Literary Las Vegas: Marty Allen

Comedy legend Marty Allen packs his 93 years of life and limelight experience into the illustrated biography “Hello Dere!” The book is loaded with more than 190 photos from Allen’s collections and anecdotes from his 60-plus-year entertainment career starting with a job as the rump end of a dancing horse and highlighted by opening for Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughn, Tony Bennett and more and performing alongside Steve Rossi. His more than 700 television appearances ranging from “The Tonight Show” and “Circus of the Stars” to “The Hollywood Squares” included a spot on the historic 1964 “The Ed Sullivan Show” featuring The Beatles. Readers can also dig into stories about Elvis, Sidney Sheldon, Princess Margaret and Betty Ford.

Excerpt:

We had to have a police escort to get through the screaming crowd who were hoping to get a glimpse of the four fantastic lads from Liverpool, England. In fact, different girls were yelling, “Paul!” “Ringo!” “George!” “John!” I screamed “Marty! Marty!” Steve and I kept wondering what we could say when we were introduced for our routine. Then it hit me. I told Steve to sing a real up-tempo song.

Then I walked out, looked straight at the audience and said, “Hello Dere! I’m Ringo’s mother!” Steve kept singing while I jumped into the audience and started to dance with the kids. It paid off. The audience loved our act.