The Voice
of God - Buddy Hackett
Buddy Hackett's life reads like a road
map for comedy. Born in Brooklyn in 1924,
Leonard Hacker was the son of an upholsterer
and part-time inventor who wanted his son to
follow in his footsteps. But Buddy (as he
quickly became known) stood barely five feet
six inches tall yet weighed over 200
pounds-and had almost no choice in the
matter. He was born to be funny.
The World
According to Buddy: "If it's dirty,
it's not funny, but if it's funny, it's not
dirty."
A childhood bout with Bell's Palsy left
him talking out of the side of his mouth -
and the tendency of his voice to reach
near-hysterical volume made everything that
came out of his mouth sound hilarious. He
was a man who was dearly loved for his gift
of making people laugh. The man just
"thought" funny.
His first job as a comedian was at the
Pink Elephant, a tiny club in Brooklyn. His
salary was $40 a week, where he was first
noticed. In 1948 he met a car dealer named
Frank Faske who became his de facto manager
and even invested his own money buying jokes
for Buddy. In spite of the written material
by others, the two of them realized that
Buddy was funniest when he was himself, and
that's when his star really started to rise.
It began in California, at Billy Gray's
Band Box, with an off-the-cuff routine about
a Chinese waiter - and everything suddenly
clicked. Buddy, with a rubber band around
his head to slant his eyes, did 20 minutes
on a befuddled Asian trying to sort out soup
orders. It quickly became part of the
American lexicon of comedy. ("Flied lice,"
anyone?)
He returned east and killed at the
Concord, appeared on a pioneer television
show called "Laff Time," and was even asked
to replace the ailing Curly of The Three
Stooges - a job he turned down so he could
pursue his solo career.
In 1954 his acting studies paid off, as
playwright Sidney Kingsley tapped him to
appear in "Lunatics and Lovers" on Broadway,
for which he won the coveted Donaldson Award
for Best Newcomer-at age 21. Even the
snobbish New York Times theater critic
Brooks Atkinson praised his talent,
extolling his "exuberance" in "the best part
Mr. Kingsley has written." The role led to
appearances on "The Tonight Show" with Steve
Allen, on "The Jackie Gleason Show," and,
eventually, to his own sitcom, "Stanley,"
which ran for only one season but was filmed
live and launched the career of his co-star,
Carol Burnett.
In 1958 Buddy drew critical raves for his
role in the film version of Erskine
Caldwell's "God's Little Acre." Variety
praised his performance as having
"perception and depth and real acting.'
Buddy's career was so set that he even
turned down Frank Sinatra's offer to be his
opening act. "I'd rather be in competition
across the street than be your opening act
for the rest of my life," Buddy responded.
Despite the refusal, Buddy became a lifelong
friend of Sinatra and the rest of the Rat
Pack, appearing with them in several Vegas
performances, as well as numerous
incarnations of Joey Bishop's shows, the
Dean Martin Show, and steadily worked with
them all throughout their careers, even
performing with them at Carnegie Hall in
1961. The following year he appeared as
Marcellus Washburn - Robert Preston's
sidekick in the film version of "The Music
Man"-followed by his hilarious turn in the
star-studded Stanley Kramer extravaganza
"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", the
number one grossing box-office movie of the
year, and the number one comedy film of all
time at that point.
But it was in the 1960s and 70s, holding
court at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, that
Buddy became a legend. Del Webb, owner of
the Sahara, appreciated his talent and loved
him for his audience appeal as well as his
hotel sense - a trait he had learned from
his Concord days and never forgotten. Webb
appointed Buddy vice president of the Sahara
(at a salary of $50,000 a year), and Buddy
took the job seriously. One day, Buddy
complained to Webb about the static
electricity in the casino's carpet, then
joked on-stage that night that Webb had
"nailed a chain to his ass" to take care of
the problem. But in his new job, Buddy made
it a point to discover new talent.
"Buddy was the one who gave me my first
big job," recalls David Brenner. "He saw me
on 'The Tonight Show,' and the next morning
he called the Sahara and told them to book
me - not in the lounge, where I would have
been thrilled, but in the showroom! He
booked me on the spot as the opening act for
Sonny & Cher." Charo was another recipient
of his largesse, as was former "Gidget"
singer and star James Darren. By this time,
Hackett's reputation was so big in Vegas
that, when he saw the Sahara put up big
"Merry Christmas" lights on top of the
building, he asked that the hotel put his
name up in lights as well as on the marquee
out front. The Sahara agreed, and many who
drove along the Strip thought seriously that
Buddy was the new owner.
"My Dad brought a lot of changes to this
town," says his producer/writer son, Sandy
Hackett. "He influenced comedy in ways no
one fully appreciates today." |
|
The Las Vegas Cast
Voice of God
Buddy Hackett
Frank Sinatra
David DeCosta
Sammy Davis Jr.
Doug Starks
Joey Bishop
Sandy Hackett
Dean Martin
Johnny Edwards |
