Shecky Greene
Encyclopedia
Shecky Greene is a comedian known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas
, where he has been a headliner for more than thirty years. He has appeared in several films, including History of the World, Part I
and Splash
, and has guest starred on such television shows as Mad About You
, Laverne & Shirley
, Love, American Style
, and Combat!
, and enrolled at a junior college to become a gym teacher, but he also picked up spare money by playing resorts and small clubs around the upper Midwest. He quit school after he got a call to fill in for two weeks at the Prevue Lounge in New Orleans and stayed six years, until it burned down. 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 for Dorothy Shay
, "the Park Avenue
Hillbillie," at the Last Frontier. His act was held over for 18 weeks, a first for the Strip.
Offstage, his main passion was horse racing. A thoroughbred horse named Shecky Greene was the frontrunner for nearly seven furlongs in the 1973 Kentucky Derby
until the legendary Secretariat
ran off with the race. Arlington Park in Illinois
still runs a Shecky Greene Handicap.
When the MGM Grand Hotel opened in 1975, starring Dean Martin
, the second headline act was Shecky Greene, whose salary at one point climbed to $150,000 a week ($125,000 went to "my bookmaker," Greene cracks). He was in rarefied company—the only other standup comics pulling down six figures at the time were Don Rickles
, Buddy Hackett
, Bill Cosby
, and Johnny Carson
.
Greene played Carnegie Hall
and appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show
" (which he hated: "They'd rush you on and off"). He played Pvt. Braddock for a year on "Combat!" and guested on "The Joey Bishop Show
," "The Love Boat
," and a fourth-season 1985 episode of "The A-Team
" called "Members Only." Greene was widely respected by his peers, including Johnny Carson, who was a longtime fan. Greene made 40 appearances on the Tonight Show, on which he also served as a guest host. He appeared on "The Merv Griffin Show
," serving as a guest host on that show as well. He brags that he gave Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Luciano Pavarotti
their first national television exposure. He also appeared on the Match Game
in the 1970s.
He was recruited for Broadway shows but turned them down. "They wanted me to
play Tevye
at Caesars Palace
," he says. "I did a big portion of 'Fiddler on the Roof
' in my act, but people didn't realize I was making up everything. They'd go see it on Broadway and come back and tell me, 'That wasn't in the show. They must have left it out.' " He did a few movies, but Greene was a freewheeler, uncomfortable when limited to a
script. He was at his best in a Las Vegas lounge, where he wasn't limited to anything.
His capers have become legends, including one about his driving his car into the fountain at Caesars Palace. When police arrived, the windshield wipers were going. Greene rolled down the window and said, "No spray wax."
One of his standard jokes in Las Vegas
and on television went like this: "Johnny was a good boy, never smoked, never drank, never dated. On his graduation day from college, his parents asked what he wanted. Johnny replied, 'A drunken broad that smokes.'"
Greene says that Jay Leno
once told him that his all-time favorite joke is one Greene recounted about Frank Sinatra
saving his life. Five guys were beating up Greene, and then he heard Sinatra say, "OK. He's had enough." (Don Rickles on David Letterman, Oct 15 2009)
He is married to his third wife, Marie Musso, daughter of Vido Musso
, a prominent Las Vegas musician who played saxophone
with Benny Goodman
and had roomed with Frank Sinatra on tour with the Tommy Dorsey
band.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, where he has been a headliner for more than thirty years. He has appeared in several films, including History of the World, Part I
History of the World, Part I
History of the World, Part I is a 1981 comedy film written, produced, and directed by Mel Brooks. Brooks also stars in the film, playing five roles: Moses, Comicus the stand-up philosopher, Tomás de Torquemada, King Louis XVI, and Jacques, le garçon de pisse...
and Splash
Splash (film)
Splash is a 1984 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Ron Howard and written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The original music score was composed by Lee Holdridge...
, and has guest starred on such television shows as Mad About You
Mad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
, Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...
, Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...
, and Combat!
Life and career
His first gig in Las Vegas was in 1953. Fred Sheldon Greenfield (he finally made the legal name change to Shecky Greene in 2004) grew up on the north side of Chicago, served in the Navy during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and enrolled at a junior college to become a gym teacher, but he also picked up spare money by playing resorts and small clubs around the upper Midwest. He quit school after he got a call to fill in for two weeks at the Prevue Lounge in New Orleans and stayed six years, until it burned down. From there he went on to showrooms in Miami, Chicago, and Reno
Reno
Reno is the fourth most populous city in Nevada, US.Reno may also refer to:-Places:Italy*The Reno River, in Northern ItalyCanada*Reno No...
/Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
before an agent persuaded him to move to Las Vegas and open for Dorothy Shay
Dorothy Shay
Dorothy Shay was an American popular comedic recording artist in the late 1940s and early 1950s, who later became a character actress. She was known as the "Park Avenue Hillbillie."-Early life:...
, "the Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
Hillbillie," at the Last Frontier. His act was held over for 18 weeks, a first for the Strip.
Offstage, his main passion was horse racing. A thoroughbred horse named Shecky Greene was the frontrunner for nearly seven furlongs in the 1973 Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
until the legendary Secretariat
Secretariat (horse)
Secretariat was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in 25 years, setting new race records in two of the three events in the Series—the Kentucky Derby , and the Belmont Stakes —records that still stand today.Secretariat was sired by Bold...
ran off with the race. Arlington Park in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
still runs a Shecky Greene Handicap.
When the MGM Grand Hotel opened in 1975, starring Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, the second headline act was Shecky Greene, whose salary at one point climbed to $150,000 a week ($125,000 went to "my bookmaker," Greene cracks). He was in rarefied company—the only other standup comics pulling down six figures at the time were Don Rickles
Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
, Buddy Hackett
Buddy Hackett
Buddy Hackett was an American comedian and actor.-Early life:Hackett was born in Brooklyn, New York, New York, the son of a Jewish upholsterer. He grew up on 54th and 14th Ave in Borough Park, Brooklyn, across from Public School 103...
, Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, and Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
.
Greene played Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
" (which he hated: "They'd rush you on and off"). He played Pvt. Braddock for a year on "Combat!" and guested on "The Joey Bishop Show
The Joey Bishop Show
The Joey Bishop Show is the title of the following shows which starred American comic actor Joey Bishop:* The Joey Bishop Show , American situation comedy, broadcast by NBC and CBS...
," "The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
," and a fourth-season 1985 episode of "The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
" called "Members Only." Greene was widely respected by his peers, including Johnny Carson, who was a longtime fan. Greene made 40 appearances on the Tonight Show, on which he also served as a guest host. He appeared on "The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...
," serving as a guest host on that show as well. He brags that he gave Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
and Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
their first national television exposure. He also appeared on the Match Game
Match Game
Match Game is an American television game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
in the 1970s.
He was recruited for Broadway shows but turned them down. "They wanted me to
play Tevye
Tevye
Tevye the Dairyman is the protagonist of several of Sholem Aleichem's stories, originally written in Yiddish and first published in 1894. The character became best known from the fictional memoir Tevye and his Daughters , about a pious Jewish milkman in Tsarist Russia, and the troubles he has with...
at Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
," he says. "I did a big portion of 'Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
' in my act, but people didn't realize I was making up everything. They'd go see it on Broadway and come back and tell me, 'That wasn't in the show. They must have left it out.' " He did a few movies, but Greene was a freewheeler, uncomfortable when limited to a
script. He was at his best in a Las Vegas lounge, where he wasn't limited to anything.
His capers have become legends, including one about his driving his car into the fountain at Caesars Palace. When police arrived, the windshield wipers were going. Greene rolled down the window and said, "No spray wax."
One of his standard jokes in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and on television went like this: "Johnny was a good boy, never smoked, never drank, never dated. On his graduation day from college, his parents asked what he wanted. Johnny replied, 'A drunken broad that smokes.'"
Greene says that Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
once told him that his all-time favorite joke is one Greene recounted about Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
saving his life. Five guys were beating up Greene, and then he heard Sinatra say, "OK. He's had enough." (Don Rickles on David Letterman, Oct 15 2009)
He is married to his third wife, Marie Musso, daughter of Vido Musso
Vido Musso
Vido William Musso was an Italian-born jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and bandleader born in Carini, Sicily, best-known for his many contributions to the big bands of Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman.His family moved to the United States in...
, a prominent Las Vegas musician who played saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
with Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
and had roomed with Frank Sinatra on tour with the Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...
band.