“Forgotten Hollywood”- Hello Dere…
Manny P. here…
“`Marty Allen was an entertainer, best known as one-half of the Allen and Rossi comedy team. He made hundreds of television appearances, and was a regular on Hollywood Squares. The duo appeared regularly on The Tonight Show and The Merv Griffin Show. His catch-phrase was Hello Dere.
“`Born in Pittsburgh, Allen served in the United States Army Air Corps. Stationed in Italy, he attained the rank of sergeant. He earned a Soldier’s Medal for his bravery during a fire which happened while a plane was being refueled. His heroism earned him a full-dress parade.
“`In the 1950s, Marty appeared as the opening act for Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, and Eydie Gorme. After becoming part of the comedy duo with Steve Rossi, which resulted in a string of hit comedy albums, and 44 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show (including the famous show with The Beatles in February 1964), they worked together from 1957 to 1968, parted ways amicably, and occasionally reunited.
“`As a solo performer, Allen performed on Broadway and in Las Vegas. Starting in the 1980s he and his wife, singer-songwriter Karon Kate Blackwell, teamed up to perform their musical comedy act to audiences around the country.
“`In 1968, he made a Hello Dere tour of military hospitals in the United States. He repeated the tour annually until 1972. Allen entertained wounded soldiers returning from Vietnam. He was also active in a number of charities, such as the American Cancer Society, The March of Dimes, Fight for Sight, The Heart Fund, Cerebral Palsy and was on the board of the Epilepsy Foundation.
“`Marty Allen (above) was 95.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 13th, 2018 at 1:14 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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