p***@verizon.net
2007-01-22 17:16:29 UTC
Over the weekend, Sammy Petrillo, the infamous Jerry Lewis impersonator
who co-starred with Dean Martin-esque partner Duke Mitchell and famous
film fiend Bela Lugosi in "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" was a
guest at the Big Apple Comic Con in NYC.
I was at the con for 2 hours, mostly waiting around for Larry Storch,
who never showed up while I was there (but he is supposed to be at a
show in March, so I'll try again then). So I kept finding my way back
to the "celebrity signings area" to check for Larry Storch, and wound
up talking to Sammy Petrillo each time. Here are the highlights of our
conversations:
ON BELA LUGOSI: Sammy said Bela was very "grandfatherly" and treated
him like what he was - a kid (Sammy was 17 at the time they filmed the
movie).
He also said that Bela was the utmost professional, and he never saw
him using drugs of any kind. He said when Bela makes the big long
speech about evolution and embryonic metamorphosis (which Sammy
proceeded to recite a little of for me himself... in Bela's voice!),
that Bela did it perfectly and in one take, and everyone on the set
applauded afterward.
Sammy also relayed a story about an apartment or annex Bela had built
for his son, but I missed the details because there was a lot of
surrounding chatter at this point.
ON DIRECTOR WILLIAM BEAUDINE: Sammy asked if I knew what his nickname
was, and I said sure, "one-take Beaudine." Sammy said that it wasn't
because he was necessarily bad or watching the budget, but that he knew
how to set-up stage scenes so well and prep the actors before rolling
the cameras that no further takes were necessary.
Sammy also said that "comics loved working with Beaudine" because he
would just let the comics go, encouraging ad-libbing. Sammy admitted
that they didn't have much of a script on "Brooklyn Gorilla" and most
of what you see was ad-libbed. You can see a lot of this ad-libbing in
Beaudine's East Side Kids/Bowery Boys films, too.
Speaking of ad-libbing, there is a scene in "Gorilla" where Sammy slaps
Bela on the back real hard, and Lugosi looks startled and a bit angry
by the slap. I asked Sammy about that, and he said, "I probably
ad-libbed that," stating that he was a kid (implying that he hadn't
given thought to the fact that it might hurt Lugosi). Of course, the
results are on film, because after his initial reaction, Lugosi the pro
finishes the scene without missing a beat, so Lugosi probably wrote it
off to Petrillo's being an impetuous youth.
ON BEING A NIGHTCLUB COMIC AT AGE 16: Sammy said that kids were allowed
in nightclubs as long as they didn't drink. He said that back in those
days he was unique because "kid comics" were all but unheard of. In
fact, he said most comics were "men," so there weren't even a lot of
"young men" comics working the clubs at that point (as opposed to now,
where there is a slew of stand-up comics in their '20s). He also said
they didn't call it "stand-up comedy" back then... you were just a
comic. He said that the men comics were referred to as "funny men," as
in "he's a funnyman." He said people would tell him, "You're a funny
kid... one day you'll be a 'funnyman!'"
Sammy confessed that he used to steal other comics' jokes and acts (I
replied, "Coming from you, that's an understatement," which made his
manager laugh heartily). But Sammy went on to say that it backfired a
bit, because he'd start telling wife and mother-in-law jokes he'd heard
other comics do, until finally someone said to him, "you're 16 - stop
with the wife & mother-in-law jokes - it doesn't work!"
ON DVD'S OF "BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA": He kept saying how
much he liked the Digiview DVD of his movie, and that he couldn't
believe it was only a $1! He was also impressed with the printing on
the disc itself (on both Digiview and the Alpha release). He mentioned
the Image disc that has the interview with him - "it was $20 when it
came out but you can probably get it for less now." He signed the paper
insert sleeve of my Alpha DVD but accidentally wrote, "To my Paul,"
instead of "To my pal, Paul," so he wrote a second autograph on one of
the sheets he had there as well.
who co-starred with Dean Martin-esque partner Duke Mitchell and famous
film fiend Bela Lugosi in "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" was a
guest at the Big Apple Comic Con in NYC.
I was at the con for 2 hours, mostly waiting around for Larry Storch,
who never showed up while I was there (but he is supposed to be at a
show in March, so I'll try again then). So I kept finding my way back
to the "celebrity signings area" to check for Larry Storch, and wound
up talking to Sammy Petrillo each time. Here are the highlights of our
conversations:
ON BELA LUGOSI: Sammy said Bela was very "grandfatherly" and treated
him like what he was - a kid (Sammy was 17 at the time they filmed the
movie).
He also said that Bela was the utmost professional, and he never saw
him using drugs of any kind. He said when Bela makes the big long
speech about evolution and embryonic metamorphosis (which Sammy
proceeded to recite a little of for me himself... in Bela's voice!),
that Bela did it perfectly and in one take, and everyone on the set
applauded afterward.
Sammy also relayed a story about an apartment or annex Bela had built
for his son, but I missed the details because there was a lot of
surrounding chatter at this point.
ON DIRECTOR WILLIAM BEAUDINE: Sammy asked if I knew what his nickname
was, and I said sure, "one-take Beaudine." Sammy said that it wasn't
because he was necessarily bad or watching the budget, but that he knew
how to set-up stage scenes so well and prep the actors before rolling
the cameras that no further takes were necessary.
Sammy also said that "comics loved working with Beaudine" because he
would just let the comics go, encouraging ad-libbing. Sammy admitted
that they didn't have much of a script on "Brooklyn Gorilla" and most
of what you see was ad-libbed. You can see a lot of this ad-libbing in
Beaudine's East Side Kids/Bowery Boys films, too.
Speaking of ad-libbing, there is a scene in "Gorilla" where Sammy slaps
Bela on the back real hard, and Lugosi looks startled and a bit angry
by the slap. I asked Sammy about that, and he said, "I probably
ad-libbed that," stating that he was a kid (implying that he hadn't
given thought to the fact that it might hurt Lugosi). Of course, the
results are on film, because after his initial reaction, Lugosi the pro
finishes the scene without missing a beat, so Lugosi probably wrote it
off to Petrillo's being an impetuous youth.
ON BEING A NIGHTCLUB COMIC AT AGE 16: Sammy said that kids were allowed
in nightclubs as long as they didn't drink. He said that back in those
days he was unique because "kid comics" were all but unheard of. In
fact, he said most comics were "men," so there weren't even a lot of
"young men" comics working the clubs at that point (as opposed to now,
where there is a slew of stand-up comics in their '20s). He also said
they didn't call it "stand-up comedy" back then... you were just a
comic. He said that the men comics were referred to as "funny men," as
in "he's a funnyman." He said people would tell him, "You're a funny
kid... one day you'll be a 'funnyman!'"
Sammy confessed that he used to steal other comics' jokes and acts (I
replied, "Coming from you, that's an understatement," which made his
manager laugh heartily). But Sammy went on to say that it backfired a
bit, because he'd start telling wife and mother-in-law jokes he'd heard
other comics do, until finally someone said to him, "you're 16 - stop
with the wife & mother-in-law jokes - it doesn't work!"
ON DVD'S OF "BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA": He kept saying how
much he liked the Digiview DVD of his movie, and that he couldn't
believe it was only a $1! He was also impressed with the printing on
the disc itself (on both Digiview and the Alpha release). He mentioned
the Image disc that has the interview with him - "it was $20 when it
came out but you can probably get it for less now." He signed the paper
insert sleeve of my Alpha DVD but accidentally wrote, "To my Paul,"
instead of "To my pal, Paul," so he wrote a second autograph on one of
the sheets he had there as well.