Sandy Becker Haunts "City Stories: Stoops to Nuts"

When I was eight years old nothing made me happier than hearing Bert Kaempfert’s That Happy Feeling coming out of our TV on East 83rd Street. That Happy Feeling signaled the start of the Sandy Becker Show.




Sandy Becker's talent and charm could cool my 103 fever, make my German measles stop itching and quiet my parents arguing.

I loved Chuck McCann, still do, but Sandy got way inside my head and I couldn’t wait to grow up and try and do all the things he did to cheer kids up. Sandy was a mentor and I wish I was able to tell him that. Luckily, I was able to tell Chuck who is alive and well in California.

I’ll bet Bruce Springsteen loved Sandy Becker, too, or he never would have worn that pith helmet on stage at the Garden in tribute to Sandy’s Hambone.(photo by Jeff Havas)

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The next "City Stories: Stoops to Nuts" show is Tuesday, December 13th @ 6pm @ Cornelia Street Cafe.


Please come down to the Cafe for a special holiday show with gifted tellers and marvelous songsmiths: Barbara Aliprantis, Kelly Wallace Barnhill, Carl Kissin, Mary Lee Kortes, Thomas Pryor, Elizabeth Rowe & Amanda Thorpe.


Admission is $7 & that includes one free drink.

1963 Fire Escape Holiday in Yorkville

"Mom, I don't feel so good."

"What's a matter?"
"My belly hurts."
"How bad?
"Oh, I'm going to be sick."
OK, go back the bed."

I left the kitchen table with my lips sealed. My brother, Rory, rolled his eyes and mouthed, “Fake!” as I passed him. Mom and I had a deal. If I kept my marks up, though not thrilled with the idea, she'd let me play hooky a few times in the last quarter of school. But we couldn't tell Rory.

After Rory left for school, I'd creep into the living room and put the TV on and watch the Sandy Becker Show. When Mom got comfortable with the idea of me being home, I'd loosen up and hang out in the kitchen with her for awhile before bringing all my possessions into the living room and start placing them out the window onto the fire escape.

The fire escape was my terrace; my spauldeens, shoe boxes full of crap, magazines, transistor radio, baseball cards and plastic soldiers all came out with me. I'd stay on the fire escape till lunch then go back out for the rest of the afternoon. I'd sit on the metal stairs and dream that the backyard was a forest and I was viewing all the action from my fire watch station. Late in the day, Mom let me play music on Dad's Victrola pulled right up to the window. We'd trade songs for a few hours. She played Mario Lanza, I chose The Four Seasons. You could hear Frankie Valli’s voice bouncing all around the backyard. Dad would have killed us.

Everyday I Write The Book ~ Yorkville Radio Tonight @ 9pm

Tonight on "Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts" radio @ 9pm @ Centanni Broadcasting Network my guests are: Timothy J. O'Mara & Barry Stabile.

Listen here live or on archive at your convenience:

http://www.centannibroadcasting.com/

Tim is a terrific author who's just signed up with two agents to sell his book, "Sacrifice Fly," and Tim is the co-founder of the We Three Productions Reading series (16 years old and going strong at Bar 82). Tim has something on his mind and plans on bringing it to Giovanna's Restaurant tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfFunjzyIsE

Barry Stabile is an accomplished musician and yarn spinner. He's currently part of "All Mobbed Up." The group was the house band at Cha~Cha's on the Coney Island boardwalk this past summer on Friday nights. Unfortunately, Cha~Cha's lost their lease and like hundreds of things long gone at the beach, it's gone forever. Barry grew up in Bay Ridge and he and I will have lots to say on that subject, starting with the guy who put a bullet in his friend's caboose with a hammer as the trigger, it's a long story, listen tonight and Barry will tell you all about it.

I'm in a Clay Cole and Sandy Becker mood. Thinking of Clay's Christmas shows and Sandy Becker going bananas, "Hambone, Hambone, have you heard? Momma's going to buy you a mocking bird, and if that mocking bird don't sing..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Wx8BRjzoI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REeeucZtDY0

Neighborhood Lore

My friend, Jon Calvert & I put on an Old Neighborhood Story, Song & Picture Show: Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts, two weeks ago with our talented friends, Myles Goldin, Saara Dutton & Amanda Thorpe.




The genesis for Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts was the thousand of hours I spent watching Sandy Becker, Chuck McCann, and Zacherly. From two years old through my early teens, these three nut jobs made me laugh, made me happy. Probably most responsible for forming my creative personality.


They invited you into their neighborhood, their house, their living room and told you stories, told you jokes, sang songs, taught things, gave kids prizes, played cartoons, tied songs to sketches with people and puppets. Behind, the silliness, they stressed the value of old places, people, games, songs, dances, language. They reinforced what my family taught me, and they showed me around the old neighborhood. My best days as a kid were when my family played together and forgot they were adults. You saw it in their eyes.

It's natural to invite you to my block, to tell you a story, sing you a song, show you pictures and give you a gift for valuing and storing your memories.

Hambone was a loony disk jockey. He wore a pith helmet with a decorative plume, a drum major's uniform, and a pair of binocular glasses. The Big Professor, introduced to Pomp and Circumstance, answered questions and gave away Golden Book Encyclopedias for the best questions. K. Lastima was a dishevelled, Spanish-speaking kid's-show host in a Panama hat. He played trivia with the kids.

Zacherly was the host of Chiller Theatre and one of the first FM disc jockeys in New York on WNEW. Chuck McCann was out of his mind and matched Sandy Becker with his own characters, tales, songs, puppets, film & history trivia, movie clips, cartoons and pictures.

Neighborhood lore was embedded in these shows, and from there it flew straight into my heart.