This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Kevin David Thomas: Hey listeners, Kevin and I need your help.

[0:02] Robert W. Schneider: Yes, we need your help.

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[0:19] Kevin David Thomas: Then click on ratings and reviews.

[0:21] Robert W. Schneider: Under the customer reviews, click write a review, and then let us know what you think from one to five stars.

[0:29] Kevin David Thomas: If you need some help, think of one star being Carol Channing and Paul Lynn in the road company of The Last Five Years, and five stars being free front row tickets to Hamilton.

[0:38] Robert W. Schneider: Although, when you think about it, I actually would give five stars to the road company of Carol Channing and Paul in The Last Five Years, because I think that would be awesome.

[0:45] Kevin David Thomas: I would love to hear.

[0:46] Robert W. Schneider: Can I hear moving too fast as Paul?

[0:49] Kevin David Thomas: That's the world that's the one I really want to do.

[0:51] Robert W. Schneider: Jesus shakes the goddess.

[0:55] Kevin David Thomas: Erica Schwartz and Danica Weiss.

[0:58] Robert W. Schneider: And the Handleman twins.

[1:00] Kevin David Thomas: So there you go. You can also leave a comment if you like.

[1:03] Robert W. Schneider: That's it. Your reviews.

[1:04] Kevin David Thomas: Send us your reviews, friends.

[1:06] Robert W. Schneider: Thank you.

[1:06] Robert W. Schneider: Hi, I'm Robert W. Schneider.

[1:07] Kevin David Thomas: And I'm Kevin David Thomas.

[1:09] Robert W. Schneider: And this is Behind the Curtain: Broadway's Living Legends.

[1:12] Kevin David Thomas: Don't forget to follow us on Twitter at Broadway Curtain and on Instagram at Broadway Curtain Podcast.

[1:18] Robert W. Schneider: And make sure to join our Facebook page at Behind the Curtain: Broadway's Living Legends.

[1:22] Kevin David Thomas: And we are also excited to announce that you can listen to us on Broadway Radio now.

[1:26] Robert W. Schneider: Ooh, how fancy for us.

[1:29] Kevin David Thomas: Our guest today is one of Broadway's best known gypsies, having appeared in the Broadway musicals of Ready for This List?

[1:36] Robert W. Schneider: Here we go. No Strings, Nowhere to Go But Up, Dear World, and Evita.

[1:47] Kevin David Thomas: Did I forget any, LAWRENCE? Or is that it?

[1:48] LAWRENCE MERRITT: I don't think so. I feel good about that.

[1:51] Robert W. Schneider: Plus countless TV specials for Kraft Music Hall with Margaret, Aunt Bancroft, and many, many Ed Sullivan shows.

[1:58] Kevin David Thomas: Nightclub acts with Juliet Prouse, Raquel Welch, and Ginger Rogers.

[2:02] Robert W. Schneider: Our guest was one of the most in-demand dancers in the industry until a car accident came along. To tell us about his 50-year career in musical theater and how he triumphed over adversity is the brilliant LAWRENCE MERRITT.

[2:16] Kevin David Thomas: Lawrence, thanks for coming on today.

[2:17] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Yay. Welcome.

[2:19] Robert W. Schneider: Now I have to tell you, um, we Kevin and I just worked with LAWRENCE on a concert at Feinstein's 54 Below, where LAWRENCE sang Broadway Baby and received a rousing standing ovation.

[2:35] Kevin David Thomas: Instantaneous standing ovation before the last note was cut off.

[2:38] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Yeah.

[2:39] Kevin David Thomas: Lawrence, if you don't mind my asking, how old are you?

[2:42] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Uh, I was about 39 when I woke up this morning, but when I go to bed tonight, I'll be 139. I'm 78.

[2:50] LAWRENCE MERRITT: I will be 79 in Thanksgiving. I'm a turkey baby.

[2:54] Robert W. Schneider: We are going to post this video of LAWRENCE singing. Uh, there is not one sign of 70s, 60s, 50s, 40s. Lawrence is a man still in his 20s, and we love everything about it.

[3:04] Kevin David Thomas: I must also say that LAWRENCE was kind enough. Uh, LAWRENCE complimented my tie, uh, which was a knit tie.

[3:10] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Yeah.

[3:11] Kevin David Thomas: And no one ever compliments my fashion choices, except LAWRENCE, and I appreciate that.

[3:16] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Really you know, I really did.

[3:18] Kevin David Thomas: And LAWRENCE, what? Lawrence gave me the next performance, a knit tie, a beautiful peach knit tie, which I still wear.

[3:26] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So for that, LAWRENCE is my favorite thing.

[3:29] Kevin David Thomas: So, LAWRENCE, where are you from originally?

[3:32] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Okay. Uh, I'm from basically I'm a country boy. I was born up near Schenectady, Saratoga, Albany, but out in the country.

[3:41] LAWRENCE MERRITT: I mean, there was the Four Corners, uh, a little yellow school bus picked me up and a couple of other people on the way, took us to the small village where I went to school for 12 years.

[3:52] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So I lived at one end of an apple orchard. And at the other end, my cousin and his brothers and sisters and my mother's they lived. And they lived right next to a lumber yard with a pond that we all skated on.

[4:05] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So I'm from a country. How did musical theater come into your life then?

[4:09] LAWRENCE MERRITT: When I was four or five, before my twin sisters were born. There was no TiVo, no videos, no computers, no nothing. So what you did, you went to the movie.

[4:17] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And my parents liked to dance, they liked music, and so we went to the movies. So I saw Carmen Miranda, Sonia Henney, and Fred and Ginger.

[4:27] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And I would sit next to my mother in my own. And later on, I was thinking, you know, when I did Raquel Welch's act, we did When My Baby, When My Baby Goes Smiles at Me, I Go to Rio.

[4:37] LAWRENCE MERRITT: I ended up wearing ruffled sleeves again. This time they were made by Bob Mackey. I have pictures. I have pictures.

[4:44] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Anyway, in Rio. But uh full circle. So it was like, okay, that's a weird. I if I had had brains enough at that point when I was, you know, five or six or seven, I would have realized that I was gonna grow out to be this crazed gypsy person.

[5:02] LAWRENCE MERRITT: But my naivete, I think, is what saved me.

[5:04] Kevin David Thomas: When you got to New York, do you remember the first Broadway show you saw?

[5:07] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Uh actually I saw a Broadway show when I came down on a bus trip with the library club. We saw Pajama Game with Janice Page and John Wraith.

[5:19] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Wow. And Carol Haney. What a good one. Doing Steam Heat.

[5:23] LAWRENCE MERRITT: You know, and then again the first week, I moved to New York on my 18th birthday. So, you know, you had to sign up for the selective service, you know, which is a really fun, fun day.

[5:34] LAWRENCE MERRITT: You know, you're in this huge place, and everybody's walking around naked except for their BVDs. It's like, oh, this is cute.

[5:43] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And so, yeah, no, I studied. In fact, I I went, there was a place on 46th Street called Variety Arts, famous, famous studio. Bob Fosse had one studio, which is his good luck studio where he did all his shows there.

[5:57] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And I took Afro-Cuban. It's like, oh my God, I've got hips, you know, contract, can release, you know. And so I took lessons there with a wonderful black man who used to run Catherine Dunham's school when she was on tour in Europe with her troupe, making movies with Silvana Mangano and all, you know, these Italian starlets, whatever.

[6:21] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And he was just lovely, you know, and so I took class with him. Uh bits and pieces. I took a couple of classes at the old Met with Anthony Tudor.

[6:30] LAWRENCE MERRITT: I took some East Indian classes with Beatrice Kraft, and uh, you know, I got a job as a waiter, got a job in a gay bar, and you know, as a waiter and then as a bartender and made lots of money.

[6:42] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And then finally I thought, well, you know, you're being really stupid. You came to New York City to be a dancer. You need to get your act together.

[6:49] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So I decided that I would lose a little weight. I was never fat or overweight, that I would start taking classes seriously, and then I would start auditioning.

[7:00] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So I started taking classes, a few with Luigi, who's very famous, who I love dearly, but I also studied with Matt Mattox, who was a Jack Cole dancer.

[7:11] Kevin David Thomas: Jack Cole, yeah.

[7:12] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And I guess we should talk about Matt right now. I'm tall, 6'1, as you would see, and I have long arms and you know, I'm a knuckle dragger, you know, I got gorilla arms.

[7:24] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And he taught me to be able to control my body. You know, they went, well, you know, the short boys can get down on their knees on the floor in one count. It's like, really? Watch. You don't know who you're dealing with.

[7:34] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So I could do that. And he's the one who taught me how to do that and how to isolate and do all that. Because Jack Cole was a direct descendant of Ted Shawn.

[7:46] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Ted Shawn was uh married or whatever, with Ruth St. Denis, a very famous woman dancer. And they had the Denis Shawn schools of dance.

[7:57] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And he used to have a troupe of men up in the woods in Maine, I believe, that danced naked every day and took classes. Jack Cole was one of them, I believe.

[8:06] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Jack Cole then became and had studied East Indian and Spanish and all that. And Matt Mattox was in Jack Cole's troop, and Ron Field, who I did Broadway shows with, was in Jack Cole's troop.

[8:19] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Wow. And Ron Lewis, who I did my first Latin Quarter show with, was in Jack Cole's trouble. And so I studied with Matt every day.

[8:27] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And his technique was a direct derivative of Jack Cole. Wow. So I consider myself very honored to have been, you know, a leaf that dropped off of that sort of family tree.

[8:40] Kevin David Thomas: We've talked about, uh, just for our listeners, the important legacy of Jack Cole, that even though a lot of people may not know the name, it's not as familiar to some people as Jerome Robbins or or Michael Bennett, but Jack Cole really, you know, we do my favorite things on it, but he really was the reason why we have a lot of the famous choreographers today.

[8:57] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So yeah, so I started auditioning and I studying, and I got the first thing that I got was St. Louis Muni Opera.

[9:05] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Oh, yeah, which is handed me a contract and went, Go join Actors Equity. That was 1959. I'm still a member.

[9:14] Kevin David Thomas: Um, very very quickly though, when you were auditioning, do you remember what your audition song was, your standard go-to?

[9:21] LAWRENCE MERRITT: No, because you usually you danced. You danced mostly, unless they wanted you, because they usually had in St. Louis, they had a dancing chorus, excuse me, and a singing chorus.

[9:31] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Gotcha. So you always you went for the dancing chorus usually.

[9:33] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[9:34] LAWRENCE MERRITT: You know, and there were nine boys. One was a swing, and I think sixteen girls, and most of them, half of them were from St. Louis, the Midwest.

[9:45] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And the ones who left and came to New York City within a week and a half, they almost all of them got Broadway shows. They were brilliant.

[9:51] LAWRENCE MERRITT: You know, they've been doing it since the Kitty Chorus in Babes, you know. So uh it was great.

[9:57] LAWRENCE MERRITT: You know, it was 103 degrees in the shade, but it was familiar. I mean, the first show was with a guy who had been in movies, Anthony Dexter, who had done several remakes of Valentino movies.

[10:10] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Oh, nice. Oh. But he played at The King, and uh, why can't I think of her? Patricia Morrison, oh, yeah who had taken over the part on Broadway, did Anna in Anna and the King of Siam.

[10:23] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Patricia Morrison was the first Lily in Kiss Me, Kate, isn't it?

[10:27] Kevin David Thomas: Yes, and still with us and still very much with us.

[10:30] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Yeah, and uh, you know, shave chest, much body makeup, you know, playing East Indian dancers, but whatever.

[10:37] LAWRENCE MERRITT: You know, Little Abner, uh, you know, Grover Dale came in and did the original Michael Kidd choreography.

[10:43] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Oh, wow. Uh you know, Carmen. Hello. What a season.

[10:48] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Oh yeah. Uh bells are ringing, you know. Uh what do oh call me madam with Penny Singleton, who was the original Blondie on Dagwood and Blondie.

[11:00] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And then your first Broadway show was No Strings, right?

[11:00] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Right. Right.

[11:04] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So I had done I did St. Louis, I came back, the guy said, I want you to be the lead Indian dancer in Annie Get Your Gun at Paper Mill Playhouse.

[11:13] Kevin David Thomas: Okay, fine.

[11:14] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And then I did the Latin Quarter, then I auditioned and I got No Strings.

[11:20] Kevin David Thomas: And just a step back for our listeners, what was the Latin Quarter?

[11:23] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Yeah, I don't think I know what that is.

[11:24] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Two major nightclubs in New York City, the Copacabana.

[11:28] Kevin David Thomas: Oh the Copa.

[11:30] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Yeah. And the Latin Quarter. The Latin Quarter, if you know where tickets is, between 47th and 48th, between Seventh Avenue and Broadway, you look up to the second floor, you will see the Olive Garden.

[11:44] Kevin David Thomas: Yes.

[11:45] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Yeah. That's exactly where the Latin Quarter was.

[11:48] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Right. It was run by Lou Walters, who was the father of Barbara Walters.

[11:54] Kevin David Thomas: Wow.

[11:54] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Every year we have a reunion and we have it at the Olive Group.

[11:58] Kevin David Thomas: No way.

[11:59] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So these the wide stairs were uh on 48th Street. You walked upstairs, the Maitre D sat you at a table, the stage was back in the back, and then the dressing rooms were on the side where the tickets booth is, that end.

[12:14] LAWRENCE MERRITT: You know, it's part of a big hotel now. You know, you know. And I remember we all went in our, you know, opening number costumes, New Year's Eve, and went up to the roof, which was three stories and flat, and watched the, you know, millions of people in the ball drop.

[12:28] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And I went down and did a show for the drunks, you know.

[12:31] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So, you know, uh that's fascinating. It was great. So it was a very famous line, you know. And they hired dancers to perform. They there were four boys. Ron Field, choreographer and director, was the lead dancer, and Ron Lewis was the choreographer who has done Liza's act and her Broadway show, and I don't know. I did shows with him in Vegas, etc. at the Radio City Music Hall. Yeah, whatever. And had a varied career. And after Laddin Quarter, though, was no strings. Yes, and that was amazing, you know, and they they say, you know, the first day we rehearsed at a place down on 2nd Avenue across from where Stomp is. It's now, I think NYU. And it used to be upstairs, I think over Ratner's, which was the famous Jewish deli.

And uh there were studios up there. I did two shows rehearsed there. And they said, you know, the first day, dress up, look cute in case somebody catches you in a photograph. So, you know, you're all dressed up, and you're there, and there's Diane Carroll and Richard Kiley, talking about Starstruck, and Alvin Epstein, and the girl dancers and the boy dancers, and Joe Leighton, who directed and choreographed and Peter Matz, who was the musical director, and then who did Carol Burnett and Barbara Streisand specials. Oh, yeah, everything. And here's Richard Rogers sitting at a piano going, and then in this scene, you'll hear this song. And it was like, oh my God. Oh, that's you know, that's amazing.

And it was like, uh, okay, you know. And this show for our listeners is Richard Rogers' first show after Hammerstein passed away, and he wrote the music and the lyrics for this show. The only show he wrote the lyrics. I left after six months. Uh that was '62. I think I went to Vegas or something. I'm not really sure. Sometimes chronologically. I think I went to Vegas and did a show with Matt Maddox, and I was the only boy from New York, and there were like four or five men from LA. And they flew us to Paris to rehearse because they made the costumes there. And all the girl dancers who were English or Welsh or Scottish were in this guy's line of girls and all the show girls. Wow. Wow. So they made all, you know, so I was like, oh, Paris.

This is cute. I'm French, you know. And we went to Vegas, and the music was done by At the Dunes by Michelle Le Grand. Oh, oh my. And Matt Maddox choreographed it. You know, and I hated Vegas. So again, I'm a gypsy. I went back to New York. And I did my second Broadway show, which was Ron Field, his first, called Nowhere to Go But Up. Written by uh James Lipton wrote the lyrics and the book. It was directed by Sidney Lamette, who never should have ever gotten his hands on a Broadway musical. Film director Sidney Lamette. Yes. Amazing. He should see a musical. Gritty cop dramas like Serpico, etc. Yo, yeah, he did Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, all the time. Here he is doing Nowhere to Go But Up.

Yeah, which is about Hooch and Gangsters and Dance Hall Girls. It was it a it was a prohibition era musical. Yeah, yeah. Uh no, no singers, eight male dancers, and 16 girls. Uh I loved the show. You know, it starred Dorothy Loudoun, Tom Bosley, and Martin Balsam. Ron Field choreographed it and was assisted by guess who? Michael Bennett. Michael Bennett. And you know, we played Philadelphia, and I can't remember well, Boston. No, we didn't play Boston. Anyway, um, you know, and we played nine days at the Winter Garden. And that was it. The Times, I if I remember correctly, the time said nowhere to go but up. So I called Ron Field, and I I am so pissed off. I'm so upset. Because you did he did such a brilliant job.

He was wonderful at stylized movement. Yeah. 30s, 40s, 50s. You know, each one of those eras had a certain sensibility and a type of movement. And so a couple of months later he said, guess what? I'm gonna go to Paris. I'm gonna choreograph the Casino de Paris show, and I need an assistant. You want to go? It'll pay the equivalent to $300 in French francs every week. And it's like, yep, I'm there. You know. So I went to Paris and I met someone that Ron introduced me to, an American person who was a dance expatriate dancer living there. And I it's like, okay, and I'm French and and it's Paris, and I'm in love, and I'm gonna stay. And so they put me in the show as a lead dancer, and uh uh my partner and myself were able to do TV shows during the day and still do the show at night.

And so um I did shows with Petula Clark. Oh. I got pictures. Josephine Baker, choreographed by Jeffrey Holder. Wow. And all these French, you know, uh Francois D'Arliac, who was the sister who died very young of Catherine Deneuve. Yeah. And uh, you know, I mean, on the steps of Sacra Cur in your underwear, on a train out, you know, whatever. Wow. You know, these funny TV shows, you know, and then came back to New York with the Minsky Follies. The Minsky Follies. Yes, that's the lead one and the only male dancer again in my G string, and a male production singer, and and you know, six show girls, six dancers, one of which is the original Tits and Ass Girl. Oh, you know, and uh we played a few places, and uh and then I ended up Ron said, you know, I'm doing a new Broadway show, you want to do it?

And it was like, okay, and it was Golden Rainbow with Stephen Eady. Stephen ED, yeah. The Stephen Edy. The Stephen Eady, which was a very long-running flop at the Schubert, and it was a hit only because when the curtain came down, they all let us go to our dressing rooms, and Stephen Eady stayed on stage and did their Vegas act. So that's what kept the show going. You know, they did their little banter and their zings and so you you would sit through the show to get to the club act? Well, I guess, you know, all the groups of Bene Britt that came in from Long Island and all that stuff, you know. Wow. So you know, and it got a good run, and we were at the Schubert, you know. The Schubert. Yeah.

Now, before we go to Golden Rainbow, I have a question for you. Do you have any memories of working with Dorothy Loudoun on Nowhere to Go But Up? We were just talking about her yesterday. She was cool. She was cool. Uh I, you know, Dorothy Loudoin was Dorothy Loudoun. Uh by the way, the original leading lady, Bert Convey was the young leading man who had been in Cabaret and went on to game show fame. Uh, and his leading lady originally was Louise Lasser. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Right. And Woody Allen. And she was sort of frayed around the edges. So when we got to Philadelphia, there was no more Louise Lasser. She was replaced by little old Mary Ann Mobley, who would not say she it if she had a mouthful.

So too sweet and too cute. You just died from diabetes. You know. Anyway, yeah, I like Dorothy. And then later when I was living in LA, I came through New York and saw a production of uh ballroom. Yeah. Which I thought was Michael did. And there's all these old dancers without their toupees and out of the woodwork, and which gives me this extraordinary sense of pride, you know, having been part of that world, you know, for so long. And Dorothy Loud was so good because she wasn't doing Dorothy Loud and shtick. She was she's really acting, you know, and that one song. Do you know the song? 50%. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. You know, just fabulous, fabulous songs. A lot of recordings of that. We'll post that as well for our listeners to take a look at.

Yeah. Um now talking about recordings. Uh Golden Rainbow performed at the Tony Awards that year. And it's it's the opening number of the Tony Awards, I think 1968. Still out there. In the internet sometime. And it's no 1968. I have seen it. And so my question is where are you? I'm featured with Kelly Bishop.

[20:46] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Kelly Bishop, I'm a course line fan. And we'll she did tons of things. Well, I knew her when she was Carol Bishop. Carol Bishop. She was in Vegas at the Dunes when I was in the casino show. She was in the lounge show. Are you are you the the dancer with the midriff? Yeah. That's you. That's Ma. I mean, who else would wear red vinyl bell bottoms? I mean, come on. I love that. I love that. Yeah. Was working with Stephen Needy a nice experience for her? Yeah, I mean, she was cool. I mean, yeah, I mean, first of all, do you know Marilyn Cooper? Yes. Wonderful, wonderful woman. Best known from Woman of the Year. Right. And she had just done um two by two with Danny Kay. Huh. Infamous. Yes, wasn't it?

And she had very little to say about him. But anyway, so Edie could not go on if she had a hangnail. She could sing tonight. And she was always, she had a hawk eye on Steve because she didn't want him messing around with any of the girls. Well, no, court, yeah. So Marilyn Cooper is only like four feet tall, and she had curly black hair. She's the original one in West Side Story, by the way, who sang Puerto Rico, you lovely island. Island of Tropical Brees. That's Marilyn Cooper in the original. Did not remember that. So they'd get her, it was the 60s. So it was courage. So she had these white vinyl boots with the tight tops with the heel and a courage mini dress and a big fall and lots of bang bang eyelashes and all the makeup and stuff, and a white mink coat down to here, and she went on for E opposite Steve.

That's amazing. Yeah, and I mean we did the opening number at the Tony's, you know, and we were rehearsing. And Angela Lansbury was the hostess. Okay. I almost knocked Paul Newman over running backstage. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Audrey Hepburn, Marlene and Dietrich, you know, all these people, you know, and one of the dancers and I went behind the back wall, you know, the lights were up. And they were rehearsing. And uh we're behind the back wall where you stand for standing remotely. And we're sitting and we looked down, and right against the back wall was this person with their foot up on the seats and a huge bag and this enormous mirror and this pot of brown stuff, putting their finger in it and going, tapping the end of their nose.

I thought, what the you know, it was Carol Channing putting brown at the end of her nose to make it look short. Oh my gosh. Shading her nose. You know, it's like, okay, you know, whatever. So after Golden Rainbow, I can't remember what the next is chronologically dear. Dear World. Dear world. Yes. Great score. Okay, this is one of the bigs. My first Broadway show, first of all, when they announce your name, you're standing on stage, you know, and they know you that you you know that they wanted only six male dancers in no strings, you know. And you've got like ten boys lined up. So it really was that a windowed down to whatever. And it really is like a chorus line. I mean, they really did line you up like that.

Yeah, yeah. And then they go, uh you and you and you and you, and you uh step forward, please. The rest of you, thank you. And then and then you realize you got it, you know. Your first Broadway show, and it's just it's an amazing highlight. So this was another one. So Zorba the Greek was going to happen with I can't remember, was it Anthony Quinn who's gonna start? Anyway, Herschel Bernard. I think I'm not exactly sure. Ron Field. So I went to the audition again at a theater, not in a studio, and you know, I dancing and so forth, and they were gonna call people back for singing, and where all the boys are on stage, and Ron is demonstrating a step, and you know, we're doing it. And he said, by the way, he said, I I hope you understand.

I mean, because we're friends, you know. I did four shows with him, and I assisted him twice in Paris and then way back in Summerstock. And so he said, I can't really fight for you because Hal Prince has just gotten back from Crete, and he wants short, sort of swarthy looking, you know.

[25:02] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And I was 6'1 with hair your color, and I had ringlets. So I looked Hellenic, you know, I looked Grecian. And I went, yeah, it's okay. It's okay, hon. He said, but I tell you something, he said, there's only one other dancer better than you that's here today, and that's me, and I'm the choreographer. And I thought that was probably one of the best compliments I ever got. So in the next week and a half to two weeks, you had backstage. I knew that there were other auditions coming up. So I auditioned within the next two weeks for A Mother's Kisses, starring B. Arthur, Bernadette Peters, Corey Grapp by Anna White, Roland Rainbow, she was sitting in the audience while that happened, and directed by Gene Sachs.

I danced, I sang, I was cast. Then I went and I auditioned for Promises Promises. Michael Bennett, of course. Hi, Mike, how you doing? Everybody I knew, Kelly Bishop, you know, Donna McKechney, all these people, you know, uh that I knew. I danced, I sang, I was cast. Then I went and I auditioned for Todd Sadler, and uh I danced and I sang and I was cast within about a week and a half two weeks. And it's like, oh shit. Now what do I do? Now I have to make up my mind. So that was just an extraordinary event. And you know, I mean, it's very reassuring, you know, to know that you must have something that they are willing to hire you for or pay you money for. Right. You know, because in this business, you're all you know, it's like where's your next job?

And you always have doubts. So anyway, so I chose Dear World, which was lovely, lovely, you know, that's how I played the Colonial, you know, with Donald Pippin, you know. Oh, yeah. And uh Pamela Hall, who's over at St. Luke's, who's still around. And yes, please eat that. And uh Lauren's put out a lovely spread for us, by the way, so you might hear munching throughout. I'm telling them to go ahead and eat it so I don't spread. Anyway, um, so you know, we rehearsed and uh you know, we played. I think we did play the colonial, I don't remember where else we played. Anyway, Jerry Herman did fabulous music. Yeah. Fantastic. Wonderful, wonderful, beautiful music, except sort of for the title song, which is Dear World.

Anyway, uh, and we sort of we previewed, previewed folks for all of you who don't know, means that you rehearse all day long while you're in New York City for a certain amount of hours, and then you have to be set free so you can wash your face and take your shoes off and have something to eat, and then go back to the theater and do another version of the number that you've been rehearsing all day that night in a show, you know. So like you'd be doing the new version during the day, but that's the same. You're rehearsing a new version that's gonna go in like three or four days later. And so that's you know, so you're previewing, not opening. So we previewed for I think probably about a month, and then we opened, and then we played for about, I guess, a month and a half or something.

And people go, nah, it was a flop. I don't think so. It was artistically, everybody loved it, and Angela won another Tony. Yeah. And uh who know whoever knows why, you know, shows don't make it. But Angela Lansbury, Jane Connell, Carmen Matthews, um Milo O'Shea, Jerry Herman, uh Joe Leighton came in and took over directing and choreographing, you know.

[28:33] Kevin David Thomas: Wha why were there so many changes? What what wasn't working that needed to be fixed?

[28:37] LAWRENCE MERRITT: No. Well, my this is just the theory of my observation. Lucia Victor was the original directress of Dear World. And the choreographer was Donald Sadler, who already had a track record. So Lucia Victor was Gower Champion's right hand man slash lady. She could recreate Hello Dolly, 42nd Street, whatever, for Beijing or Catman 2 or whatever, down to the last hand movement perfectly. But I don't think she actually had the imagination to come up with the inspiration to direct. And it, you know, we're playing the Mark Hellinger, which is now a church. Damn it. And uh, which is one of the most spectacular theaters, like the colonial. Yeah. Uh and uh I just don't think she had the know-how to do that.

So they fired her and Donald Sadler, and one of the Peters, I think it was Peter Glenville, came in English, and he worked with Angela Carmen, Jane, Milo, and in the chorus, it's like, get over there. It's like, okay. We had, you know, we just kept doing the same old thing and singing rehearsals and whatever. And so um then Joe Leighton came in and he was going to direct and choreograph. And um Dear World is based on uh the Mad Woman of Chayot by Anui, I'm not sure. Or Shiradu. Anyway, and it's a charming little play. It's intimate, it's charming about these three crazy ladies and their garbage men. And all of a sudden we went to Vegas and we had dream ballets and costumes and you know, and I just think it got too one of the things was it got too big.

Anyway, so Dear World, thank you very much. Goodbye. Uh Ronfield. Hey, LAWRENCE, why don't you come on over and be in the chorus of applause and understudy Dwayne, the hairdresser confidante. It's like, okay, so off I went, you know, and I understudied, and the guy who was doing it, uh, Tom Rolla, who lives out in California, who runs a fabulous restaurant called Gardena, which is also a supper club. Ooh. Lovely guy. Lovely. Anyway, he did Dwayne and he was leaving. So I took over, I was doing understudy rehearsals. All of a sudden I took over the role. So I'm playing Duane, the gay confidante hairdresser in applause. I played it for a week with Ann Baxter, who was larger than anything, can tell you stories later after I shut up.

And I played it with Arlene Dahl. And uh and that was at uh the palace. And so anyway, uh I played it and we I played that role until oh gosh, it sort of petered out. I mean, it was time and had played for a long time and it ran its course and you know, had a good show, good a good ending. What a what a lucky, lucky career, my gosh.

[31:35] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Oh, it ain't over yet. You know, oh no, it ain't over, you know. You know, On the Town. Went to On the Town at some point, the revival. Yes, the first revival. Yeah, you know. With who is it? Bernie Peters. Bernard Peters, uh, Donna McKechnie, Miss Turnstiles, and Phyllis Newman. Um, let's see, Remack Ramsey, I think Bill Gerber. Uh, you know, Compton and Green were sort of walk wandering around out in the lobby, and you know, whatever. And Ronfield choreographed it, and uh thank you, Bob Mackey, you know, extraordinary costumes, you know. And I was featured again. I was featured in a big subway ballet. And then at the end, I was the guy who sang uh, you know, the song about Miss Turnstiles doing you know, Cooch and Cody Island.

You know, so I I was never a star, but I had good bits and parts and all that, you know. It's like one of the girls who came to the colonial thing said, Well, I didn't know you sang like that. It's like, yeah, Eileen, I've always sung like that. You know, I always had a big voice. Anyway, so yeah, on the town again, it didn't run. No. And uh what the hell happened? Oh, then uh, you know, lots of TV, Ed Sullivan, really nice stuff, really embarrassing things with Tiny Tim and Miss Vicky.

[32:51] Kevin David Thomas: What did you what did you do with Tiny Tim and Miss Vickies?

[32:54] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Oh my god, they had just gotten married. We were in suits with those fake plastic straw hats with red with American flags, running back and forth behind Miss Vicky and Tiny Tim and Don't Ask. Anyway, you know, sitting on a bale of hay, swaying back and forth with a cardboard cutout, you know, fence behind you, behind Dale Evans and Roy Rogers, humming to Happy Dreals. And then uh this is this is amazing to me. And I'm assuming you did a lot of uh film and TV in the 70s, right?

[33:33] LAWRENCE MERRITT: A lot of film work. Uh not really, no, because I was living in New York, you know. Were you in MAME? Did I make that up? Yes. No, no, no. I was in MAME. I oh this is another weird story. I when I did Ann Margaret's act, we did Ron Field, uh, one of the parts we did was The Lady in Red. And I played Melvin Purvis, the head guy in the FBI who shot John Dillinger. Yeah. Okay, that was part of the nightclub act that we did with Bob Mackey costumes and whatever. So Ann Margaret was going to do a TV special. And she had fallen by then and had that terrible accident. And she was back, you know. And so Roger called me and he said, Can you come out? He said, Nobody can do that walk that Ron did for you with the two guys behind me.

Nobody can do the Melbourne Purpose walk like you can. Will you fly out and do it? We'll fly you out. We'll pay you, you know, X number of TV contract dollars for three or four days. Sure, I'm free. Why not? So they flew me out, and uh, you know, and we started we started to rehearse, and uh one of the dancers in the course was Terry Garr. And so she was a dancer, you know. You gotta hand it to us. And so we did that, and um I knew that Anna White was out there, and she was working on BAME. So I called Anna. I went, hi hun, I'm in LA, you know, just doing this. And she went, Oh, oh my god, I need somebody your age to dance with Lucy, who won't make her look like she's dancing with her, you know, her grandson.

It's like, okay. And they were all there was a contract group that were dancing on a sound stage, and somebody was a dance in for Lucy, and then Lucy would come and she'd teach her, you know, she was lovely, Lucy. And uh, so in the opening number. It's today. You got it. When you see a hand taking your armpit and sitting her on that plexiglass tape, uh piano, and she puts her arm around two heads. The one on, if you look at the screen, the one on your right, that's me. And so she was sitting there one day, you know, on a break, and they were changing lights and stuff. And I was sitting by her and she said, Oh, she said, by the way, I went to the rushes this morning, you know, the dailies. And she said, You look great in your close-up. And I thought, oh my God. Lucille Ball is telling me, I love Lucy. She's telling me I look great in my close-up.

[35:58] Kevin David Thomas: And then you went into a Vita?

[35:59] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Then I went into Evita, Larry Fuller. No, actually, I did Ginger Rogers act. Oh. Oh. She had done, I did Raquel's act. Okay. And when I was doing Raquel's act, we did Around the World, which is fabulous. Thank you again, Bob Mackie. And the ruffle sleeves. And so when I was doing her act, Anna White called me and said, We're doing an act for Ginger Rogers. Are you free? And I went, No, I'm so sorry. I can't do that. You know, I'm busy. And so uh then later she called and somebody called and said, Listen, um, we're getting rid of the four boys, we're getting rid of the big Latin number, and we're gonna do one big pastiche, and we're gonna use one boy. Are you interested? I went, yeah, I'm free.

So I went over and I did a few moves with Ginger? Who you watched in the movie theater as a child. There you go. There's all these connections, you know. Sonia Henney, Carmen Morena, and whatever. So, and they liked me, and the musical director was a nice guy, and it was uh Anna White, you know, and so I went with Ginger to one of her fittings at Jean-Louis, who was famous. And so, you know, it was just I got to sing a song that Fred Astaire sang to her in a movie. Wow. Change partners. You know, must you dance every dance. So I sang that song, and out she came in all her pink loveliness with the feathers. And you wonder how come Fred Astaire was always going because there were feathers in his mouth.

But anyway, and again, you know, I played the palace with applause, and then here I am as part of the star act, White Tie and Tales, singing a song on stage as the star act at the Palladium in London.

[37:42] LAWRENCE MERRITT: You know, and somebody said, Mr. Merritt, you wanted the stage door. I go to the stage store. There's Larry Fuller, who I talked to yesterday. And I said, What the hell are you doing here? He said, Well, I knew you were with Ginger, and he said I knew you're closing, you know, a couple days. And he said, I knew that you'd be here, you know. I said, What are you doing in London? He said, Well, I've exchanged my flat in uh in uh New York with this chap in in London, and I have his car. I said, Well, what? And he said, Well, I'm here doing research on a new musical that I'm going to be doing with Hal Prince based on the life of Ava Peron. A Vita. Yeah. So I ended up going to LA for ice capades.

I did Roquel's Act, I did Ginger's Act, came back. Larry Fuller, Evita had played in LA as an out of town tryout. Uh-huh. Big success on Broadway with Patty LaPone and all that. Larry Fuller called me and said, I want you to be the lead dancer in a Vita. You won't have to audition. Just come in the afternoon at one o'clock. The boys will audition in the morning at 10. They'll go have lunch. You don't have to wear dance clothes. Just look cute. You'll meet the musical director. Who's that? Renee Wiegert. I think he had been the musical director for Pippin, so he knew who I was. And you'll meet Hal. Okay. And so the boys, you know, you know, boys line up next to LAWRENCE. You know, so it's like, well, this feels really good.

You know. So we went into rehearsal with Lonnie Ackerman and Scott Holmes, who went back into soap operas, I think. And um John Cipher, who was a trained opera singer who was did TV. He was the uh prince in the Cinderella movie. Yeah. He was the uh and the Rogers and Hammerstein. He had a Broadway show, he did big on Broadway too. Oh, yeah. He was the Boston big. Yeah. And I got, you know, I had hurt my knees in Vegas doing that show at the casino, doing a big Russian number when all people wanted to do is see the show girls' tits, you know, and uh then finally in Avita it really tore, and they went, I'll just be leaving stage now. And so then a few days later they operated on me and uh I tore the cartilage, they fixed it, and a few months later I went back into the show.

And back into a Vita. Do the Vita, yeah, and then the understudy girl, I did the tango, uh, if you know the show. I was one of the two gauchos, slouchos we call ourselves. And I understudied McGaldi. But you were just known primarily as a what? Known primarily though as a dancer when they had this great vice. You know, because a lot of dancers, it's like, oh, you can carry a tune. Okay, fine, you know, but I did do understudies and solos and whatever, you know. And so I'm sorry, go ahead.

[40:24] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, I was gonna say, then once the 80s came and a lot of those big musicals didn't require so much dance anymore. Like yeah, the late Mrs. and the Phantoms and stuff. What were you up to at that time?

[40:35] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Uh the 80s. Uh uh actually I got hurt on stage in 1981.

[40:43] Kevin David Thomas: That was the Vita.

[40:44] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Yeah. Well, how did you get hurt on stage?

[40:46] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Uh the understudy girl went on one night, and Larry had choreographed in the the the benefit performance, you know, Mario and Margarita. Uh I there was a lift where I was supposed to lift her all the way up, her feet up towards the ceiling and her head here. And the understudy girl, we had done it a couple of times, but she made a wrong move. And it tore the hell out of my upper back. And so I okay, thank you very much. I'll just take a workman's comp settlement and uh I have a partner that I'm catering with, and I'll just go cater.

[41:15] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So and then when did your car accident happen?

[41:19] LAWRENCE MERRITT: So uh two years later. So I was we were catering and doing well. We were on the we did a several parties for uh Kayla Kayla Champion, who was the second wife of Gar uh Gower Champion. Okay, and we catered Lee Remick's birthday party and catered some stuff for Lucia Victor, who was putting together yet another production of 42nd Street for someplace. As she does, and uh so I choreographed a local production of um guys and dolls, and then I did uh Student Prince. So Sunday matinee, party afterwards, up in the hills, lots of dope, lots of scotch. Uh don't do that anymore. I'm an artiste now, anyway. Anyway, and so I said to my partner, I you know, I can't drive. Can you drive? Yeah. Famous last words.

So when I went and got in the car, I either fell asleep or passed out. Doesn't matter. I remember the next thing I was laying in the middle of Fountain Avenue in LA, which is a sort of go-to street to get from one end to the other, which is like 13th Street or 12th Street out here. And I sort of came to with like people all around me and lights and it was paramedics. And I ended up being taken to two hospitals. The first one, the emergency room was full. And I went to LA County General, which is worse than any ER room hospital you can imagine on TV. And there was a lovely young lady who was a liaison. And she said, I think I can get you into this facility down in Anaheim called Rancho Los Amigos.

And I had suffered a spinal cord injury due to an old dance injury in my neck. So, you know, I uh they slipped me down by ambulance, and uh I laid in bed for two weeks doing everything you need to do, everything, you know, and um they came in and said, you know, we think we need to fuse your neck so that you if you have another accident, you won't be paralyzed from the neck down. Okay, you sure? Yeah. So two weeks later they took a piece out of my hip and they fused four vertebrae in my neck, and they said you'll either be in a halo with the screws, you know, or you'll be in a hard, you know. Yeah. So I wore a hard body brace for four months and polio braces on my legs and crutches. And they said three months.

And I went, really? Watch. And two months later, I left a wheelchair at the hospital. Oh my god. And a week later, my partner and I were catering uh a party out in Cucamonga at some ranch or something. So whatever, you know.

[43:56] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Jeez. And you know, I many people say, you know, when something like that happens, it's like, oh, you have another chance at life. It's wonderful. You can make it count. And it sounds like a lot of psychobabble, happy horse shit. It's really true, you know. And I've never been one to mop and whine. I still don't. I don't think it gets you any place. I can't do what I did at 23, and I walk with a cane now, but I'm still doing stuff. And I stay busy, you know. And uh if I'm in a room full of horseshit, then there's gotta be a pony someplace.

[44:30] Kevin David Thomas: What a great way of looking at it.

[44:31] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Well, I mean, there's just you know, it doesn't get you any place, you know, and I have what I have, and I'm I'm lucky. I mean, the career that I had when I left that day to come to New York City, I've had a career that I could never even have dreamed of. You know, I've been places I was one of the stars of the m you know, the apple orchard kid. I'm in a blue satin G string swimming in a plexiglass pool that came up on an elevator as one of the stars of the Moulin Rouge. Hello? I'm at the Casino de Paris in Paris, which is old and famous and still going, by the way, as the Folie Bergère was. Doing the can can, you know. So I played the Palace, I played the Palladium, I played Toilets in Barcelona, you know, whatever. I think the title of the autobiography should be The Apple Orchard Kid. That'll be the subtitle. I already have it or I have You already have a title? I have a title, but I'm not gonna tell you.

[45:22] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my god.

[45:23] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Okay, well at least we have the subtitle.

[45:24] Kevin David Thomas: Right.

[45:25] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Uh go ahead.

[45:26] Kevin David Thomas: I was just gonna ask of all the choreographers you worked with, who would you say is your favorite?

[45:30] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Probably Ron Fields.

[45:31] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[45:32] LAWRENCE MERRITT: He did so much for you too.

[45:33] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[45:33] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And his I mean, as a member of the Board of Dancers Over 40, I could have saying, you know, we've done Joe Layton, we've done Bob Fosse, we've done Michael Kidd, we've done, you know, whatever. We need to do Ron Field, you know. It's like who's right? You ask the young dancers, and they go, Ron Who? They don't know who that is. They know who Michael Bennett is. Of course, I mean Ron Field won a Tony for cabaret.

[45:55] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[45:56] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And he won two Tonys, one for directing and choreographing applause. He did Zorba. So we ended up doing a whole night that I spearheaded with a video intro by Hal Prince. And then the opening number of cabaret on the 1967 Tony.

[46:13] Kevin David Thomas: Oh.

[46:14] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And the girl who helped me who assisted him. Five girls from the original on chairs and two boys in front of the screen doing the number.

[46:22] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, that's cool.

[46:23] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Oh, that's really cool. And then we had the tape, Joel Gray accepting his Tony Award. And out comes Joel Gray.

[46:29] Kevin David Thomas: Mm-hmm.

[46:30] LAWRENCE MERRITT: That's special. And Harvey Evans and I interviewed him.

[46:33] Kevin David Thomas: That's great.

[46:34] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Then we had second half, we had Mars Champion talking about Academy Awards, which I never knew he had done. He did a number for Mars Champion, Jane Powell, Ann Miller, Debbie Reynolds, Katherine Grayson, Esther Williams, Annie Miller, Howard Keel, in all these fabulous dresses on a number Coward Keel singing to these ladies, you know, and TV shows. And so here's Mars Champion. We talk video, talk to her. Out comes Sandy Duncan and Don Korea. They did TV shows with him that he did numbers for them that were spectacular. You know. And then one more then we ended up Ben Vereen. He did an Emmy Award winning TV special for Ben Vereen.

[47:18] Kevin David Thomas: Wow.

[47:18] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And the last one was Donna McKechnie, who I had done on the town with.

[47:23] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah.

[47:23] LAWRENCE MERRITT: And he had done a TV show for her, you know, and she sang a couple of songs from on the Town that she does in Iraq. And there's a picture of Ron Field, and we all went, you know.

[47:34] Kevin David Thomas: Oh, sweet.

[47:35] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Can you tell our listeners? Some uh dancers might know, but some people don't know what dancers over 40 is. And can you just give us a little

[47:41] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Well, a lot of people take exception to the name, and everybody goes, We need to change the name because it's like buttons. Fifty five, and I'm still honey. You're 68. You take exception to dancers over 40. Dancers Over 40 was started, I think about 20 years ago, by five dancers who went, you know, we really need to sort of get together and probably pass on some of our knowledge, lore, whatever, you know, because it's it's taught in schools and colleges or whatever, and it's taught by people who teach well, you know, but have not done it, you know. And if you've done it, you know what it's about. You know, you don't just put a costume on and go out and look cute. Yeah, you know, you sweat, you you sprain your ankle, you tear your knee.

So dancers over 40 is to support dancers. Most of the members are Broadway people, but we have modern people, tap people, Radio City Music Hall, been there, done that. Uh uh. Four shows a day. Whoa. Yes, 12 o'clock, three o'clock, six o'clock, nine o'clock. Thank you very much. It's a factory, you know.

[48:47] Kevin David Thomas: Love it.

[48:48] LAWRENCE MERRITT: I did a hard number with yellow lame, gold lame bell bottom with with big circular cutouts on the buns.

[48:56] Kevin David Thomas: Yeah, you did.

[48:58] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Do you still keep these outfits?

[49:00] LAWRENCE MERRITT: No, you don't get to keep the outfits, but I got pictures.

[49:02] Kevin David Thomas: That's pictures are worth a thousand words.

[49:04] LAWRENCE MERRITT: They're right there beside you. I got both of my scrapbooks out.

[49:07] Kevin David Thomas: Oh my gosh.

[49:11] LAWRENCE MERRITT: No, I uh I think we we will stop now because I'm so curious. I need to take a look at some of these photographs.

[49:19] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Oh, I hope.

[49:22] LAWRENCE MERRITT: The time I was seventeen in, you know, in uh summer stock on the beach in Kenny Bonport. Amazing.

[49:30] Kevin David Thomas: Lawrence too cute, you know.

[49:32] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Too cute, still cute.

[49:34] Kevin David Thomas: Still cute.

[49:34] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Semi cute.

[49:35] Kevin David Thomas: Still cute.

[49:36] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Trust me, as long as I keep getting those mid ties, it's still cute.

[49:40] Kevin David Thomas: Lawrence, this has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for taking the time out.

[49:44] LAWRENCE MERRITT: Yeah, thanks.

[49:46] Kevin David Thomas: Join us next week when we interview the amazing Bruce Yecko, who holds the Guinness Book of World Records for having produced more original cast recordings than any other individual.