Shecky Greene, the legendary Las Vegas headliner and slapstick comedian who entertained audiences for years whereas battling demons that included stage fright, alcoholism, prescription-drug abuse and playing, died Sunday. He was 97.
Greene died at his residence in Las Vegas of pure causes, his spouse of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, informed the Las Vegas Assessment-Journal.
He additionally was recognized for his dozens of appearances on The Tonight Present Starring Johnny Carson, the place he served as an occasional visitor host.
Greene’s garrulous act within the Nineteen Fifties and ‘60s helped remodel the lodge lounge into one other place for patrons to be entertained, turning Vegas right into a 24-hour celebration city. His specialty was improvisation, and he may take just about any state of affairs and make it humorous.
The stocky Chicago native sang, did impressions, informed tales and sometimes went off on wild tangents, and his model of comedy was fairly bodily (he as soon as did his act whereas hanging from the stage curtains; one other time, he suffered a knee harm after doing a again flip).
But by all of it, Greene handled debilitating stage fright that saved him from performing for years at a time.
“I used to be a manic depressive,” he informed the Assessment-Journal in 2009. “Then I developed panic assaults, and I labored with individuals who by no means knew it. I’d get a standing ovation, then I’d burst out crying as quickly as I left the stage. I wished to get out of present enterprise so dangerous at the moment. However if you’re making $100,000 every week and supporting 12 bookies and a spouse — it’s troublesome.”
Greene additionally had a consuming downside. In an notorious 1968 episode, he bounced his Oldsmobile convertible off a lamppost and into the well-known fountains exterior Caesars Palace. With water spraying in all places, he rolled down his automotive window, turned on the windshield wipers and stated he informed the cops, “What, no spray wax?” He additionally identified that he didn’t even get a ticket (occasions have been totally different then).
Erratic conduct and a foul angle would get him fired, however as a result of his act introduced in a lot cash, the Vegas accommodations saved bringing him again. When he stopped consuming, he turned hooked on pharmaceuticals, however he informed the Los Angeles Occasions in 1994 that he was capable of overcome that.
He as soon as misplaced his voice due to throat surgical procedure and couldn’t carry out for a 12 months.
Greene starred because the resident hustler Pvt. Braddock on the primary season of Fight! however give up the 1962-67 ABC battle drama after eight episodes. He additionally appeared in such movies as Tony Rome (1968), The Love Machine (1971), Received Ton Ton: The Canine Who Saved Hollywood (1976), as Marcus Vindictus in Historical past of the World: Half One (1981) and as grocery store proprietor Mr. Buyrite in Splash (1984).
Greene carried out many occasions on The Ed Sullivan Present and The Hollywood Palace, although it was onerous to include his act to only a few minutes. He additionally confirmed up on The Love Boat, Laverne & Shirley, The Fall Man, The A-Crew, Roseanne and as Paul Reiser’s great-uncle on Mad About You.
Fred Sheldon Greenfield was born on April 8, 1926, on the North Aspect of Chicago. Throughout World Warfare II, he spent three years aboard an plane provider within the U.S. Navy and at occasions was in control of an ice-cream stand on the ship. When requested what was the hardest factor concerning the service, he typically replied, “Butter pecan.”
In 1944, he enrolled again residence at Wright Junior Faculty with the objective of turning into a health club instructor. One summer season, he took a job for $20 every week at a resort exterior Milwaukee, the place he turned one-half of a comedy act with Sammy Shore, future co-founder of The Comedy Retailer in Los Angeles.
That led to a three-year gig in New Orleans on the Prevue Lounge, the place trumpet legend Al Hirt served as his bandleader. Greene bought a share of the Prevue, however after the place burned down, he returned to highschool at Wright.
Greene, although, rapidly acquired again in present enterprise when he accepted at supply from comedian Martha Raye to carry out at her Miami nightclub for six weeks at $500 every week. He later opened for Ann Sothern on the Chez Paree in Chicago earlier than heading to the Golden Lodge in Reno, Nevada, to headline for greater than twice that quantity.
He arrived in Las Vegas in 1953 to open for Dorothy Shay, the recording star often called The Park Avenue Hillbillie, on the Final Frontier, and wound up being prolonged for 18 weeks.
“This was the making of my profession,” he recalled in a 1996 interview. “They held me over with Patty Andrews after she left her sisters, then they put me up with [bandleader] Xavier Cugat.” He launched Elvis Presley, the opening act who was making his Vegas debut, in April 1956.
Greene signed with the Riviera, nevertheless it didn’t have a spot in its showroom for him to carry out, so he steered he work within the lounge close to the bar. On the Tropicana, the brand new proprietor didn’t wish to put a stage in that space, however the comedian requested the proprietor, “What if I put a plywood board over the bar, that part. Would that fulfill you?’” Greene stated. He agreed, and Greene stayed with the lodge for 5 years.
“I began to get very popular. The place was getting crowded, and the individuals began coming in, as a result of they by no means had comedy like that within the lounge,” he stated. He paved the best way for different lounge acts like Don Rickles.
When the MGM Grand Lodge opened in 1975, its second headline act (after Dean Martin) was Greene. Again then, he was making a reported $150,000 every week.
Within the Nineteen Eighties, he married for a 3rd time and, after his lengthy stretches of inactivity, was doing stand-up till lately.
Greene cherished to play the ponies, and a speedy thoroughbred named for him led the 1973 Kentucky Derby till Secretariat ran away to win that race en path to a Triple Crown victory. At one time, the Arlington Park racetrack had a Shecky Greene Handicap.
Along with his spouse, survivors embody his adopted daughters, Dorian and Alison. Donations in his reminiscence will be made to St. Jude’s Kids’s Ranch of Las Vegas.
