Nostalgia: Stars of Yesteryear

By Jack Hawn

Now, in the twilight of my writing career, but still ambitious, I decided that writing a third book following "Blind Journey: A Journalist's Memoirs" and its sequel, "Insomnia: Two Wives, Childhood Memories and Crazy Dreams" would simply be too muc

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writers Branding LLC
• Release date: Apr 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9781639459346

Jack Hawn

Jack Hawn never studied journalism and never aspired to be a writer. After almost four years assigned to the army's public information offices, he faced civilian life with a wife, infant daughter, wild ambition, bursting optimism, unshakeable confidence--and no job. He found work as a copyboy at a Hollywood newspaper, was paid $5 to review plays and nightclub acts, and a year later filled a sports desk vacancy. He eventually earned extra income as a television dramatist and wrote TV and radio scripts for sportscasters. In 1970 he was hired at the L.A. Times, where he worked in sports and entertainment. During his 41-year career, he covered Muhammad Ali, 1984 Olympics boxing, Sugar Ray Robinson, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., the Andrews Sisters, Dinah Shore, and other celebrities until his retirement in 1991.

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JACK HAWN

Nostalgia: Stars of Yesteryear

Copyright © 2024 by Jack Hawn

ISBN: 978-1639459346(e)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher and/or the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

The views expressed in this book are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Author’s Notes:

How can I not publicly compliment the designers of that front cover folks? That should attract some attention, especially with Frank Sinatra and Muhammad Ali flexing his muscles, the Andrews sisters, Big Band leader Les Brown and the framed photo of Dina Shore and me above my computer.

The silver dome and coffee table book? They need explaining.

The dome, freshly polished, is a musical clock that dings automatically on the hour, every hour, and dings in different tones for minutes and hours when touched with the thumb and index finger.

It was a Christmas gift to my wife Charlene and me more than sixty years ago by Horace Height, leader of the Musical Nights.

Collecting dust in my closet for nearly thirty-five years after my 1991 retirement from the Times, two copies of this amazing book of yesteryear’s headlines were located just in time for Nostalgia.

Why two copies? Too many major stories to be contained in one book.

Published in 1981 by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York, the book contains more than headlines. Historical facts of the newspaper’s growth between 1881 and 1981, written by Times publishers and editors, are succinctly titled One Hundred Years: A City, A Family, A Newspaper.

But it’s the famous headlines in recent years that captured my attention, and hopefully may capture yours.

Here are five that made the cut:

Table of Contents

For Dick Contino, It’s a 30-Year etc.

A Musical Knight Still Reaching for the Heights

Spinks Confident, Calls Fight Even, but…

Spinks Wins Shot at Ali’s Title

Ali Finally Taps Out

Spinks-Ali Rematch 7 Months Later

The McGuire Sisters: An Unforgotten Affair

Joe Namath Back on Familiar Turf

Pepperdine Coach Had His Hell ‘Near Heaven’

Les Brown: Still in a Rut, Not Eager to Climb Out

Danza Rolls with Punches, Shows Who’s Boss

Jefferson Spivey’s Dream Rides Again

Boxing Champion Recalls ‘Other Life’

At Age 24, Chacon Retires

Chacon: For Training, ‘No Place Like Home’

The Comeback: Chacon Saw It Coming

A Blyth Spirit From An Earlier Era

Will the Real Minnie Pearl...?

Life on the Road Brings Perry Como West Again

Nun Looks to the Heavens—for Satcom TV

Heart and Soul of Radio Days

Ian Richardson in TV Role

For the ‘Candy Man,’ It’ll Be a Working ‘Holiday’

Billy’s Back...with ‘Apologies’

The First-Aid Kitt on Survival

Helen Reddy: Full Speed Ahead … and Back

At 65, Ex-Top Banana Making Comeback

Ex-Boxer Remembers the ‘Dempsey Days’

Anna Maria: Keeping Her Music, Life in Tune

‘Rocky III’: A Match For Real Experts

Jazz Band a Labor of Love

Rigby Gets Workout in ‘Peter Pan’

Clooney Set for Salute to Her Deceased Sister

Cummings: Everybody’s Hero at Party

‘Wayward Wind’ Blows Gogi Out of Retirement

‘For Heaven’s Sake, Sing Dennis…’

A Final Tour for Carle?

German Song Ignites Andrews’ Career

Unending Bitterness Haunts Andrews Sisters

Peggy Lee Fan Left in Tears When Vegas Baptism Fails

‘Flamingo’ Still Soars for Golfer Herb Jeffries

Not An Original, but He’s Still an Ink Spot

Lounging Around with Singer Kay Starr

At 70, Keel to Make LA Concert Debut

There’s No Place Like Home

Virginia O’Brien Still Delivers Deadpan Gaze

Boxing Promoter’s 15 Minutes of Fame

Famous Composers Keep ‘em Humming

‘Malaguena Girl’ a Vocal Star in Any Language

No Slowing Down for ‘Mr. Emotion’

For Dinah, It’s Not Business as Usual

Debbie Finds Happiness From a Full Schedule

Peggy King Sets the Record Straight…Once Again

Rudy Vallee Gets Into Video—and ‘Girls Talk’

Dorothy Lamour: Sarong Gone, Not Her Movements

Will TV Be Another Page In Patti’s Songbook?

The ‘Other Career’ as TV Dramatist

The Epilogue

For Dick Contino,

It’s a 30-Year etc.

Once Famous Accordionist

Resurfaces 3 Decades Later

May, 1982

Framed in lights outside an Italian cabaret in the San Fernando Valley, the entertainer’s name appeared in black letters against a white background. The billing was simple: Dick Contino.

There was a time when that was sufficient, when he played the Orpheum Theater or headlined on the Sunset Strip — Ciro’s, the Mocambo.

But three decades later, who could be certain?

Could this Dick Contino be that teenager of the 1940’s who rocketed to fame while winning a national talent competition on the Horace Heidt radio show, the bobby-sox idol whose Lady of Spain turned on young America to a new musical rage, the handsome Italian who was labeled the Rudolph Valentino of the accordion?

That’s him, replied the cabaret manager, Johnny Murphy. He was quite a success here. I’m waiting for him to give me some dates when we can have him back.

Booked for two weeks recently at the Via Veneto in Encino, the now 52-year-old music maker made a rare appearance in Southern California—his third brief engagement in 18 years.

Energy-charged and athletic-looking at 6 feet, 175 pounds, he performs with gusto, his wide-ranging repertoire shifting from powerful, fast-paced instrumentals to nostalgic vocal arrangements. From boogie, ‘40s style, to September Morn, from a polka medley to country, he seems to have something for everyone, including his most frequent request, Lady of Spain.

What brought him from Las Vegas, where he owns a home and where he and three others—his 19-year-old son Pete, a drummer, plus an organist and bass player were splitting $4,500 a week at a club called the Four Queens? Why the Via Veneto, where his group received only $1,150?

My wife’s illness, Contino replied in an interview. She was in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for four or five weeks, and we couldn’t make it back to Las Vegas. I needed some pocket money, and I needed the therapy to be working."

Over the years, Contino has traveled the circuit—from a widely publicized Ed Sullivan tour of Russia to a gig at a hayseed bar in Elko, Nevada…from entertaining troops in Vietnam to summer fiestas in the Midwest…Fresno conventions, Reno nightclubs, small towns, USA.

Nothing that exciting, he acknowledges when asked about his activities the last ten years. I did a record album about a year ago, which they tried to distribute in the Midwest, and that didn’t seem to work too well…."

In fact, for Contino, not much of anything has been working as it once did.

From a talent show amateur to one of the highest paid performers in show business, Contino’s career moved swiftly. He formed his own troupe after leaving Heidt, played to capacity audiences in major cities and hadn’t yet reached voting age.

But when he did, he received a notice that had nothing to do with the media or his accordion. It was from the draft board, and, suddenly, on April 15, 1951, the headlines turned sour: Contino Vanishes on Eve of Induction into Army … Accordionist Now Facing Federal Charge …

Almost immediately, the curtain began to descend on a career that barely had been launched.

Ultimately, he was fined $10,000, sentenced to six months at McNeil Island, Washington, a federal penitentiary, for draft evasion (he served 42 ½ months) and subsequently ended up in the Army for two years.

In 1956, at age 26, Contino married Leigh Snowden, a beautiful, 25-year-old actress under contract to Universal. She left show business and together they raised five children while the young musician struggled to make a comeback that never materialized.

Insisting that fame and wealth no longer are important, Contino recently spoke candidly about his mistake in 1951, about an unforgiving public and an entertainment industry that in some instances refused to support him.

If it wasn’t actual blackballing, I would say it was fear, maybe fear that there was too much public sentiment against me.

He talked about his clash with Heidt and the lawsuit he filed… financial difficulties that led to bankruptcy… a drinking problem… anxieties… periods of deep depression… and the eventual reconstruction of his life.

Through it all, Contino relied heavily on his accordion—not merely as a musical instrument but, in a sense, as a crutch, a means to express myself.

Basically, my first love has never really been music, per se, he said. It’s always been people.

Contino was introduced to the accordion by his father, who brought the instrument home one day and told his son, I want you to play. He was 7.

It was the key, he said. Being extremely shy, it was a way in which I could express myself. I could see people smiling, people reacting happily to my music. And that’s the thing that made me happy most of all.

Heidt, now 81, first met Contino in his father’s butcher shop in Fresno, in 1947.

It seemed as if his accordion was part of his body. If there had been television, he would’ve been as big as Presley.

Nonetheless, there was radio, and Heidt—a master showman whose own career dates to 1920—made the most of it with his highly rated Youth Opportunity talent contest show that was broadcast nationally.

Contino joined the program Dec. 7, 1937, in Fresno. Later, it originated in various cities across the county.

It was open to professionals as well as amateurs, Contino remembered, but not too many professionals would take the chance. There were too many exciting amateurs who could put it across, say, in one number.

Contino went undefeated for 13 consecutive weeks to gain the quarterfinals, then appeared on the air periodically during the next nine months as the three other quarterfinalists were determined.

I competed against them, Contino said, and, well, I won it.

He recalled three competitors, now long forgotten, but one he didn’t recall was Johnny Carson.

I heard him mention it on ‘The Tonight Show,’ Contino said. He said, ‘Imagine getting beaten by somebody playing the accordion, playing ‘Lady of Spain.’… So, he claims I defeated him, but I’ve yet to do his show."

Contino tried to strike out on his own after winning the $5,000 talent-show prize in 1948, but Heidt claimed he had his 18-year-old protégé tied to an exclusive seven-year contract. Contino sued.

I had no differences with Dick, Heidt said. My differences were with his mother and father. They thought I was trying to take Dick away from them. We had a little dispute…

Contino: It seemed that I had to break away, and he was trying to hold onto me. What followed were claims and counter claims and a few words thrown here and there… There was a lot of name-calling involved.

The suit was settled by the musicians’ union. Contino remained on the show one more year, then left.

Heidt: "I was trying to build him up, and I did. I compare him with the Lennon sisters. When they left Lawrence Welk, they lost popularity. Dick went on his own. He lost my help featuring him. He suffered a slight loss in popularity."

News accounts suggest the opposite, such as this 1950 Times article that said: Recently, Contino left the Heidt organization to form his own troupe. Since its opening in Kansas City, the revue has broken theater attendance marks in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.

But already he was worrying about the Army draft. A year later, he was summoned. Immediately, he sought ways to avoid induction. He claimed dependents, claimed he was afraid to undergo surgery on a spinal cyst, whatever he thought might work. Nothing did.

His real problem, he said, "happened in my youth, later to be categorized as a neurotic condition, phobias. I was experiencing this... fear… of being gone, being away from my family for any length of time… I didn’t know how to explain this to people, these anxiety attacks I would get. So, I kept it to myself.

But in the meantime, this was painting a black picture to authorities. It’s saying, ‘Here is Dick Contino, the All-American boy, the superstar making all the money, trying to beat the Army.’

Upon receiving his final notice, I absolutely panicked. He said he saw the dean of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, explained his fear and was told, You have a severe case of neurosis.

Provided with a letter from the psychiatrist and with renewed hope, Contino underwent a series of tests—to no avail. He was judged fit for duty and assigned to Fort Ord, California, to be officially inducted on April 13, 1951. He described his feelings the night before:

"The lieutenant had gone home for the day. It was past 6 o’clock, and… I got into those barracks that night. I could never describe the anxiety attack I had. I felt I had to leave. My folks were in the visiting barracks. They were crying. I told them I had to leave.

"I didn’t care about my career. I even told the major, I said, ‘I’ll sign a piece of paper telling you that for five years I will not even touch my accordion, if you could help me.’

"He said, ‘Listen here, young man, you’re already in the Army. Let’s cut out this bull...’

I took off.

And the media had a running story that was to last months. Front-page headlines across the nation told of Contino’s disappearance… of the FBI’s entry into the case… of reports that he was mentally ill… of his surrender to federal authorities… of his indictment and change of plea to guilty… of this and that... and, finally, on Aug. 8, 1951: ‘Contino Gets Six Months, $10,000 Fine.’"

The next day, a Times editorial headlined Contino’s Shame, read, "He tossed away his grand chance to answer Uncle Sam’s call just as millions of other young Americans like him have been doing in recent years without whimpering...

He is still subject to induction after serving his sentence if the armed services want him. If he is given the chance to serve, we hope that his record will erase some of the odium he has brought on himself. And pending such redemption we hope that the bobbysoxers who have idolized him will turn their adulation to our young men who accept and wear our country’s uniforms proudly and without hesitation when they are called to do so.

The entire country, seemingly, had stamped its mark of disapproval on Contino—with indelible ink.

Less prominently publicized by the media were stories about Contino’s two-year Army tour—16 months in Korea entertaining troops—his honorable discharge as a staff sergeant with meritorious awards, his six-year service with the Army reserves and his presidential pardon by Harry S. Truman.

As soon as I got out of the Army, Contino remembered, "I made a splash here momentarily. They booked me into the Mocambo. Maybe everybody would come and see me, those who ‘admired me’ for having so much guts, who ‘admired me’ for my religious convictions.

It was nothing like that. Even to this day, people come up to me and say. ‘I really admired the guts you had.’... It was nothing political. It was nothing religious. I had my own personal problems.

And they persisted.

At the beginning of the Lawrence Welk craze, Contino said he was asked by General Artists Corp. of New York to put together a band for TV and that people were lined up to back it.

I got a band together, he said, went to a lot of personal expense. Singer Sewing Machine was going to be the sponsor. Then, General Artists came back and said that Singer decided to drop it because of the adverse publicity.

About 10 years later, Contino performed on the Joey Bishop show.

I could feel the warmth of the audience afterward, he said. It went over great. I knew it did. Joey told me off camera, ‘Dick, you’ve been done a terrible injustice. I’m going to get the record straight tonight.’

Contino and Bishop then proceeded to discuss the draft business on camera, and in my Italian enthusiasm, the accordionist recalled, "I was gesturing and trying to say, ‘What do people want? ‘What do they expect from me? You know, I served.’

"A year goes