The ANNOTICO Report

Who needs to explain Frankie (Avallone) Avalon?? A young prodigy with the
trumpet. In his PRE teen years he is a celeb on a local Philly  TV station,
"TV TEEN Club." He becomes a member of the group Rocco & The Saints - Bobby
Rydell (Robert Ridarelli ) is another member of the group. Frankie  is
spotted by a Chancellor Records scouting artist, and is signed to a singing
contract and goes on to become a Teen Idol charting 13 singles in the
Billboard Top 40.

"DeDe Dinah," a song which he reportedly disliked so much that he held his
nose while singing it.his first hit.
"Venus"  in 1959, reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart. The next year,
"Why" hit No. 1.

When the hits stopped and the Beatles arrived, Avalon still a teenager
started making movies. Guns of the Timberland (1959; with Alan Ladd and
Gilbert Roland); Panic in Year Zero (1962; with Ray Milland and Jean
Hagen), Beach Party (1963; with Annette Funicello and Dorothy Malone), and
The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967; with George Nader and Shirley Eaton).
Avalon is best known for the Beach Party series of films; he appeared in
six of them.

See:< http://www.history-of-rock.com/
frankie_avalon.htm
and
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000811 >

By Mike Hughes
Lansing State Journal
June 3, 2005

As retro-rock music pumps through "Grease," something strange seems to
happen:

Generations merge. Kids think their parents - or even grandparents - might
have once been cool.

"It captures a lot of the spirit of the '50s," said Frankie Avalon, who's
in the production that reaches the Wharton Center tonight. "The kids have
all seen it on DVD or videotape."

Sometimes, quite often.

"I've seen it a million times," Tiana Checchia, who stars as sweet Sandy
Dumbrowski, said, possibly exaggerating a tad.

These two should be several worlds apart. Avalon is 65, a father of eight,
a grandfather and a piece of pop-culture history. Checchia is in her 20s,
single, enjoying the footloose life of someone who can store her stuff at
her parents' Long Island home, while pocketing per-diem money on the road.

They share two things, however - Italian backgrounds and a fondness for a
distant era.

"The '50s were very carefree," Checchia said. "The music was fun, the
clothes were fun."

A cynic might interject that this was also the time when the majority of
Americans - blacks, women, gays, Hispanics, youths, more - were treated as
second-class citizens. That would emerge later; for a brief time between
wars, kids just wanted to have fun.

"People love to go back to that time - to the innocence, the dances, the
music," Avalon said.

He thrived then, singing and playing the trumpet in Philadelphia. He was in
a band at 12, appeared on Jackie Gleason's TV show at about 13, signed with
a small record label at about 15.

He was still a teenager when he recorded "DeDe Dinah," a song which he
reportedly disliked so much that he held his nose while singing it. He soon
found a reason to like it. "That was my first hit," Avalon said.

Philadelphia, with its strong Italian and black communities, turned out to
be an ideal place to start. "Philly has always been important for dance and
music," Avalon said.

It was also where Dick Clark had an afternoon music show on TV. One day,
ABC programmer Ollie Treyz showed a kinescope of it to his kids and their
friends.

"They loved it," Treyz recalled in "Beating the Odds" (Scribner's, 1991).
"They asked to see it again. They loved that kind of music and the dancing,
the twist."

The show went national, with a new name. " 'American Bandstand' was an
extraordinary part of ABC's history," wrote ABC founder Leonard Goldenson.
"It became an anchor for the whole daytime lineup. It got huge ratings."

And it stayed in Philadelphia. The singers who lived there - Avalon, Bobby
Rydell, Fabian, Chubby Checker, more - were scheduled often and also filled
in when other bookings fell through. They became stars.

Avalon may have been handed some weak songs, but "Venus" reversed that.
"It's a wonderful song," he said.

It came in 1959, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard chart. The next year,
"Why" hit No. 1.

By the time the hits stopped and the Beatles arrived, Avalon was making
movies. Only the hard-core fan can differentiate the first of the series
(the 1963 "Beach Party") from the fifth (the 1965 "Beach Blanket Bingo").

"I loved doing them," Avalon said. "It was nothing but pure fun."

By then, the Vietnam era was settling in; the '50s were ignored or mocked.
"Grease" began in Chicago as a satire of the era; by the time it reached
Broadway in 1972, it had become a fond nostalgia piece.

That's when producers began suggesting Avalon join the show, he recalled.

"I said, 'What role?'

"They said Teen Angel. I said 'Absolutely not.' "

The character sang "Beauty School Dropout" in a high, do-wop voice. "I
said, 'I've had a style for 20 years. I'm a straight-ahead, baritone
singer.'"

For the 1978 movie, the song was adjusted to suit him. Avalon became part
of a hit.

He considered an offer to join the 1994 Broadway revival, but the timing
never worked out. Lately, however, he's been an on-and-off part of the road
company, singing his Teen Angel solo and then putting on a 10- to 15-minute
mini-concert after the show.

When "Grease" was at Los Angeles' Kodak Theatre, a batch of his
grandchildren came to visit. On the road, he's helped his young co-stars
bridge the generation gap.

"It's been great to just listen to him tell stories of the old days,"
Checchia said. "He's been a star since he was 17, 18 years old. I can't
fathom that."

Her own route has been more traditional. She grew up in an Italian family
that loved music - oldies, especially - and Broadway. She saw "42nd Street"
when she was 7 or 8 and savored theater.

She hedged her bets, studying other things at Notre Dame. Ever since,
however, she's been cast in musicals.

"Grease" has put her alongside other guest stars, including Chubby Checker
and Elvis Stojko.

The latter was in Canada, where the skater is a national hero. As befits
his '50s-rock first name, he became a "Grease" co-star.

He said, "I'm here as a fan," Checchia recalled.

A lot of people are, apparently. "Grease" keeps bridging generations.

• The songs: From the original Broadway show are "Summer Nights," "Greased
Lightnin'," "Beauty School Dropout" and such heartaches as "Alone at a
Drive-in Movie" and "It's Raining on Prom Night." Borrowed from the movie
are "Grease," "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "You're the One That I Want."

• After the show: Avalon, who has only one scene in the show, returns for a
10- to 15- minute mini-concert. Chances are, he'll include his No. 1 hits,
"Venus" and "Why."

Greasy times

The changing life of "Grease":

• The birth: An amateur show emerges in a Chicago trolley barn. Sometimes
running five hours, it mocked the music and the people of the 1950s.

• Re-birth: "Grease" opened off-Broadway in 1972, being more affectionate
about the '50s, then moved quickly to Broadway. It remained for eight years
and 3,888 performances; that was a record, later passed by "A Chorus Line."

• The movies: "Grease" came out in 1978 and made a fortune; people
predicted big things for its stars, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
"Grease 2" came in 1982 and was much-hated; people were half-correct in
predicting obscurity for its stars, Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer.

• The return: The show was back on Broadway in 1994, with a supporting cast
that included Rosie O'Donnell and Megan Mullally. It ran for years and
keeps touring.

Contact Mike Hughes at 377-1156 or mhughes@lsj.com.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20050603/THINGS0101/
506030311/1055/news