ernie Kovacs too. i worked with harvey in a picture i did over columbia called sailor crooked ship

with ernie kovacs and robert wagner left ask you better to go back to you and he was in the picture and then finally when we started to our first beach party picture you know he had been around and as a comedy actor as a serious as style like seventeen what was interesting about him was he created that character it wasn't written like that he took all of those kids that were the rats upon zipper and his rats and while we'd be shooting some scene whatever he'd be

in the other part of the sound stage whatever putting all those things together all those you still pissed in the finger and all this and he did all that himself so he created that character which became very important all of our pictures he was a great guy i'll never get we were shooting some of the pictures and he would come in and say and i think it was also an acting teacher

and he would come in and say cheese i've got this kid that is just the funniest what up town what a talent what a talent kept raving about him finally wound up to be uh... ritter uh... all john roger roger he said this kid does practicals this is funny faces that he'd just raved about him question on john ritter became a major major act

i'd come into movies yeah yeah well not only television john ritter you know with the threes company and all that stuff another comedian uh... that i have to ask you about is don rickles you know don was so thrilled to get into the movies he did one picture uh... was called uh... the one with the clark

gable or rather i would rather indeed yeah and and and he tells a great story about uh... you know he had one line and there's some and and gable the turns on says that that would be that rep and and rickles was supposed to say something went like this had yeah

but rickles you know uh... it's is i love working with him and his mother i just loved his mother at issues to make me the the best uh... sandwiches uh... uh... chicken liver sandwiches so he bring one the set and well we had a lot of good times to get rickles mother would prepare a lot of him and you know yeah yeah i'm a brown bag you know and you know and free i mean you have for twelve to fourteen hours a day were nothing but laughs i mean he never stopped you know and

he was just uh... on all the time there were a lot of great comics in those pictures and i think that you can i I heard Rickles was very close to his mother. Oh, yeah Absolutely. Yeah, and you know, he would do an impression of his mother remember She adored him and he loved her and It was great. I'd go to he lived in an apartment at the time i took him that the play golf one time to come to lakeside you figures no and in those days you know they had these anti-semitic a clubs you know i'd take a man who says i'm the jury in the clubhouse would yell all over the place in the

uh... funny guy jesse white body hack all re-enter damn paul and harvey limbeck we talked about and buster keaton when there were some many great comics we sit around movies we've we sit around the set with buster keaton my can't you can you imagine that he would tell a story so he started his own studio you know he'd be he'd be thought up all of the gags two things the comedy routines and wrote everything and how he lost everything and was really broke and doing our pictures and loved to do movies and wanted to do his own

little pratfalls and off the chairs and things. Wasn't that how he got the nickname Buster? Because as a child actor he was... From Houdini. That's right. Yeah. Is that right? His parents used to pick him up when he was a little kid and throw him on stage, smash him against the wall, swing him around, and Harry Houdini said to them, you ought to nickname this kid buster

happens well if it perfectly didn't this is a little the latter years and he was doing that the candid camera shows then and yeah i mean i was the biggest star yet b world he was like chaplain young in in that uh... and he was he was no young man when he was doing the movies with you know i i i i i think i figured it out uh... he must have been about sixty five

and he was doing practical only and every now yeah he wanted to do his own stuff you know and everybody anything that he did the crew and the cast would watch him and applaud that's nice yeah that's nice to hear the appreciation of this talent you know

and there was another young talent in some of the couple the beach pictures little Stevie Wonder all in meeting Stevie Wonder uh... he was rehearsing in the you know kind of doing some takes on the song he did uh... it was little Stevie Wonder so finally uh... we're on a break and we're sitting down he said uh... can i touch your face system i said sure stevie that's the only way you could feel what i look like

and ice state there and he looked at me but he put his hand all over my face, felt my nose, my eyes and everything which was kind of interesting. I always wondered about that. Yeah. Because in movies there's always the dramatic touching moment where someone says, can I touch your face? And I always thought, do blind people really do that?

Yeah, he did to me. Wow. Yeah. so it's the blank people really do that yeah he did to me while i was watching some muscle beach party with with stevie and you know uh... with the body body hack it's the spoiled rich kid and he's on the phone is trying to buy sisalia and he has that great line he says all right by half let's not to have the other half i'm watching this and i'm thinking it's not every movie that has buddy hackett

stevie wonder and a bond girl a bond all was luchia luchia lucy yeah i have seen a little from now we're doing a scene and uh... on the beach and it's a night scene i'd come in from night surfing you know those days it's smoking the in the scene or something on and all of a sudden we uh... and i'm i'm kind of wandering away from a net at this point you know. And we get to talking and she really has the hots for Frankie, you know. And we get to the last part of the scene is where we embrace and I see I got a wet suit

on, you know, a big yellow wet suit. And I take her in my arms and I'm kissing her and kissing her, you know, and I'm waiting for the director, Bill Asher, cut cut okay that that's a print to a man and we're kissing and kissing and kissing and kissing and kissing and kissing finally after i don't know how long was i've looked the crew everybody left the city

you're telling us you've there were quickies mean, you made these films in 15 days. 15 days. Each one of them. Yeah. American International Pictures. Yeah. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. And what else do you remember about Buddy Hackett?

Well, I felt as though Buddy Hackett and Don Rickles were really in competition with one another. Oh, yeah I'm this said, you know, we tried to be funnier And you know, they were both very funny guys, you know, but they got along well and Buddy was a little nuts little uh... nuts had other guest house that she had all yeah i mean i i remember one thing uh... you know i come into work and i i i i i was doing a picture to at the same time

i was doing a picture called sergeant deadhead and i was commuting from las vegas i was playing at the same so some contract to the sands at the time and sammy davis said to me uh... you're doing a picture and doing this he said i got the answer for you he said here's what you do because i would fly in after they shoot and be on stage by eight fifteen opening for because i was the singer for like alan king or somebody like that and i couldn't get on another flight until six in the morning so but by the

time the second show was done twelve thirty one o'clock i couldn't sleep on that so it's an incident here's what you do you call you get an ambulance he said and after your second show get in the ambulance it'll be air conditioned you get on the cot there and you tell the driver six to seven hours and you sleep to get to the studio you shower and you do your day's work and And it worked for me. It was really a great suggestion Sammy gave me.

Now Gilbert owns a strange item in his house. He has a life mask of Vincent Price. So we have to ask you about Vincent Price. Yeah, I have life masks of Vincent Price, Beto Ligosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. Wow, what a trio, huh? And you worked with Vincent Price on Dr the actor goldfoot the bikini mission yeah the ought to put a gentleman what eight gentlemen and again a pro and uh... you know uh... connoisseur of wines paintings and a brilliant man just sit down listen to him

tell stories of talk it was just a just a thrill for me he was very nice very nice man does it ever carry your on the set of these movies and you send me i'm here with vincent rice and doctor goldfoot in the bikini machine you think about the trumpet player on the side of the connection that i get here i don't know i just went along with everything and it it it it it just amazes me you know you know gilbert you've been you get in front of audiences you play in front of

fifty thousand seventy five thousand people a million people a hundred million people you know know, Gilbert, you get in front of audiences, you play in front of 50,000, 75,000 people, a million people, a hundred million people, you know? And you just don't think of it. Yeah, you're scared, you're shaking, but you ain't showing it. You know, that's what we do. But I mean, one day you're in South Philly playing the trumpet and then suddenly you're fighting a sea monster with Walter Pidgeon and Peter Lorre. Right, exactly. Not only that, getting on a horse. The only horse I got on was at the end of the street for a dime you know

i have to take acting lessons when the i think there is no idea i really don't know if you're going to show yourself into it uh... uh... fellow by the name of win handman he was a very good uh... the teachers by the fact he he thought red buttons and a lot of a lot of the and then when i went out to calli when it started doing a lot of pictures, I studied at Columbia. So, yeah. And I heard Vincent Price didn't like Dr. Goldfoot. Is that right? Yeah.

I don't know. Oh, see, now I'm letting in on him. Yeah, yeah. I wonder why. I mean, he had a lot of fun doing it. We were up in San Francisco doing it. That was a cute little pitch. I'd loved working with Fred Clark.

Wow, he's terrific. Another funny guy. And you also, because you mentioned it before, I kind of wonder if you worked with him too. Edwin's son. Keenan. Keenan. You worked with Keenan? Keenan, we did. I think Bikini Beach, you're one of them, you know, where he played the old guy. What do these kids know? What are they doing? You don't know that that that that he was always a fun

accident oh yeah very good and i come in the great race with tony kirk oh yeah jack lemon you see some of those old black and white pictures that he was in the certain real good actor very serious actor and about uh... you'd use as you mentioned ernie kovex and we gilbert and i know very little about ernie kovex we haven't had anybody on the show but i don't think too many people really know about ernie kovex including myself i mean i've worked with them and of course you do

scenes with him and all this other stuff i played his nephew in the picture but you know he was quite the uh... gambler um... and if he wasn't on the set doing scenes he was in his dressing room playing gin with some heavy players they they were playing betting some big mervin loroy the director of these guys you know he would it we have to wait from the you know uh... finish a game or something to get out of his dressing room i just got a flashback what's that there was a

tv movie about Ernie Kovacs starring Jeff Goldblum and what's her name from? Cloris Leachman as his mother. Really? Yes. I didn't know Cloris Leachman played his mother. I remember Jeff Goldblum playing Ernie Kovacs. Well the worst thing... And he passed away soon after you made that what happened was this i was out

promoting for columbia sit uh... sailor crooked ship was the name of the film and while i was out there doing television doing radio promoting the picture i'd gotten the word that uh... he was uh... in a car accident died on sunset boulevard in the rain, he was driving his Rolls Royce and lost control, hit a tree or pole and was killed. Yeah. A great talent.

He was one of those that's always credited for realizing stuff is on film and you can do tricks. You can do film and you can do tricks. You could do things that you can't do in vaudeville. Yeah. Well, he he was an innovator. I mean, you know, a lot of the stuff that's developed through the years, you know, he did things, you know, silly things, but they were brilliant things. Dripping water things and music to come. I mean, you know, my Robey Trio. Yeah. Yeah. He was brilliant. uh... dripping water things in music to come i mean you know my roby trio yeah

yeah he was brilliant other other performers were just doing film stage shows right he took it back yet yeah he he he he was big intelligent he was another philadelphia was from philly started at one of the local television stations and then developed and went on to big good networks and you work with bob hope all yeah loved working with bob hope uh...

did uh... the picture called uh... i'll take sweet i'll take sweet yeah yeah yeah and that was the theme song i'll take sweeten yeah yeah yeah sweeten home sweet home yeah uh... but he was a great guy. And when we did that picture, what really was neat about him that I think about, first day of shooting, everybody's up tight. I don't care who you are or what you are, but you're in the makeup room and you're getting made up. I was getting made up and Hope walked in and next chair over, he's getting made

up. You know, he talks to everybody, he tells a joke, this and that. And he looks over to me and then he says, you know, Jesus, I'm really nervous today. I, gee, I, just the first day I get so nervous. He was trying to relax me and who else, you know? But he wasn't nervous, come on, it was Bob Hope, you know he wasn't nervous come and respond hope you know and every shot that we did at the opening day of of of days work he would get in front of the crew until at least two to three

jokes and then start shooting all that now i have to get to this because i get to this on just about every one of my podcast you worked with cesar Romero. Yeah. Okay. Watch it, Frankie.

Okay. Here's the story I heard about Cesar Romero, legendary song and dance man and Latin lover, that in person he was gay. And to quote Jerry Seinfeld, not that there's anything wrong with that. But I heard, the story that I heard was that he would gather like these young boy toys around him and he'd pull down his pants and underwear and have them all fling orange wedges at his ass. I wish you could see Frankie Avalon's face folks.

I wish we were on video tape. He asked Adam West the same question. The only argument I've gotten, some people say it was Tangerine. You know what, I've never heard that. Honestly, I mean I him i did uh... those sergeant deadhead i did uh... i don't have any pictures with him to do for skidoo but uh... you know i had heard that he was gay and i'd never saw anything anything at all never saw any young toys around nothing like that is about a fact we went to a uh... a strip joint one time with arnold's bang Nothing like that. As a matter of fact, we went to a strip joint one time with Arnold Stank and Caesar Amerlin. You buried the lead, Frank. A strip joint with Caesar Amerlin and Arnold Stank.

But is it true that half of the budget of that movie went to buying citrus fruit? Makes sense. Yes. Tell us a little bit about your uh... your part in casino and working with scorsese indian era that had to be uh... what what what happened was this uh... but it was a weekend it was like a friday or saturday and i was at home with my wife and kids and the phone rings and my wife uh... comes over to me she said it's for you it's a

bobby deniro she didn't no ship to me she said it's for you it's a bobby de niro she didn't no shit faces a guy from south philly you know is yeah so i get on the phone he says if i can we're doing this picture and you were the first guest on lefty show and you know marty likes to be right on target with the reality of it he said would uh... you come in and do that scene that you did because we have the tape of that uh... when you first did it i said uh... when you want to do

anything else monday so i'm off so i flew in and uh... i sat with marty uh... scorsese and uh... i looked at the film and word for word i did exactly what i did on the so it's a show or is ross den was based on yeah right and uh... deniro uh... very much into his character i mean uh... when we were shooting uh... all day

uh... it took us about twelve hours in passion i've been friends for a long time and pesci was waiting for me so we can get some meatballs to kill pigs so uh... as i'm working with deniro know, he's very much in the camera. He says, Frankie, you know, there's cameras all over. Marty's got cameras up there, this, that, whatever. So he's filming us from all angles. It's okay. So all he wanted to talk to me about was, how's Annette for the job?

I thought, yeah, she's great. You know, cut. She's still married. All I wanted to know was Annette. He must have been a fan of hers. He must have been. Or just a fan of the Mouseketeers. Probably, yeah. Can you do an imitation of either Martin Scorsese or Robertan?

No, I can't. Can you? No, sometimes I do martin's courses demand that i don't have any of the goes to the other side and can add when and then you know if i have you written memoir you've got a read a memoir got a read a book so many stories folk and i go on forever ever and as it occurred to you have you thought about it uh... that times you

know you know that there's so many different aspects of thank god uh... uh... long lasting career we talk about movies or but i think even people would be followed by the idol maker stuff and then that that was that and and i think you're mentioned if i'm pronounciated that i am

i can even say pronunciating it correctly I can't even say, pronunciation, correctly, that you're mentioned in the Wu-Tang Clan. You got it. Yes. What? Wu-Tang Clan. What's that?

It's a hip-hop rap group that mentions you in one of their lyrics. Oh, really? Yes. I mean, that shows how you're still relevant. Well, good. I like that. Yeah. Well, that's very nice i mean uh... you know i'm i'm i'm a guy that uh... i don't

watch much television i'd be good movie now and then whatever you did american idol couple years ago yeah yeah that was fun yeah uh... but uh... you know um... will go out my wife and i uh... will be out and there'll be somebody and she'll say to me you know that is is no i don't she said that's a big star. I said, I don't know, I'm sorry. And they'll come over to me, hi Frankie, oh, I'm a fan or this or that, whatever.

She says, really nice. But I don't know a lot of the people today. It's been a journey though, Frank, huh? Sure has, yeah. From crashing a party at Al Martino's house to working with Keaton and i know lucy and and uh... and john wayne and groucho and he'd been inside the said buster and being crossed cross be i mean at the attention self out there

i mean it just in all of these people you know the work with being crossed pia well what a thrill that was he'd be you want to talk about a master we had been he had a television show and I was with Vicky Carr we were playing young marrieds and um after one of this takes that we did the one of the producers came or said being you know

we gotta do this PS spot the public service announcement there and they had to cue cards you know and he said okay let me see it and uh... they put up the key cards in the camera on the side of the camera and he went and okay take away i've been cross the air

well now i want to say this and he started to do word for word i'm saying trashed being you look at it once and you just did the whole thing he said well well when you get to be doing as long as

I am you'll do the same thing not not really wow he was he does Bing too and and there's one other actor I had to bring up who's known uh... primarily another actors known primarily as jerry seinfeld's uncle leo and that's this actor lindlesser i don't know if you remember him at all we have to use it all the way to get pictures you know what i do remember him as a neat guy think all these heroes as a place with picture pretty prominent in that picture but he he was in a picture we did called fireball

five hundred that's right i played the day bones the fireball and he'd be out he was in that picture yeah i remember him yet you know who was another wild guy actor timothy carry oh sure no no yes yes home i'll take from the wild one and the one with kirk douglas to the world war one move out that's a glory hands-on with what you do you know your pictures don't well i was sure i

research the gala convicts four with ben gissar that's right he was in but what what was the one where where the roach was uh... wasn't that uh... working with you was in the jail cell and smack the road yeah i'm trying to think of which one that was very odd looking constraint area i think i yeah strange guy and we were doing one scene one of the beach things and he played the s south dakota slim minnesota fat south dakota slim come on booby the slim minnesota fat south dakota slim come on booby

we were doing this one scene bill asher director all he had to do was open the door and everybody will go down this little shoot you know but he went he jumped up the bill uh... cut the bill would say uh... ten we don't need all that just open the door the gag is the fall down but he won't

okay and action all over the he would have some yet let him go and it had really made the scene i think you know he's he's stuck to his guns there yet a brando used to begin a one-eyed jacks one picture director he he he he would come in and tell us strange stories about his wife having a baby and he delivered

the baby and bit off the umbilical cord and I mean... Really? Well, this has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre and I'm Gilbert Gottfried thanking my fellow uh... teen idol Frank is there anything you want to plug before we run off? um... no let me see what am I no I'm with the golden boys dick foxes golden boys and you know it's bobby rydell and fabian and myself and we do uh... about fifteen twenty concerts a year and I'm still out

there myself I still do that I've got a book coming out not about my memoirs or one of that but it's a cookbook because I love to cook and it's for st. Martin's publications so that'll be out pretty soon oh and you told me that former teen idol Bobby Rydell does an imitation of me he loves you, does lines lines jokes and everything and he's perfect adam on the show i'd have to go ahead i got here that that that i got a hair bobby right now i don't have to add one of the most talented guys funny guys i mean he does it all i just love bobby right now he's a real dear

friend it's been great frank thanks frank and i think the over still handsome post-trial uh... adversarial and first it all and i got you who can challenge me to a little c m and he confirmed the caesar america but i think that Yes, he was there.

Frankie Avalon was there when Caesar Romero had orange wedges flung at his ass. He was there, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, thank you, Frankie Avalon.