Shecky Greene
{{Short description|American comedian (1926–2023)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| image_size = 150px
| name = Shecky Greene
| image = Shecky Greene in The Love Machine 1971 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Shecky Greene in The Love Machine (1971)
| birthname = Fred Sheldon Greenfield
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|04|08}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|12|31|1926|04|08}}
| death_place = Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
| occupation = Comedian, actor
| resting_place = Mount Sinai Memorial Park
| education = Sullivan High School, Wilbur Wright College
| years_active = 1954–2003; 2009–2023
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Nalani Kele|1972|1982|reason=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Marie Musso|1985}}
}}
}}
Shecky Greene (born Fred Sheldon Greenfield; April 8, 1926 – December 31, 2023) was an American comedian and actor. He was known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he became a headliner in the 1950s and 1960s.{{cite web |title=Legend Shecky Greene Returns to Las Vegas |url=http://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/legend-shecky-greene-returns-to-las-vegas/78122248 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328021514/http://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/legend-shecky-greene-returns-to-las-vegas/78122248 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 28, 2017 |work= lasvegasnow.com| publisher= KLAS News |access-date=March 27, 2017}} He appeared in several films, including Tony Rome; History of the World, Part I; and Splash. In television, he guest-starred on such television shows as Love, American Style and Combat!, and later Laverne & Shirley and Mad About You.
Early life and education
Fred Sheldon Greenfield was born on April 8, 1926,{{cite web |last=Wills |first=Adam |year=2008 |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0008_0_07858.html |title=Shecky Greene |work=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=April 7, 2016}} to Jewish parents, Carl and Bessie Greenfield, and raised on the North Side of Chicago.{{Cite news |last=Keepnews |first=Peter |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/31/arts/television/shecky-greene-dead.html |title=Shecky Greene, High-Energy Comedy Star, Is Dead at 97 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 31, 2023 |access-date=January 1, 2024 |quote=Fred Sheldon Greenfield was born on April 8, 1926, in Chicago. (In 2004 he legally changed his name to Shecky Greene, long after his professional first name had come to connote a certain kind of brash, aggressive, old-school comedian even to people who had never seen him perform.) His parents were Carl and Bessie (Harris) Greenfield.}} In his youth, Greene enjoyed performing as a singer and in a drama club he formed while attending Sullivan High School.{{Cite news|last=Berkow|first=Ira|date=August 19, 1985|title=Memories of Coaches|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/19/sports/memories-of-coaches.html|access-date=January 20, 2022|issn=0362-4331}} He emulated his older brother, who liked to speak in accents.{{cite web| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5O2svG5HcA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/u5O2svG5HcA |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live| title= Shecky Greene Interview 2013 Part 2| year= 2013| first= Shecky| last= Greene| interviewer= Gary Licker and Scott Sobel| via= YouTube| publisher= Gary Licker| access-date= January 6, 2021}}{{cbignore}}
During World War II, Greene served in the U.S. Navy{{cite news |url= http://smdp.com/ladies-and-gentlemen-shecky-greene/154325 |title=Ladies and gentlemen, Shecky Greene! |newspaper=Santa Monica Daily Press |date= March 25, 2016 |last=Neworth |first=Jack |access-date=December 10, 2019}} for three years and was discharged in 1944.{{cite web |url= http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/personnel/bio_greene.html |title= Shecky Greene |via= jodavidsmeyer.com| work= Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Program |date= December 31, 1995| access-date= December 10, 2019}}{{cite book |title= America's Victories |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kuV8BM5Hul4C&q=Shecky&pg=PT115 |last=Schweikart |first=Larry |publisher=Penguin |date=May 18, 2006 |isbn=978-1101217818| via= Google Books |quote=Comedian Shecky Greene sailed aboard the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard.}} He was briefly, but more than once, enrolled at Wright Junior College.{{cite web| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpqc3-LBklI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/tpqc3-LBklI |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live| title= Shecky Greene Interview 2013 Part 1| year= 2013| first= Shecky| last= Greene| interviewer= Gary Licker and Scott Sobel| via= YouTube| publisher= Gary Licker| access-date= January 6, 2021}}{{cbignore}}
Career
Greene had planned to become a gym teacher. But after regularly performing stand-up in Chicago at mob-run nightclubs and various venues in the upper Midwest, he instead started his comedy career at the Prevue Lounge in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he worked for six years.{{cite news |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-09-tm-shecky02-story.html |title=Leaving Las Vegas |date=January 9, 2005 |last= Olderman |first= Murray |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=November 28, 2015}} From there, he went on to showrooms in Miami, Chicago, and Reno/Lake Tahoe before an agent persuaded him to move to Las Vegas and open in 1954 for Dorothy Shay, "the Park Avenue Hillbillie", at the Last Frontier. His act was held over for 18 weeks, a first for that venue.{{cite news |title=Shecky Greene has become the man he wants to be |url=https://lasvegassun.com/news/1996/dec/26/shecky-greene----probably-the-most-gifted-comedian/ |last=Renzi |first=David |work=Las Vegas Sun |date=December 26, 1996 |access-date=March 27, 2017}} He began performing at the Tropicana Hotel in 1957, remaining there for five years as one of their headliners.{{cite book |url={{Google books|LongDwAAQBAJ|page=51|plainurl=yes}} |title=Pat: A Biography of Hollywood's Blonde Starlet |first=Samuel |last=Clemens |publisher=Sequoia Press |year=2020 |page=51 |isbn=978-0578682822}}
{{rquote|align=right|quote=He invented a hysterical, free-form approach to comedy that the confines of a five minute television spot could not handle.{{cite web |url=http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2011/06/the-legend-of-shecky-greene.html |title=Outrageous and Courageous: The Myth and Legend of Shecky Greene |first=Kliph |last=Nesteroff |website= blog.wfmu.org| publisher= WFMU |date=2020-11-12}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UlkCQAAQBAJ&q=Shecky&pg=PT148 |title=The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy |first=Kliph |last=Nesteroff |date=November 3, 2015 |publisher=Grove/Atlantic, Inc. |isbn=978-0802190864}}}}
Greene played Carnegie Hall and appeared on TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show, which he said he hated because "They'd rush you on and off".{{Cite web |last=Neworth |first=Jack |date=March 25, 2016 |title=Ladies and gentlemen, Shecky Greene! |url=http://smdp.com/2016/03/25/ladies-and-gentlemen-shecky-greene/ |access-date=January 1, 2024 |website=Santa Monica Daily Press |language=en-US}} He played Pvt. Braddock for a year on Combat! and guested on The Joey Bishop Show, The Love Boat, and played Lou Carnesco in two episodes of The Fall Guy. He appeared in "Members Only", a fourth-season, 1985 episode of the action TV show The A-Team.{{Cite web |date=December 31, 2023 |title=Shecky Greene, legendary Las Vegas standup comedian who worked with Sinatra and Elvis, dies at 97 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/shecky-greene-legendary-las-vegas-standup-comedian-worked-sinatra-elvi-rcna131773 |access-date=January 1, 2024 |website=NBC News |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=The Joey Bishop Show: Season 3, Episode 26 – Rotten Tomatoes |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_joey_bishop_show/s03/e26 |access-date=January 1, 2024 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |language=en}} Greene was widely respected by his peers, including Johnny Carson who was a longtime fan. Greene made 40 appearances on The Tonight Show{{cite web |url=http://www.johnnycarson.com/carson/search.do?name=shecky+green&singleDateMonth=Month&singleDateDay=Day&singleDateYear=Year&dateRangeBeginMonth=Month&dateRangeBeginDay=Day&dateRangeBeginYear=Year&dateRangeEndMonth=Month&dateRangeEndDay=Day&dateRangeEndYear=Year&x=32&y=14 |title=Tonight Show Samplers |access-date=May 6, 2011}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}{{cite web |url=https://www.johnnycarson.com/search?q=Shecky+Greene |title=Shecky Greene |website=JohnnyCarson.com}} on which he also served as a guest host. He appeared on The Merv Griffin Show and also served as a guest host there upon occasion. He noted that he gave Arnold Schwarzenegger and Luciano Pavarotti their first national television exposure. Furthermore, he also appeared on Match Game and Tattletales (with his first wife Nalani Kele) in the 1970s.{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/shecky-greene-1926-2023-old-school-vegas-headliner/|title=Shecky Greene (1926–2023), old school Vegas headliner|date=January 2, 2024 |publisher=Legacy|accessdate=January 2, 2024}} In December 1977, he appeared in The Love Boat S1 E11 vignette "Divorce Me, Please" as Paul Baynes, who discovers newfound appreciation for his wife Audrey, played by Florence Henderson.Handler, David. [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-reporter-privite-eye/23560098/ "The Private Eye: The Love Boat"], The Reporter, December 22, 1977. Accessed January 1, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "My favourite duo so far is Shecky Greene and Florence Henderson. When the purser wishes them a pleasant Christmas cruise, Flo snaps, 'I'd rather be in a swamp for a week with Idi Amin.' Shecky and Flo decide to be as unpleasant as they can to force the other into asking for a divorce."[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-south-bend-tribune-love-boat-episode/137824753/ "TV Listings"], South Bend Tribune, December 10, 1977. Accessed January 1, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "Love Boat – Capt. Stubing turns a lonely Yule Into a lovely celebration with the help of an outspoken priest (Dick Sargent) and six orphans; 'Divorce Me, Please' Florence Henderson and Shecky Greene play a couple seeking grounds for divorce until they discover they are lucky to have each other; and 'Silent Night' Donna Mills and John Gavin are a couple reunited after three years of being separated by prison walls."
When the MGM Grand Hotel opened in 1975 with Dean Martin as headliner, the second headline act was Greene whose salary at one point climbed to $150,000 a week; he quipped that $125,000 went to "my bookmaker".
Greene claimed Jay Leno once told him that his all-time favourite joke was one Greene recounted about Frank Sinatra (with whom Greene had a contentious relationship) "saving his life". Offended by a remark made by Greene, Sinatra sent five men to assault him; after some time, he heard Sinatra say, "OK, he's had enough."{{cite news |url= https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/books/he-did-it-his-way-the-nice-and-nasty-of-sinatra-34198094.html |title=He did it his way: The nice and nasty of Sinatra |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph |date=November 14, 2015 |last=Boland |first=John |access-date=December 10, 2019}}{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/shecky-greene-doesn-pull-punch-lines-article-1.678396 |title=Shecky Greene Doesn't Pull Any Punch Lines |newspaper=New York Daily News |first=Phil |last=Roura |date=April 30, 1995}}
Beginning in 2003 and lasting for six years, Greene suffered from panic attacks and stage fright that rendered him unable to perform.{{cite journal |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-hilarity-of-influence-an-interview-with-kliph-nesteroff/ |title=The Hilarity of Influence: An Interview with Kliph Nesteroff |journal=Los Angeles Review of Books |last=Schwartz |first=Ben |date=December 21, 2015}}{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-16-ca-51012-story.html |title=COMEDY: It's Not Easy Being Greene: Did you hear the one about the comic whose life became a nightmare of gambling, alcohol, panic attacks and prescription drugs? Shecky Greene can tell it |first= Lawrence |last= Christon |date=October 16, 1994 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url-access=subscription}}{{cite web| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6c-K6fneFY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/p6c-K6fneFY |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live|title= Robert Klein, and Shecky Greene Moments Before Quitting Friars Club| via= YouTube| date= April 25, 2014| access-date= April 7, 2016}}{{cbignore}} In 2009, in Las Vegas, Greene returned to performing.{{cite news |url= https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/shecky-greenes-return-to-las-vegas-stirs-up-memories-of-sinatra-caesars/ |title= Shecky Greene's Return to Las Vegas Stirs Up Memories of Sinatra, Caesars |last=Smith |first=John L. |date= May 15, 2009 |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |access-date=December 26, 2011}}{{cite web |url= https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/shecky-greene-knows-slapstick-but-fall-at-italian-club-is-the-real-thing/ |title=Shecky Greene knows slapstick, but fall at Italian club was the real thing |date=March 23, 2017 |first=John |last=Katsilometes |newspaper=Las Vegas Review-Journal}}{{cite web |url= http://classicshowbiz.blogspot.com/2011/06/interview-with-shecky-greene-part-one.html |website=Classic Television Showbiz |title=An Interview with Shecky Greene – Part One |first=Kliph |last=Nesteroff |date=June 20, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://classicshowbiz.blogspot.com/2011/05/interview-with-shecky-greene-part-two.html |website=Classic Television Showbiz |title=An Interview with Shecky Greene – Part Two |first=Kliph |last=Nesteroff |date=June 23, 2011}}
Greene owned several nightclubs over the years and in different cities, including New Orleans.
Personal life and death
Offstage, Greene's main passion was Thoroughbred racing. A horse named Shecky Greene (1970–1984) was the 1973 American Champion Sprint Horse and the front-runner for nearly seven furlongs in the 1973 Kentucky Derby until Secretariat (1970-1989) ran off with the race.{{cite web |url=http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/shecky+greene |title=Shecky Greene Thoroughbred |first=Miles |last=Michelson |website=Pedigree Online}}{{cite web |url=http://www.poundfeinstein.com/2013/10/11/no-one-remembers-shecky-greene/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140828015051/http://www.poundfeinstein.com/2013/10/11/no-one-remembers-shecky-greene/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 28, 2014 |publisher=Pound, Feinstein & Associates |title=No one remembers Shecky Greene |website=poundfeinstein.com}} Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois, outside Chicago, held a Shecky Greene Handicap race until it closed.
Greene was married twice. He was married to Nalani Kele from 1972 to 1982. She had a successful nightclub act, the Nalani Kele Polynesian Revue, from the 1960s to the early 1970s. Beginning in 1985, he was married to Marie Musso, daughter of Vido Musso, a Las Vegas musician who played saxophone with Benny Goodman.
Greene experienced career obstacles due to depression, bipolar disorder,{{cite web |url=https://www.namikenosha.org/famous-people-with-mental-issues.html |title=300 Famous Individuals with Mental Health issues, illnesses, and disorders |publisher=National Alliance on Mental Illness |location=Kenosha |website=namikenosha.org |access-date=January 6, 2021}} stage fright, gambling, panic attacks, drug abuse and alcoholism. He integrated his bipolar disorder into his public persona, telling an interviewer in 2010 that "I'm more than bipolar. I'm South Polar, North Polar. I'm every kind of polar there is. I even lived with a polar bear for about a year."
Greene led "humanitarian efforts" to create St. Jude's Ranch, a shelter for indigent and neglected children in Boulder City, Nevada.
Greene died at home in Las Vegas on December 31, 2023, at age 97.{{cite news |url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/comic-legend-shecky-greene-dies-at-97-2973752/ |title=Comic legend Shecky Greene dies at 97 |last=Katsilometes |first=John |date=December 31, 2023 |access-date=December 31, 2023 |newspaper=Las Vegas Review-Journal}}{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Mike |title=Shecky Greene, Legendary Las Vegas Headliner, Dies at 97 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/shecky-greene-dead-las-vegas-headliner-1235777187/ |access-date=January 2, 2024 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=December 31, 2023}}
Awards
- Las Vegas Entertainment Award — Best Lounge Entertainer
- Jimmy Durante Award — Best Comedian
- Las Vegas Academy of Variety and Cabaret Artists — Male Comedy Star
Select filmography
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.sheckygreene.com/}}
- {{IMDb name|338922}}
- {{Discogs artist|Shecky Greene}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Shecky}}
Category:20th-century American comedians
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American comedians
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:American male comedians
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:Columbia College Chicago alumni
Category:Comedians from Chicago
Category:Jewish American male actors
Category:Jewish American comedians
Category:Jewish male comedians
Category:Jewish American military personnel
Category:Military personnel from Chicago
Category:Military personnel from Illinois
Category:People with bipolar disorder
Category:Sullivan High School (Chicago) alumni