FORGOTTEN ONES: JULIUS LAROSA

Here is a great story that was featured on the far superior blog Geezer Music Blog...


Julius La Rosa – The Rest Of The Story

If you were around at the time, you might remember when radio/TV host Arthur Godfrey fired popular crooner Julius La Rosa from his show. It caused a uproar at the time, and ended up being a pretty significant turning point for both entertainers’ careers. But there’s more to the story.

                               

Julius La Rosa was yet another Brooklyn-born Italian/American with singing aspirations. After high school he joined the US Navy, was trained as a radioman, and settled in. It was the late 1940s and peacetime, so it was a pretty good life for a young guy. Having a little time on his hands, he joined a Navy choir and eventually had the chance to make a little money on the side by entertaining in bars and at the Navy officers club.

Meanwhile Arthur Godfrey was riding high as the star and host of a popular variety show that was broadcast on both radio and TV. He had a lot of loyal fans, but critics didn’t appreciate his folksy style, which often included a tacky or coarse aspect. A good example was his big hit record, which is definitely non-PC.


Godfrey was in control of just about every facet of the show, including decisions on who appeared. He had a stable of regulars but he also loved uncovering new talent. (After all, his show was originally known as Talent Scouts.) He was a Navy veteran, was still a reserve officer, and had a very comfortable relationship with Navy brass. When young La Rosa’s buddies began lobbying for him it was like a match made in heaven, and Godfrey invited him to sing on the show.

He was a smash and was offered a chance to become a regular as soon as his enlistment was up. Once the young sailor left the Navy behind, he made his debut as a regular on the show, becoming one of those who sat at the side waiting their turns in every show. It was November of 1951 and was the beginning of a period of success.
 

                                               
La Rosa became a fan favorite very quickly, and Godfrey was delighted. After all, the show’s ratings were up and once again he’d proven his ability to spot new talent. But the prickly Godfrey had a king-size ego and La Rosa’s rising popularity began to rub him the wrong way. It was especially galling when the young singer’s fan mail exceeded Godfrey’s own by an ever-increasing amount.

Meanwhile LaRosa’s career was going in new directions. Godfrey’s musical director, Archie Bleyer, had started a record company on the side, and the singer was a natural fit. His first couple of records did moderately well, but he then had Top Ten hits on “Anywhere I Wander”, and “Eh, Cumpari!” His solo career building, La Rosa decided to hire an agent, but Godfrey always discouraged his performers from having agents. He said he didn’t have time to deal with a bunch of outside reps, preferring to deal with the performer directly. La Rosa did it anyway. Of course it was really about control, and subsequent events would reinforce that.

Godfrey probably wasn’t too thrilled by Bleyer’s role in La Rosa’s success (in fact, he too would eventually be fired) but for now he was focused on the popular singer. It’s difficult to know what was going on behind the scenes, but things began to unravel. Just one example was when La Rosa missed a dance session for a family emergency and Godfrey kept him off the show the next day. As other incidents occurred Godfrey built up a real head of steam, and he finally went to the network to discuss his intentions. I’m sure they weren’t thrilled by the idea, but nobody wanted to say no to Godfrey, who was the powerful star of an enormously profitable show.

                                     

On October 19th, 1953, the hammer fell. On the radio portion of the show Godfrey introduced La Rosa, who sang “Manhattan” and then sat back down. Godfrey then said “That was Julie’s swan song for the show. He’ll be going out on his own now”.

It’s been reported that La Rosa was stunned, and asked the guy sitting next to him, “Was I just fired?”

Having a volatile boss give you a quick heave-ho is nothing special, but doing it on a live broadcast raised the tackiness factor to a level that wouldn’t be equaled until a certain occupant of the Oval Office began doing it with tweets. Fans of the show were just as upset as La Rosa was, and it resulted in a big scandal, with the majority condemning Godfrey. It didn’t help when he said La Rosa didn’t show the proper “humility” — a statement that just made Godfrey seem even more haughty and conceited.

La Rosa was riding high after that. Beginning with a series of appearances with Ed Sullivan (who was Godfrey’s bitter rival), he also continued to churn out new records and stay very busy for a while. Things slowed down in subsequent years but he continued to perform in a variety of venues, and even did a little acting. He was 86 when he died in 2016.

As for Arthur Godfrey – sometimes known as “The Ol’ Redhead” – he didn’t exactly fold up his tent after that, but he definitely began a slow fade. Eventually he was just hosting the occasional special radio or TV show before pretty much retiring. He was 79 when he died in 1983...

ARTHUR GODFREY VS JULIUS LAROSA

It's hard to believe that it has been over 60 years since, "The Old Redhead" Arthur Godfrey fired singer Julius La Rosa during the live radio broadcast of Arthur Godfrey Time.

At the time, Godfrey was one of America's best-loved entertainers. In October, 1953, his daytime show, Arthur Godfrey Time, was simulcast on CBS radio and television for the first hour; the radio broadcast continued on the radio for an additional half hour. Godfrey also had two prime time shows, Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (aka The Arthur Godfrey Show) and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.

Godfrey was well-known for discovering and nurturing young talent. His "Little Godfreys" (some of whom were Talent Scouts winners) were regulars on Godfrey's TV and radio shows. One of these young players was Julius La Rosa, a Brooklyn-born singer who met Godfrey while serving in the Navy. Soon after his discharge La Rosa appeared on Talent Scouts, and was hired by Godfrey immediately following his performance. Over the next two years, La Rosa's popularity with the shows' fans grew.

So the story goes, Godfrey required all "Little Godfreys" to take part in dance lessons to improve their onstage movement. La Rosa was reportedly unhappy with the directive. One day, La Rosa failed to attend a lesson, attributing his absence to a family emergency. The following day, he received a one-day suspension from the show. La Rosa responded by hiring a manager, a move Godfrey frowned upon, as he preferred working directly with the performers, and not through an intermediary.

On Oct. 19, 1953, Godfrey did not invite La Rosa to perform on the first hour of Arthur Godfrey Time. When the television simulcast was complete, and only the radio broadcast was taking place, Godfrey invited La Rosa to sing "Manhattan." After the performance, Godfrey announced to the audience that the tune was La Rosa's "swan song" on the show, and that he'd no doubt be going on to great solo success.

The negative reaction to La Rosa's dismissal was swift and unexpected. Most fans perceived Godfrey as a warm, friendly personality, and Godfrey's action toward La Rosa ran counter to that image. A post-firing press conference during which Godfrey announced that La Rosa had "lost his humility" — along with subsequent cast firings — didn't help.

The "La Rosa incident" was the start of Godfrey's slow but steady professional decline. The media was increasingly critical of Godfrey, and he became the subject of jokes and parodies. Elia Kazan's classic A Face in the Crowd was said to be inspired in part by Godfrey's rise and fall.

By the early '60s Godfrey's reign as a TV powerhouse was over...

THE DARK SIDE OF ARTHUR GODFREY

If you think of major television stars in 2012, I guess names that would come to mind would be Simon Cowell, Jerry Seinfeld, or Ryan Seachrest. They have made their mark on what is considered television in 2012. However, in the 1950s there was one man who not only dominated television but he owned it - Arthur Godfrey. Godfrey, born in 1903, appeared to television audiences as a likeable folksy host, but behind the scenes he was a strict task master, and that dark side lead to his demise.

Behind Godfrey's on-air warmth was a volatile and controlling personality. He insisted his "Little Godfreys" attend dance and singing classes, believing all should be versatile performers regardless of whether they possessed the aptitude for those disciplines. In meetings with the cast and his staff, he could be abusive and intimidating. In spite of his ability to bring in profits, CBS executives who respected Godfrey professionally were not fond of him personally, since he often baited them on and off the air.

Godfrey's attitude was controlling prior to having hip surgery, but upon his return, he added more air time to his morning shows and became critical of a number of aspects of the broadcasts. One night, he substituted a shortened, hastily-arranged version of his Wednesday night variety show in place of the scheduled "Talent Scouts" presentation, feeling that none of the talent was up to standards. He also began casting a critical eye on others in the cast, particularly LaRosa, whose popularity continued to grow.

Like many men of his generation, Julius LaRosa thought dance lessons to be somewhat effeminate—and chafed when Godfrey ordered them for his entire performing crew. CBS historian Robert Metz, in CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye, suggested that Godfrey instituted the practice because his own physical limitations made him sensitive to the need for coordination on camera. "Godfrey," Metz wrote, "was concerned about his cast in his paternalistic way."

Godfrey and LaRosa had a dispute when LaRosa missed a dance lesson due to a family emergency. He claimed he'd advised Godfrey, but was nonetheless barred from the show for a day in retaliation, via a notice placed on a cast bulletin board. At that point, LaRosa retained topnotch manager Tommy Rockwell to renegotiate his contract with Godfrey or, failing that, to receive an outright release. However, such talks had yet to occur.

LaRosa was also signed to Cadence Records, owned by Godfrey's musical director Archie Bleyer, who produced Eh, Cumpari, the best-selling hit of LaRosa's musical career. LaRosa admitted the record's success had made him a little cocky. But after Godfrey discovered that LaRosa hired a manager in the wake of the dance lesson reprimand, Godfrey immediately consulted with CBS President Dr. Frank Stanton, who noted that Godfrey had hired LaRosa on-air (after his initial appearance on Talent Scouts) and suggested firing him the same way. Whether Stanton intended this to occur after Godfrey spoke with LaRosa and his managers about the singer's future on the show, or whether Stanton suggested Godfrey actually fire LaRosa on air with no warning, remains lost to history.

On October 19, 1953, near the end of his morning radio show (deliberately waiting until after the TV portion had ended), after lavishing praise on LaRosa in introducing the singer's performance of "Manhattan," Godfrey thanked him and then announced that this was LaRosa's "swan song" with the show, adding, "He goes now, out on his own — as his own star — soon to be seen on his own programs, and I know you'll wish him godspeed as much as I do". Godfrey then signed off for the day saying, "This is the CBS Radio Network".

LaRosa, who had to be told what the phrase "swan song" meant, was dumbfounded, since he had not been informed beforehand of his departure and contract renegotiations had yet to happen. Stanton later admitted the idea may have been "a mistake." In perhaps a further illumination of the ego that Godfrey had formerly kept hidden, radio historian Gerald Nachman, in Raised on Radio, claims that what really miffed Godfrey about his now-former protege was that LaRosa's fan mail had come to outnumber Godfrey's. It is likely that a combination of these factors led to Godfrey's decision to discharge LaRosa. It is not likely Godfrey expected the public outcry that ensued.

In any event, the LaRosa incident opened an era of controversy that swirled around Godfrey and, little by little, dismantled his just-folks image. LaRosa was beloved enough by Godfrey's fans that they saved their harshest criticism for Godfrey himself. After a press conference was held by LaRosa and his agent, Godfrey further complicated the matter by hosting a press conference of his own where he responded that LaRosa had lost his "humility." The charge, given Godfrey's sudden baring of his own ego beneath the facade of warmth, brought more mockery from the public and press. Almost instantly, Godfrey and the phrase "no humility" became the butt of many comedians' jokes. Later, he claimed he had, with the firing, essentially given LaRosa a release from his contract that the singer requested. Godfrey, however, provided no evidence to support that contention.

Godfrey would fire others among his regulars, including bandleader Archie Bleyer, within days of LaRosa's public "execution." Bleyer had formed his own label, Cadence Records, which recorded LaRosa. Bleyer married one of The Chordettes, and that group also broke away from Godfrey; Godfrey replaced them with The McGuire Sisters. Godfrey was also angered that Bleyer had produced a spoken-word record by Godfrey's Chicago counterpart Don McNeill. McNeill hosted The Breakfast Club, which had been Godfrey's direct competition on the NBC Blue Network (later ABC) since Godfrey's days at WJSV. Despite the McNeill show's far more modest following, Godfrey was unduly offended, even paranoid, at what he felt was disloyalty on Bleyer's part. Bleyer simply shrugged off the dismissal and focused on developing Cadence, which went on to even greater fame in later years with classic hit records by the Everly Brothers and Andy Williams.

Apparently, Godfrey intended to teach his regulars a lesson by dismissing them from his show and curtailing their network-television exposure. The plan backfired somewhat when they continued to perform for his substitute host, Robert Q. Lewis, who by now had his own midday show on CBS.

Occasionally, a crotchety Godfrey snapped at cast members on the air. A significant number of other "Little Godfreys," including the Mariners and Haleloke, were dismissed from 1953 to 1959 without explanation. Other performers, most notably Pat Boone and Patsy Cline (briefly), stepped in as "Little Godfreys."

Godfrey's problems with the media and public feuds with newspaper columnists such as Jack O'Brian and newspaperman turned CBS variety show host Ed Sullivan were duly documented by the media, which began running critical exposé articles linking him to several female "Little Godfreys." Godfrey's anger at Sullivan stemmed from the variety show impresario's featuring of fired "Little Godfreys" on his Sunday night show, including LaRosa.

Despite an intense desire to remain in the public eye, Godfrey's presence ebbed considerably over the next ten years, notwithstanding an HBO special and an appearance on a PBS salute to the 1950s. A 1981 attempt to reconcile him with LaRosa for a Godfrey show reunion record album, bringing together Godfrey and a number of the "Little Godfreys," collapsed. At an initially amicable meeting, Godfrey reasserted that LaRosa wanted out of his contract and asked why he hadn't explained that instead of insisting he was fired without warning. When LaRosa began reminding him of the dance lesson controversy, Godfrey, then in his late seventies, exploded and the meeting ended in shambles. Godfrey died forgotten and seemingly alone in 1983...