Late Marty Allen left admirers laughing
IT’S funny what you remember about someone. It’s really funny what you remember about someone who was really funny.
On Friday, I remembered Marty Allen, as did hundreds more of his friends, at a celebration of life at Rampart Casino at the Resort at Summerlin’s Marquis Ballroom. Those who spoke knew the comic performer well, beginning with the afternoon’s emcee, his widow, Karon Kate Blackwell. Marty’s niece Molly Shields and his comic buddies Louie Anderson, Jimmie “J.J.” Walker and piano showman George Bugatti all took the stage to reminisce, share a laugh and shed a tear.
Warren Durso and Lou Magelowitz revived Allen & Rossi’s wine-tasting sketch, a fan favorite that reminded the audience of Steve Rossi’s greatness as Marty’s comic foil. Sean and John Scott of “Absinthe” blew some minds, as always, with a rocking tapdance number.
Marty was fond of dancing and great dancers.
I was asked to speak, too, as a friend and also because Marty was a real reader who scoured the newspaper every morning. Marty was especially easy to write about, easy to support and easy to be friends with. When I approached to say hello, those big eyes would light up and dance, just as he would at the end of his stage shows.
Marty performed almost to the end, too, before he died Feb.12atalasvegasrehabilitation clinic of complications from pneumonia. He was 95 and had broken his hip in a fall on Christmas Day at his Las Vegas home. Allen’s final Las Vegas performance was last March at South Point Showroom, marking his 95th birthday. He and Karon had planned to perform this year in New York and Florida.
Marty was a headliner and frequent TV show guest for 60 years. He and Rossi enjoyed a spirited run from 1957-68, when they headlined at the major Strip resorts of the day. Their 44 appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” including two shows starring the Beatles, were legendary. The duo reunited for a few gigs in Vegas in the early 1990s.
Marty’s fame was self-evident, and on Friday morning I struggled with what to say about him. I thought of how I knew him, and my mind flashed to the end of a pencil: In grade school, I had a pencil with a troll doll at the end, and the little guy with eyes bulging and wild hair seemedtospeaktome.itwas just a funny little figure until I came to realize this rubber toy looked a lot like an actual person.
Marty was a regular on daytime TV, something I learned when I was home with strep throat for a week in fifth grade. I watched a lot of television, including “The Hollywood Squares,” and there, in the upper-right corner, was Marty, a comedian I’d one day call a friend.
The show’s host, Peter Marshall, called on this funny man with, “Marty, what do you call a group of chickens?” “A bucket!” was the answer. The speakers on Friday, what would have been Marty’s 96th birthday, recalled a funny and fun-loving man. Anderson said, “Marty was a very funny guy — unless you got his order wrong at a restaurant.” He also said he wished that he had recorded some of Allen’s “blue” material.
“He could be dirty, and his dirty stuff was funny,” Anderson said.
It was Walker who recited Allen’s famed line, a booming “Hello, Dere!” that drew a cheer.
Marty’s favorite Vegas comics sent video messages from the road, including Luxor headliner Carrot Top and Mirage mainstay Terry Fator. Both were inspired by Allen’s fearless comedy (one of Allen’s best bits was playing a ventriloquist puppet, Buddy, with Karon as puppeteer). It’s not a fluke that both of Allen’s disciples have performed on the Strip for more than a decade.
Videos of Marty’s wonderful TV appearances were summoned, too. With Martha Raye, he wound up with a head slathered in lard and cake mix. With Rossi singing, he danced up a storm on “The Dean Martin Show.”
At the end of the program, Karon displayed the Louisville Slugger that Marty used as a cane in his later years. He batted a thousand with that thing, swinging for the fences on red-carpet appearances. But, as Karon said, the cane could stand on its own. Marty always pushed it aside so he could boogie-woogie while his wife played a bouncy piano riff behind him.
At Rossi’s 82nd birthday party, Marty talked about dancing. “In life, you gotta dance,” he said. “And to dance, you gotta find someone to dance with.”
Marty Allen found that, in Karon and in all those friends who showed up to say a final goodbye who’d loved to watch him laugh and dance. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @ johnnykats on Twitter and @ Johnnykats1 on Instagram. As of 9 p.m. Sunday:
1. Iowa family died of gas asphyxiation at Mexican resort, police say
Autopsies indicate an
Iowa couple and their two children died from inhaling toxic gas at a rented condo on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, but there was no sign of foul play or suicide, Mexican authorities said Saturday.
2. Nevada vs. Mass.: a tale of two educational states of mind
On Education columnist Amelia Pak-harvey reflects on her move two years ago from Massachusetts — which loves to tout itself as the best state in the nation for public education — to Nevada, where education often seems like an afterthought.
3. Man fatally shot in northeast Las Vegas
Las Vegas police are investigating after a man was found fatally shot early Saturday in the northeast valley.
4. Howard Hughes Corp. sells 42 acres in Las Vegas to homebuilder
Richmond American Homes acquired a 42.5-acre parcel for around $23.8 million from Summerlin developer Howard Hughes Corp., property records show. The sale closed March 1.
5. Over 2,000 march in downtown Las Vegas for end to gun violence
The backdrop of Las
Vegas City Hall disappeared Saturday morning behind a wall of raised fists clenched in anger, optimism and solidarity.