I auditioned for a show at a barn theater at Mahopac, a small town north of
New York City. The leading man in Guys & Dolls had quit and I had to step
into the role Sky Masterson for the last couple of performances, with script
in hand. The next week, work started on Oklahoma, with me as Curley. One of
the other singing actors was named Henry Chazankin. He and I became friends
and after the show ended, shared an apartment in New York (which belonged
to operatic tenor, Richard Cassilly... he was not using the place right then).
Henry and I were hired for a tour of the U.S. and Canada with the Don Cossacks
Russian Chorus and Dancers. It lasted 12 weeks (24 guys on a bus).
After the cossack tour, Henry and I decided to form a duo but were soon told to find a girl.
We did; we became the Showfolk Vocal Trio. This lasted about a year.
(We got together again several years later and performed at a real estate convention in New Orleans) 
I stayed on in the Bahamas for a while, but then went back to New York. I landed a feature role in Camelot in a Summer Stock production starring Earl Wrightson and Lois Hunt as King Arthur and Guenevere.
Bill Hayes played Lancelot. I had always
admired Wrightson and was thrilled to get to know him. Later we did a second tour
with Patrice Munsell as Guenevere and Norwood Smith as Arthur.
He had some vocal
problems and I was asked to be his understudy. Never got the chance to do the role,
though.
