Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
American actor, singer, and comedian best known for his roles in the musicals Guys and Dolls and Little Abner.
On the island
Eight records
kind of put me in the mood for being alone on this island.
I'll always remember him from this record, which is a classic.
David wrote, as we all know, the marvelous holiday for strings. But one of his songs which appeals to me, and I'd love to take this record with me to the island
when I auditioned for Guys and Dolls I had to sing a song. And the song that I sang was a song that Lena sang, and I've never forgotten it.
Frank Sinatra, Johnny Silver and Stubby Kaye
together the three of us sang Guys and Dolls, and it was a real kick. Singing and working with Frank Sinatra.
this song is my favorite, and she sang this. This is one of the extras that they threw into the show.
I made You Can't Run Away From It with June Allison and Jack Lemmon, in which I sang a marvelous song on a Greyhound bus. I was dressed as a sailor. And uh That's one reckon I'm going to take with me to the desert island.
Theme from New York, New YorkFavourite
I pay tribute to New York through the voice of Liza Minelli ... and I I would always keep this record with me forever.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:39Do you read music?
No, I can't read a note of music. As a matter of fact, when I did the show, uh ... Guys and dolls when I did Little Abner, or any time in television appearances when I had to learn a strange song, a new song. The only way I'd learn it is if they'd uh lock me in a room with a piano player and let him play it over for an hour, an hour and a half, then give me a cassette or a recording to take home. And I'd play it over repeatedly and repeatedly. And that's how I would learn the song.
Presenter asks
3:31How did you get stage struck?
I was pushed out on the stage ... in a theater to sing a song, a vaudeville theater variety. And I saw the people and I I I just got so nervous, full of stage stride, I wet my pants and ran off the stage. But I I tell you, as I got older I I guess, you know, I was a little fat kid in the neighborhood and uh I tried to be jolly and happy and did all the jokes and clowned at parties and so forth and so on.
Presenter asks
6:46What do you remember about wartime London and the Blackouts?
Oh, I think the spirit of the people was fantastic. And uh like you know and so many other people know, y y you never knew if your uh home was gonna be there when you got there at at night and or if you were gonna get up in the morning or if if your place of business was gonna be there, you know. And the way they they they just stuck together was beautiful. It was marvelous.
The keepsakes
Presenter asks
17:51How did you get on with [Frank Sinatra]?
Oh, he was marvelous. He's a great guy. So many things are said about Frank, about his behaviour here and his behaviour there. Whatever you hear about him, cross it out and put a put about ninety per cent of good stuff against it, because you you don't hear about all the good stuff that he does, all the people he's helped who are in dire need, and the charity work he does that is never publicized, he won't have it. He's a great guy, as far as I'm concerned. A really great guy.
Presenter asks
19:55What can you tell us about [the rumor about Romeo]?
As little as possible. I was in California, and I was mailed a script. They asked me to read it. And I read it and I telephoned him and said I like it, I'd like to do it, but certain changes have to be made. They said that the changes would be made. They have writers standing by. Let's get into rehearsal. So I came over to London from Los Angeles. And when I said to them, Who are the writers that you have? They said we're not at liberty to divulge their names. Then I knew I should have gone back to Heathrow. But I'd signed a contract, I keep my word, and we suffered through it. It died in Bristol.
“I was a little fat kid in the neighborhood and uh I tried to be jolly and happy and did all the jokes and clowned at parties and so forth and so on. I was the one that put the lampshade on the head and said, Hey, look at me Hey you know.”
“You must advertise, Roy, because no circus ever sneaked into town.”
“Home is where the heart is, really. I'm serious about that.”