Actress

My first audition was when I was three years old. My sister was auditioning for You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown at the Boston Children’s Theatre, which is renowned for having starting early children’s television shows like Zoom. Anyway, my sister, knowing that boys didn’t audition as much as girls did… ummm “persuaded” aka forced my brothers to learn dialogue, songs and dances so that they could audition as well. I watched every moment of it! So the story goes (I mean, I was three, I don’t remember it!) when the director asked if there was anyone left to audition, from the back of the theatre came a little voice with a big personality who got up there and wowed everyone, including my family! I love being on stage. I love performing. I’m not a fan of some of the nonsense of being an actor (that’s a post for another day) but I love the process of transforming into someone else.

Below you will find some stories and pictures of some of the experiences I’ve had in my life. I hope you enjoy it!

Mama Celeste Pizza 1977

My first “real” job as an actor was for Mama Celeste Pizza company. My little brother, Jamie, and I had both auditioned for it. But on the final call-back my brother had to miss a baseball game and was really mad about it so he told the producers he didn’t like pizza! I got the job, he didn’t.

The first part of the morning we ate pizza but were told to spit it out after every take. I was so hungry by the time lunch came around that I stuffed myself! It was only after lunch that they told us to swallow! I was afraid I was going to be sick by the end of the day! But overall it was a great experience! I don’t remember every seeing the commercial though.

“Abbondanza”

 

The New Little Rascals 1977

The next job I remember getting was The New Little Rascals. Famed producer Norma Lear was putting together a new version of the show. It was 1977.

Last weekend I spent with one of my fellow cast mates from the Little Rascals. It’s a funny story! In the late 90’s I starred in The Unsinkable Molly Brown at the Glendale Centre Theater in Glendale, California. I met Jeffrey Scot who was one of the dances and played my brother in the show. I loved him immediately (like a brother!) and felt an instant connection. We kept saying that we felt like we knew each other. One night, after the show, some of us had gone to a local eatery when we started talking about the first show that we had done. Many of us had started as child actors. Jeffrey said “my first job was the New Little Rascals with Norman Lear“. Well I about fell over! Some day I would Love to get a copy of that show and see tiny Jeffrey and Patricia hanging out! But I so love that this person is still in my life! We talked and laughed for 4 wonderful days! We can’t let it be another 20 years before we spend time together. FB is a wonderful tool to help us keep in touch, but it’s the personal connections that bring true joy to our lives!

Stay tuned for more stories!

Annie 1978-1979

I’ve decided it would be difficult if not impossible for me to write all of this blog on a time line. I have too many stories that seem to come up at random times! Take last night… I went to see Irving Berlins White Christmas as the Pull-Tight Theatre in Franklin, Tennessee. While there I remembered the following story…
In 1978, the Annie tour spent 3 months in San Francisco, California at the Curren Theater. Just down the road was a smaller theater and across town was another large theatre like ours. One of the shows that played was 4 Girls 4. I didn’t get to see it, but I sure wish I had! It starred Rosemary Clooney, Margaret Whiting, Helen O’Connell and Rose Marie. They came to see our show and I was lucky enough to meet them! You might know Rose Marie from the Dick Van Dyke show… but I knew her from a song she sang as a young girl called Come Out, Come Out, where ever you are, which just happened to be the song I sang for my first Annie audition. When I told her that, she put on my autograph.. “Don’t Sing My Song!” LOL

Here is a link to a few videos. The second video is the cast of 4 Girl 4 on the Merv Griffin Show. The other is Rose Marie singing “our” song.  I hope you enjoy!

Peppermint Patty 1978-1980

I’m going to talk more about Peppermint Patty on another blog!