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Shop now at washablefas.com. Add a little. to your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer.
This Saturday, 4 p.m. Eastern on CBS with playoff elimination on the line. The most physical, fiercest, and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win to make the playoffs, and breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a du-a-dime match for both teams. Six teams are allowed for four spots, and all must win.
There's no crying in the big three, and the no-hold sparred action starts Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Pacific. Presented by iHeart. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry.
That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn. I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges.
Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. Barcelona Crypto, it's on Kraken. My crypto, it's on Kraken. My XRP.
It's on Kraken. I'm part of the XRP army. Dave Portnoy trusts Kraken with his crypto.
So do millions of clients around the world. Ranked best crypto platform of 2025 by Forbes. Download the app today and get $10 in Bitcoin after your first trade of $10 or more. Just enter code iHeart10 under Add Invite Code when you sign up. Not investment advice.
Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to U.S. customers through Payward Interactive Inc. Terms and Conditions Apply. You heard it before many times. Water is life.
But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean running water? With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to ST. BonaventureMission.org Okay.
This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. and to search for the Our American Stories podcast, Go to the iHeartRadio app. to Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Not many teen idols are able to carve a successful career for themselves as they mature. But Frankie Avalon.
is one of those exceptions. Avalon had 31 charting U.S. Billboard singles from 1958 to late 1962. including number one hits Venus and Y. in 1959.
Avalon is also well known for his role in the 1970s musical film Greece as Teen Angel, in which he sings beauty school dropout to French You. Without any further ado, Here's Frankie Avalon. with his story. As a young man, young boy, really, growing up in South Philadelphia. I really started into this business of show business, unaware of trying to be in show business, but I became a part of show business at the age of probably, I don't know, I think about eight or nine.
Because in the neighborhood where I lived was a great neighborhood, a melting pot for all kinds of nationalities and great friends. And growing up as a boy, boy, it was really just terrific. There used to be a movie theater called the Point Breeze Theater. It was in South Philadelphia, and on a Saturday afternoon, a lot of the moms used to pack a little lunch and put us in the theater there so we could watch the cartoons and everything for the part of the day. And of course, you know, we'd walk to the theater and, of course, walk back.
It was a very safe neighborhood, and that's what we did. And this one time when I went in there, and I was about eight years old, in between some of the cartoons, There was a man that came on stage and said, We're going to have a singing contest. And I never sang in my life, but I said, Jesus said to myself, This is going to be okay. He said, So anybody wants to sing?
Well, we got the first prize is going to be a red scooter.
So I raised my hand and they took me up there and they introduced me and asked, What's your name? I said, Frank Avaloni. How old are you? I'm about eight years old.
Okay, are you ready for this contest? And I said, yeah. And they said, what are you going to do? I said, I'm going to sing.
So they said, What are you going to sing? I said, I'm going to sing a song that I hear on the radio all the time, but my mom and dad like. It's called Give Me Five Minutes More. He said, okay, you're on. No ban, none of this stuff.
And I sang, give me five minutes more. Only five minutes more. And let me stay, let me stay in your heart.
Well, after that, they had about four or five kids who auditioned.
Well, I fortunately won that contest, and I won my first prize, which was a red scooter.
So that really was the introduction for me being into this show business world. And as time went by, you know, I really wanted to be a boxer. And I used to box for the Police Athletic League because they kind of kept the kids off the street and had them do something. And I liked boxing.
So that became obsolete after a while. And then I went back to the movie theater. And I saw a film, I must have been about nine at that time, closer to ten, and there was a film there called Young Man with a Horn. And I stayed until it was getting dark, and I watched that film about six or seven times. And I just fell in love with the sound of the trumpet.
And it was a story about a young boy who becomes a trumpet player, becomes very successful. And I kind of related to that, I guess. But I really liked the sound of the trumpet. And I came back home to my dad, and I said, Dad, I want to play the trumpet.
Well, my father was a really talented guy, not professionally, but he could play piano, he could play guitar, he could play accordion. He was just a very talented guy, and he loved music. And he said, Okay.
So the next day he came back and he told me that he went to this pawn shop and he bought a horn for about seven or eight dollars. And he gave me the horn and I went into my room and I started practicing and how I don't know. I just started blowing on this thing. And in about two hours I came out of the room and I played a song called Music, Music, Music. And it went da da da da da da da, dee da da da da da da.
All I want, I love and you and music.
So I played that song and I started practicing. I loved it so much, I became so involved with this horn that I would play three, four, or five hours a day. And I lived in a row house, and a lot of the neighbors didn't like that, you know, because I was practicing morning, noon, and night. But all of a sudden, after about a year's time, my dad got me a teacher from the neighborhood. His name was Danny D as he went by.
And he started teaching me. And I started reading music. And he finally came to my dad and he said, You know, Nick was my father's name. He said, You know, this kid has really got some talent, and I think I can take him so far. I think you ought to look for somebody that can really work with this boy as a trumpet player.
So finally my dad talked to some of the people in the neighborhood and him and they found this teacher who was with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Seymour Rosenfeld, and I went to audition for him. He was in North Philadelphia. And my uncle took me there and I auditioned and he said, I'll work with this boy. And I started studying with him and because of that, I really learned how to play very well. When there was a singer by the name of Al Martino, who was number one in the world with a song called Here in My Heart, I heard in the neighborhood that one of the neighbors, Silvio, was giving him a party, and our neighborhood just loved and admired the fact that he was such a big star.
So they threw this party, and there was a big crowd outside of this little row house. And I took my horn and I. I kind of wiggled my way through everybody and knocked on the door. And this man, Silvio, I really didn't know him. I knew he was in the neighborhood.
But he said, Yeah, what do you want? I said, Well, I'm a trumpet player. I like to play my trumpet for Al Martino. He said, Come on in, kids.
So I went in. They were having a party. Everybody was drinking and eating, having a good time. And I took out my horn from the case, and I started to play this song called Tenderly. And I kind of stopped the party, and all of a sudden, Al Martino went to Sylvia and said, Who is this kid?
He said, I don't know what's your name, kid. I said, Frank Avelloni. He said, Call his mother and father and see if we could take him to New York. I think this kid's got some talent. I want to take him to my agency.
So he did. My mother and father agreed. We knew him from the neighborhood, Silvio. And we drove into New York City and we went to the agency. And Jack Sobel was the agent, and I took out my horn and I played tenderly.
And he said, I got a great idea. We handle Jackie Gleason. And he loves trumpet, so he's right across the street at the Sheraton Hotel. He's got a penthouse. He said, let's take him in there.
Maybe he'll play for Jackie. And you're listening to Frankie Avalon tell a heck of a story. When we come back, more of Frankie Avalon's story here. on Our American Stories. Lee Habib here, and I'm inviting you to help OurAmerican Stories celebrate this country's 250th birthday, only a short time away.
If you want to help inspire countless others to love America like we do, and want to help us bring the inspiring and important stories told here to millions for years to come, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Our American Stories. Go to OwlAmericanStories.com and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot. Any amount helps. Go to OwlAmericanStories.com and give.
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Get up to 60% off plus free shipping and free returns. Shop now at washable sofas.com. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions. restrictions may apply. The reviews and ratings are in, and Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer.
This Saturday, 4 p.m. Eastern on CBS, with playoff elimination on the line, the stars will be flogging to Los Angeles to witness the most physical, fiercest, and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win over Houston to make the playoffs, reeling from last week's savage beating at the hands of Chicago's possessed Montres Herald. Last time these teams met, Miami beat Houston, but they are a dangerous team having their manhood at stake. Then breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a do-a-die match for both teams.
Will LA avenge their previous shocking loss to perennial basketball Boston rivals to survive? Six teams are alive for four spots and all must win. Don't miss the big three, the three-on-three basketball league everyone is talking about. There's no crying in the big three, and the no-hold spot action starts Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m.
Pacific, followed by two games on Vice starting at 6.30 Eastern, presented by iHeart. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn.
I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. Barcelona, crypto is on Kraken.
My crypto is on Kraken. My XRP is on Kraken. I'm part of the XRP army. Dave Portnoy trusts Kraken with his crypto.
So do millions of clients around the world. Ranked best crypto platform of 2025 by Forbes. Download the app today. Get $10 in Bitcoin after your first trade of $10 or more. Just enter code iHeart10 under Add Invite Code when you sign up.
Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to U.S. customers through Payward Interactive Inc. Terms and Conditions Apply. You heard it before many times.
Water is life. But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean running water? With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to ST. BonaventureMission.org And we continue with our American stories and with Frankie Avalon's story.
We last left off with him as a 12-year-old boy about to perform with his trumpet for the Great One. And that would be Honeymooners Impresario. and comedic genius Jackie Cleeson. at his Sheraton Hotel penthouse.
So we walked in there, they were having a meeting, and Jackie wasn't there, but it was a penthouse. He was there, but I didn't know because he wasn't in that particular part of the penthouse. I took out my horn and I played tenderly, and as I was playing, through the corner of my eye, I saw the great one, Jackie Gleason, come out from the second floor of the penthouse. And after I finished, they all applauded, and he said, Jackie said that there's writers and producer and director, write a show, I want them on in two weeks. Yeah.
Oh, come on in, kid. Come on in. All sets and ready to go. Where are you going? This is Frankie Avalon.
I'm taking him down to Joe the Bartenders. He's a terrific trumpet player. Pretty good, huh? I said terrific. Oh, Frankie, this is my good neighbor and friend, Mrs.
Cramden. And this is my wife, Pixie. Oh, where do you hear this kid? Hey, give us a number now, Frankie. Come on out, you know.
That was my first major experience on national television with the great one Jackie Gleason. Oh, you sure are wonderful. Oh, you sure are. Kid, you're ready for the big time. Do you hear that, Frankie?
And coming from my wife, boy, that's a compliment. She knows.
Well, let's go. We're going down to Joe the Bartenders. We'll see you later, girls. Let's go.
Okay, Ed.
So, as time went by, because of the success that I had. I also did an audition for a company that was run by a Bender's name, and he had another trumpet player. He thought it would be a great combination of him kind of being my mentor. It was Ray Anthony, who had a lot of hit records, the bunny hop and all that stuff.
So then they took me to RCA Victor label X. I auditioned for them, and they signed me under a contract to have a recording contract playing trumpet. And I did, and I had a song called Trumpet Sorrento, and it became on the national charts as a trumpet player. And from then on in, I kept studying. I became number one trumpet player in the All-City.
Orchestra of Philadelphia. And then, in summertimes, I would try to play with different bands to make some extra money as a kid growing up. And I heard about a a band called Rocco and the Saints, and somebody said they're looking for a trumpet player, and someone told somebody, and Rocco came into my house and he said, Let me hear you play. And I played for him. He said, Okay, I'll give you a job.
I said, where are we going to play? He said, Mary is in. It's in New Jersey. And I said, okay, what's a pay? He said, $5.
I said, okay, I'll play.
So as time went by, I was playing trumpet with Rocco and the Saints. We played on weekends. And finally, I started singing a couple of songs because a lot of the there were seven guys in the band, and everybody had to sing a couple of songs. to keep the band kind of fresh. And I did a couple of songs, um Lover Band, or whatever it was, and and another song, and and people started coming up to Rocker, saying, Let this kid sing a little more.
So on one of our breaks, he came to me and he said, Um, How about singing some more songs? I said, no, you hired me as a trumpet player. And he said, Yeah, but I'll give you an extra five dollars. I said, You got it.
So that's how I started singing. Then, in the summertime, we went out to a place down the shore in Summers Point, New Jersey. And it was called Basshores was the name of this club. We played seven days a week, five sets a night, two jam sessions, and we were living on top of the nightclub there. And a new company out of Philadelphia was looking for some new talent, and our band, Rocco and the Saints, became pretty popular.
And they came in, listened to us, and on one of our breaks, we went back to the dressing room. And Pete Deanzas and Bob Barcucci were the owners of this record company. And they said, We'd like to sign the band. And of course, Rocco was our man to make the deal, and he did. And he said, Okay, and we want this boy Frank to sing on one side, and we'll do an instrumental.
So we did an instrumental called Jive In with the Saints, and they wrote a song for me called Cupid Shot an Arrow.
So that was my first record. And the record came out, they put it out, and it really didn't make any noise at all until in the Boston area, for some reason. My song, my side of the record, started to make the Boston charts. And Bob Marcucci uh drove me into Boston. And there was a man by the name of Joe Smith, and there was a big rock and roll show with Fats Domino and Little Richard and all these guys.
And they were all had hit records. And my manager went to Joe Smith and said, Could you put this kid on? He said, We don't have any money for this kid. And I know he's got a record, but we don't have any money. And we're all filled up.
He said, Don't pay him, just put him on. And my manager bought me a $12 suit that I had on. I went onstage, I did a couple of songs. The kids were waiting outside for my autograph. I wanted to know my fan club, so Bob said, I think you got some, these kids like you.
And that was the start of being that teen idol that lasted for a while.
Now I'm a recording artist now. I'm a singer. The horn is put away. And now I've got a contract with Chancellor Records. And I do a couple of other songs.
I did a song called Shy Guy, which didn't do anything. And I did something else, Blue Betty, which didn't do anything. Then all of a sudden I had one more record to do. They took me to New York City. In those days, there was just two tracks, so there wasn't all this technology.
And the band was in one part of the room, and I was in the other part of the room. And they started playing this song, which I was going to record, called Dee Dee Dinah. And as they were rehearsing, there was a very staccato kind of a... A song to me, so I was just doing, kind of singing through my nose.
So the producer of the record came out to me and he said, What are you doing? I said, I'm just having some fun.
Sounds very staccato to me.
So let's make a couple like that.
Well, I went back to the microphone and started singing, and they made the take of it, they put it out, and in about a month it started to make some noise around the country. All of a sudden, it became a top five or top ten record, which really launched me as a singer, singing through my nose, Didi Dina. And a lot of people who were out there held their noses too when they heard it.
Now, after Dee Dee dying, I had to do another nose job, which I sang through my nose, called Gingerbread. And finally, they said, no, come on, you know, you've got a quality that the kids really like, and it's more of a romantic.
So they wrote another song for me called I'll Wait for You. And it was a very pretty ballad. And again, it became a chart record. And it was probably in the top 15, I think. And then I had another recording date to do.
And I was at home in my house. And there was a knock on the door. And again, it was a songwriter. And he said, my name is Ed Marshall. I'm a songwriter.
I'd like to play this song for you. He came in. We had a little piano. And he sat down and he played this song called Venus. And I just fell in love with it the first time I heard it.
And I said, play it again, play it again, play it again. And finally, I called, our record company was in Philadelphia, and I called Bob Marcucci and Pete DeAngelis. I said, I got a song here. Can we drive over?
So we drove into town where their offices were. They had a piano there, and we walked in there. He played the song. Pete DeAntis, who was my producer, fell in love with the song. And he said, as he played it again and again, he said, You know what?
I'd like to make two changes to the song if you'll permit me to do that.
So the writer, Ed Marshall, said, Okay. And you're listening to Frankie Avalon tell his life story in the business, so to speak. And it starts in that penthouse auditioning for Jackie Gleason. The next thing you know, he's on national television. But as the world will have it, he's still got to get that next gig.
And it's at the Jersey Shore. playing all summer long, living above the joint he was playing. that he would start to sing. And from singing, well, he gets to the hit song Venus. When we come back.
More of the story, the life journey. over the South Philadelphia kid. Named Frankie Avalone. known to the rest of us. is Frankie Avalon.
His story continues here. on our American stories. Tired of spills and stains on your sofa? WashableSofas.com has your back, featuring the Anibay Collection, the only designer sofa that's machine-washable inside and out, where designer quality meets budget-friendly prices. That's right, sofas started just $699.
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No return shipping or restocking fees. Every penny back. Upgrade now at washablesofas.com. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. The reviews and ratings are in, and Ice Cube's Big Three is the surprise hit of the summer.
This Saturday, 4 p.m. Eastern on CBS, with playoff elimination on the line, the stars will be flogging to Los Angeles to witness the most physical, fiercest, and competitive basketball in the world. Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win over Houston to make the playoffs, reeling from last week's savage beating at the hands of Chicago's possessed Montres Herald. Last time these teams met, Miami beat Houston, but they are a dangerous team having their manhood at stake. Then breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a do-a-die match for both teams.
Will LA avenge their previous shocking loss to perennial basketball Boston rivals to survive? Six teams are allowed for four spots and all must win. Don't miss the big three, the three-on-three basketball league everyone is talking about. There's no crying in the big three, and the no-hold spot action starts Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m.
Pacific, followed by two games on Vice starting at 6:30 Eastern, presented by iHeart. Mm-hmm. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post.
I'm Christina Quinn. I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it.
You don't need a thousand dollars to buy Bitcoin. You just need a plan. Kraken lets you set up recurring buys so you can build your position over time. Invest on your schedule, not the markets. Set it and forget it.
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Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to U.S. customers through Payword Interactive Inc. terms and conditions apply. Toa Ina. We all know that water is life.
An average American household consumes over 300 gallons daily. 40% of Navajo families residing on a reservation the size of West Virginia struggle to survive on less than 10 gallons of water per day. Yearly, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School delivers over 1.5 million gallons of clean water to these families. You can help support St.
Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. And we continue with our American stories. Let's pick up where we last left off. Frankie Avalon brought a new song to his producer called Venus. And the producer?
Well, he fell in love with it. Here's Frankie. with the rest of his story.
So he said, you know, it goes da da da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. He said, I'd like to change one note. Da da da da da, da da da da da da da da da da.
So he agreed to that.
So we had made one change. And Pete D'Angeless said, I'd like to make another change lyrically at the very end. Instead of saying, as long as we will live, I'd like to say as long as we shall live.
So we made those two changes, went into New York City. I made seven takes on the song. You know, you had to do it straight, just like a performance. And I waited till 4 o'clock in the morning to take it home. I knew that I had a smash record.
And I kept playing it. I didn't sleep for 24 hours. And to me, I was right. Pete DeAngelis was right. And Ed Marshall, the producer, writer of the song, was right.
We were all right. And of course, the audience around the world was really infatuated with the song. It became number one for a long, long time. and gave me an opportunity to sing around the world. When I became very successful and was selling a lot of records and a teen idol had a fan base of, I don't know, we'd get somewhere around 12,000, 15,000 letters a week and a big fan base.
And so now Hollywood recognized, hey, this kid's got some fans. Let's put him in a picture with a major star.
So Warner Brothers made a deal with my manager and my agent, and they brought me out to Hollywood to do my first film for Warner Brothers with a big star, Alan Ladd, called Guns of the Timberland. And um that started being in the motion picture industry and from there on in I made, I don't know, over 40 motion pictures in my career.
Well, what had happened? I was playing the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, and the film was released, and it was very successful, and very successful for me. And I'll never forget, I was in the dressing room. I was doing five, seven, twelve shows a day, depending upon the weather. You would do a 15-minute show, and they would show a movie, and then another 15-minute show.
And they had a phone booth in backstage there, and it was my agent, Jack Gelardi, who said, Frankie, it's Jack. I just got a call from John Wayne. He just saw your performance in Guns of the Timberland with Alan Ladd. He wants you to sign a contract to do a picture called The Alamo, where he's going to star, direct, and it's going to be done in Texas. And that was my first introduction to star in a picture with John Wayne and a major, major motion picture.
I'm out there now. I've got to ride this horse, and I play a character called Smitty. And, um,. I have to learn how to ride.
So the Duke said, Frankie, here's what you do: when you sit on the saddle here, you make it feel like you've got a clotheshanger that's pulling you up.
So keep your shoulders very straight and very, and just kind of go along with the float with this horse. And I learned how to ride, and I became a pretty good rider. And it was an experience of a South Philly kid who nothing but the streets of South Philly and under a fireplug, you know, when it was a real hot summer day. But I learned a lot, you know, being experienced with a lot of experience, Richard Widmark and Lawrence Harvey, and John Wayne, and John Ford. And oh my god, it was a great experience for me.
And I was on that picture for four months. All of a sudden, becoming involved in motion pictures and meeting a lot of the celebrities from, I don't know, from Natalie Wood to, I did a picture with R.J. Wagner, and of course I got to know a lot of movie stars, and of course Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and then of course working with John Wayne when I had to promote the film with him. I mean, I was with these major stars, but never the acceptance that John Wayne would get when I'd walk into a restaurant with him. I mean, everybody's jaw just dropped.
There was such respect for him. And he was really such a shy guy. He was six foot five, and with his boots on, he must have been nine feet to me. And we'd walk in, and people would just look at him and look at him and just stare at him. Nobody would, they were kind of afraid to even ask for an autograph.
You know, he was just a major, major, big hunk of a star.
So that was a great experience working with him, and of course, traveled with him.
So now I'm living in California, in Hollywood, and I'm living right off Sunset Boulevard there. And I had a lot of my friends there. Steve McQueen used to come by, and Jack Nicholson. We all have, you know, we were young Hollywood at the time. and a lot of gals that were young engineers that that I was dating and and had great dates with them.
And then one one night I was playing cards with my friends and now Rona Barrett, who was a big uh columnist, She wasn't at the time, but she was starting. Had a friend, and she brought her over and introduced me. I left a card game, and her name was Kay. And we started talking, and she was coming from her mother's birthday party with Rona Barrett. And we got into a good conversation for about an hour, and when she left, I went back to the card game and I said to my my friends there, Well, see that gal there, I'm gonna marry her.
And about six or seven months we dated and got married. We started having children right away. And our firstborn, we named him Frank after me, and my grandfather, really. And after 13 months, we had another one, Tony, and then another third one. To kind of sum it up, we had eight children.
in 10 years.
So my wife was pregnant every single year. And she loved being pregnant, she loved having children. And of course, I was on the road and coming back. And here's another one, here's another one, and here's another one. And we're very fortunate to have eight children, very healthy.
And we have ten grandchildren, and she's a great mom. They love her, they adore her. You know, she's like a general to have eight children and keeping everyone intact was quite a job that she had. And of course, I'd come home and have a lot of fun with the kids, and she was disciplinary.
So she was a great mom, still is, and they adore her. The first time I I met it at Funicello, was at the Hollywood Bowl For Dick Clark, we were playing the Hollywood Bowl. He had a show of about four or five different acts on the show, and she was one. She was very popular as a mouse guiteer on the Mickey Mouse Club. And she must have been about, oh, 14, 15, and I must have been about 17.
And we started talking, and I said, Jesus, I'd like to maybe take you out for pizza and a cool drink or something. She said, you've got to talk to my mother. And I went to Virginia and I said, can I take your daughter for a slice of pizza, whatever? She said, okay, call me. And I went over to the house, picked her up, and we went down the street.
There was a little pizza parlor there. And we had some pizza and some soft drinks. And that was it. And we kept in touch. And of course, she was working, I was working.
And that was our first date, and only date, really. And then time had gone by, and I had made a few films. I must have made about 10 or 15 films at the time. And I was signed to a company called American Energy. International Pictures.
I made some films for them. And finally, they said I got friendly with a writer by the name of Lou Russoff. And I said to him, Lou, write something that's fun for kids, you know, where we hang out together and laugh and sing. And he came back in about a month, and he's here, here's a script, read this. It's called Beach Party.
And I read it and I thought it was really fun. It looked like the old Venkids gang and having fun. And I said, Who's gonna play Dee Dee? was the girl's name. I guess he named her after Dee Dee Dinah.
He said, We got, we're talking to Walt Disney as a loan out for a Netflicello. And you're listening to Frankie Avalon share some remarkable stories. That call he got at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. He was about to work with John Wayne, and this kid from South Philly soon finds himself. In a western He met his bride, and when he met her he told his poker buddies I'm gonna marry that girl and seven or eight months later he did.
Eight kids later, in 10 years, his wife Kay, he calls the general. And then this movie idea: Beach Party. Back when a movie could just be silly and fun. The story of Frankie Avalon, as told by Frankie Avalon, continues here. on Our American Stories.
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If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn. I host Try This.
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With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. And we continue with our American stories.
We last left off with Frankie Avalon sharing the story of how he wrote a movie script about teens Well, just having fun on the beach. Casting the female role opposite of Frankie, well, that was up in the air. Let's return to Frankie Avalon. I said, that's great. I met her when she was young, and geez, that would be fun.
And that's how we got together. They put us together. We did our first motion picture beach party. It came out, we did it in January, I think. It came out kind of towards the start of the summer, and it was a tremendous success at the box office.
And because of that, we had lots of fun doing those pictures. We made about seven and made tons and tons of money for AIP. I always wanted to keep a career going. By not just being a teen idol, of course, those days you know, went by the wayside because you're married, you got kids, and you know, and your fan base kind of dwindles. And so I wanted to get into the nightclub business, which I did.
I worked with a lot of good people that helped me uh develop a a show, an act. And of course I opened up at the Copa Cabana, which once you made the Copacabana, you you were really a you were in show business. And I would play the show business under contract with them for about five years. In about 1971 or two, whatever it was, I'm playing at the Copa, and they wanted to do a promotion for a Broadway show that was playing there called Greece. And I said, Sure, I'll go.
It was in the afternoon and uh I met the cast uh and Travolta, by the way, was in that uh show as one of the side guys, uh one of the Corps boys. And I saw the play and then time had gone by and it was about nineteen seventy seven I got a call. I was playing golf. And I got off the ninth hole. My manager was there with the script.
He said, this is a script. Paramount wants you for this picture. I said, What's the picture called? He said, Greece. And I said, What character?
He said, Teen Angel. And I thought about what I saw on Broadway, and I said, Pass. And I went and played the second nine. I came back in. He was still there.
He said, they will not take no. They would like to at least have a meeting with you. I said, okay, so I go in with Alan Carr and Patty Birch, who was the choreographer, and Randall Kleiser, who was the director. And they said, why don't you want to do this? I said, because I saw the play and it's not my style.
I said, you know, he was all in black, comes off of a rope and and black uh leather jacket and lower long sideburns and there's a little wiggles and this and things this beauty school dropout. I said, not my style. They said, well change it. I said, what do you mean you'll change it? They said, we'll do it all in white.
We'll get a piano over here. Let's see how you want to do it. They did. And in nineteen seventy seven, I went in for six days of rehearsals, two days of shooting the five-minute song. And Beauty School Dropout became a part of Greece and Frankie Avalon was teenager.
When we were finally putting Greece together and at rehearsals, I said, Look, I don't want to be a joke of this film. I think this is a good character, and it really is something important to this gal, her character. I don't want to be a joke.
So they said, Oh, no, no, no, no, we'll make this absolutely perfect for you, and the people are just going to love it.
So, when the picture comes out, they opened it, premiered it in Honolulu, and there was the big columnist, Liz Smith was her name. And in her column, she was at the premiere, and she said the film was fun. But when Frankie Avalon entered his part as teen angel singing Beauty School Dropout, the audience went wild. And when he left the scene, they applauded.
So it made its mark. I had come home from a trip And I'm sitting in my den with my wife, and the phone rings. And she hands me the phone. She says, uh it's for you. It's a Bobby De Niro.
So I looked at her, and all of a sudden it clicked in my mind, it's Robert De Niro.
Well, it didn't register with her because she thinks a kid that I grew up with in South Philly, a lot of Italian kids, thought it was Bobby De Niro, didn't associate it at all.
So he says, Frankie, it's Bobby, we're doing a picture with Scorsese. It's called Casino. And we know that you were the first guest to Lefty, whose character was Robert De Niro. And Marty Scorsese likes to be so exacting with whatever he does. And he did research.
He said he would like to use you to recreate that scene. And I said, Sounds good to me. He said, When can you do it? I said, Well, I'm home. I'm home for about a week.
He said, Can you do it Monday? I said, Fine with me. They sent the jet and I We've got on the jet. Went into the dressing room when I got to Las Vegas, went into Marty, he showed me the clip. And I went on to set and uh I stayed there for about 14 hours shooting.
My one scene with De Niro Our first guest this evening Ms. Frankie Avalon.
Well, I've got a large family. How many kids do you have? Uh I'm very proud to say that we have eight children. No, no, no, please, please, please, please, not please. It's amazing.
There's nothing to it. It's my pleasure. And Joe Pesci was waiting for me after my scene. We went to this place called Joe Pigs. We had a Vesuvio restaurant.
We went and had chicken meatballs. The picture came out and I was in the picture. Health has been very exciting to me for a long, long time. I got interested in not only just vitamins, but herbs. And I started back about 50 years ago in where I lived with my wife and eight children in North Hollywood.
There was a place called Herb Products that was in North Hollywood, and I saw the sign and I went in there and I got very friendly with a man who was part of it, and John was his name. And he started introducing me to different kinds of herbs that were in big box forms. They weren't even capsules yet. He would make capsules and put together different herbs.
So I would start taking herbs, and I really got involved with it. And through the years, I started to say, Jesus, people ask me, Frankie, what do you do?
Well, I mean, you're still doing that. I'm in my 80s now, and I still go out there and still perform. I do a lot of singing. I do a lot of performing. I travel a lot.
And I've been taking herbs. And I created a product with John called Zero Pain. It's a pain reliever. That I brought onto a home shopping network, and we sold tons and tons of it. It still is available today.
And I'm going to tell everybody, listening, you talk about being healthy and being taking care of yourself. I have a company called Frankie Avalon Products. If you look at frankieavalon.com, you could look at what I've been doing for all these years. Not only with the zero pain, which is a pain reliever, topical, which has helped so many people from Arnold Palmer to Ernie Banks to a lot of my friends in the business, and they still request it. We still offer it to the public.
But your health is very important. You never know when you're going to lose it.
So keep trying to keep it. They had asked me to do a guest shot on, um. American Idol. I said, okay, what do I do? They said, well, it's Simon Kyle's birthday and the year of Venus was 1959.
That's the year he was born.
So we'd like to give him this little birthday gift and you singing Venus to him. I said, okay, but you've got to stay in your dressing room. You've got to be a surprise.
So I go to my dressing room and I watched my weight. I watched this. I was watching this, that, whatever.
So I go to my dressing room and they sent a whole box of candies and things. And I'm waiting, I'm waiting. And I'm eating these red hots or whatever they are.
Well, I ate about two boxes of these things. I'm ready to go on now. I've got 12 minutes to go on and do this. This is live, you know. And I said, I really don't feel good now.
They've got the paramedics right there. They take my blood pressure, I'm going through the roof. And they said, I don't think you should go on. And my blood pressure was very, very high. I went on and I did that song, not feeling 100%, but pulled it off.
I came off of there, I calmed down with a lot of water and all this other stuff, and my blood pressure went down, and that was quite an experience for me. Like the show goes on. Listen, I want to thank you for the opportunity to have a great conversation going through parts of my life. I could write a book, but I won't. But in the meantime, I just want to thank everybody that's been with me, and I've been with you for many, many years for being a part of my life.
Thank you so much, and thanks to the good Lord for giving me the opportunity to my wife, to my eight children, to my ten grandchildren. And stay well, and God bless. And a terrific job on the storytelling and production by Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to Frankie Avalon for sharing his life's journey with us. That beach party series, well, it was a huge box office success.
and Avalon, well he'd go on to make a career for himself in the nightclub business. As a prime act to play at the Copa and then all over the world. And then came Greece, that paramount picture, and that character Teen Angel. He passed. He said that character is not my style.
So they change the character, and the rest is history. I have watched this movie more times than I would care to admit. is when you have a wife and a daughter. This, along with Mama Mia, is required. required viewing at least a few times a year.
And then, of course, that call from Robert De Niro, Bobby De Niro, probably a bunch of them in his South Philly neighborhood. Little did he know it was the Robert De Niro, and a scene in Casino. The Story of Frankie Avalon The story of America in a way from nowhere to somewhere and appreciating with great gratitude every single step along the way. Frankie Avalon's story here. on our American stories.
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Miami's Michael Beasley and Lance Stevenson must win to make the playoffs, and breakout star Dwight Howard of the LA Riot will battle Gary Payton's Boston squad in a du-a-dime match for both teams. Six teams are allowed for four spots, and all must win. There's no crying in the big three, and the no-hold sparred action starts Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Pacific.
Presented by iHeart. If you eat too many ultra-processed foods, you could be starving your gut microbes, and they'll get hangry. That's one of many things I learned after working on a new audio course about the gut microbiome. You can learn how to keep your gut happy by listening to Try This from the Washington Post. I'm Christina Quinn.
I host Try This. Dig in with me on practical advice for life's common challenges. Follow Try This right now wherever you're listening. Seriously, try it. The day begins at the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the club at Boston Logan Airport.
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Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to STAR. Bonaventure Mission.org.
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