• • In Manhattan, a stretch of West 53rd Street at Eighth Avenue has been renamed for the 6' 2" actor who was respected on Broadway, on the silver screen, and on the tube. Like Mae, Jerry was a native New Yorker — — and his widow, Elaine Orbach, unveiled the new street sign in his hometown on Monday 17 September 2007.
• • Jerome Bernard Orbach was born in the Bronx [on 20 October 1935] to a Polish Catholic mother from Pennsylvania and a German Jewish father whose ancestry was Spanish Sephardic.
• • In 1952, the 17-year-old had just graduated from high school when he appeared in summer stock at the Chevy Chase Playhouse in Wheeling, Illinois. Orbach's first troupe mates were Mae West, Vincent Price, and John Ireland.
• • In 1960, he created the role of El Gallo in "The Fantasticks,'' singing the catchy theme song "Try to Remember'' that opened this off-Broadway musical, which ran for 40 years at the Sullivan Street Playhouse.
• • For awhile Orbach worked as a chauffeur for Mae West in Hollywood.
• • In 2004, after a long battle with cancer, Jerry Orbach died at age 69.
• • Put that sad thought aside. Envision your favorite September, when you were young. . . when many American households had a copy of the soundtrack to "The Fantasticks" . . . and when this song would play on the radio, filling the room with Orbach's powerful tenor.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
• • "Try to Remember" • •
Try to remember that time in September
When grass was green
And grain was yellow
Try to remember . . .
When you were a young and callow fellow . . .
— — excerpt from the theme song sung by Jerry Orbach in "The Fantasticks" — —
• • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Mae West
• • Photo: • • Mae West • • none • •
NYC
Mae West.
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