Skits, gags and 'Hellzapoppin'

After reading about the rich history of vaudeville in Malverne and Lynbrook last week, residents sent in their own anecdotes and photos about the entertainment genre that was popular in the early 20th century. Vaudeville featured a mixture of specialty acts such as burlesque, comedy, and song and dance.

Where do retired vaudevillians go?

by Art Tillman (Mattatuck)

Vaudevillian Happy Moore rented a room at our house in Malverne at Parkview Place in the 1940's. He was a team with Stormy Bergh, also of Malverne. I saw them do their routine at the Century in Lynbrook. Happy played a ventriloquist, and Stormy sat on his lap and played the dummy. Happy retired to the Olson and Johnson (also of Malverne) Farm in Carmel, Putnam County, N.Y. We visited Happy there around 1950. The farm was also a retirement home for vaudevillians. There was a building with a stage where the vaudevillians put on shows and entertained each other and perhaps others. (Olson and Johnson had also opened a car wash in West Hempstead near the West Hempstead Railroad station, naming it "Hellzapoppin.") 

Sometime in the 1940's my mom took my sister, Marilyn, and I to some sort of outdoor civic event in Malverne. It took place in what I remember as an apple orchard located immediately North of the Malverne Theatre and bordering on that building. It must have belonged to or had belonged to the Grossmans.  At the time the theatre had two large girders out over the sidewalk and at a later date would hold the marquee of the theatre.  Mom said there would one day be a movie there and we would not have to go to Lynbrook to see one.  That impressed me.

Stormy Bergh was there and got into my sister's baby carriage, which annoyed my mother (he was a little person and he did it as a joke.) My Mom went to school with Stormy and told me he had been the class valedictorian.

When we were kids, we found out Olson and Johnson had stored their props in a large old boarded up house located where the Malverne Jewish Center would be built.  Someone pried open the back door and we would go there an play with the costumes and props, which were many, from their shows, perhaps “Hellzapoppin.”  This lasted awhile until one of the kids told Ollie and the fun ended.  The rumor was his hoped for reward. We were shocked he would do such a thing and I don't think he ever got his former good name back with us kids.

Celebrities from Malverne

by Susan Bennett Panzarella

My family was very close to neighbors who lived down the block on Linmouth Road named the Meyers (Ed, Sophie, Skip, Ken).  Uncle Eddie came from a family of vaudevillian performers, but I don't know their stage When they would socialize with my parents, they would tell the most wonderful stories, many of which I heard eavesdropping at the top of the steps when I was supposed to be sleeping. 

Ed Meyer was very active in the Men’s Republican Club, and Sophie Meyer was very active in the Women’s Republican Club.  Once a year they would have a grand joint dinner dance and there would be entertainment. Frank Britton Wenzel became big in Malverne politics (former mayor, etc).  He was in charge of entertainment for the annual event. Most likely through Ed Meyer, my father (Bob Bennett) became involved in the entertainment committee and performed with Frank Britton. They would come to my house and write the skits and music for these evenings and I would dance around my living room, singing the songs as they were hammered out on the piano. They would also write political jingles for candidates running for elected office. At the time, I called them Uncle Frank and Uncle Norman. There is a documentary film made about life in Malverne narrated by Frank Britton and Fran Purcell where there is a short clip of one of these Republican Club Dinner performances.

Not long ago, I was told a story about the bar/restaurant The Brown Derby, popular in Malverne social life for years and now sadly apartments.  I was told that the original owner of the bar was Frank Britton, who named the establishment for one of the many famous places he had performed in Hollywood in his heyday. I can't remember who told me the story so I can't vouch for its accuracy.  

Stormy Bergh was another well-known performer who my father got to know through Frank Britton. Because he was a little person (formerly known as midgets) his house and car were uniquely designed for his needs and a fascination for those who got to see these adaptations. I knew of Stormy growing up, but do not remember ever meeting him. 

As a child growing up in Malverne on Weber Avenue, my father told stories of some celebrity who had tennis courts in his yard in the 30s. I don't know who it was, but my father used to play tennis there.

In an ironic twist, many years later I was asked to sing at a Republican event with my dad. Frank Britton had retired from public life and I had not seen him for years, but he came out that evening to hear us perform. It was thrilling for me to see him again.