The night of September 18 we took in the Carol Burnett Show, part of the Global ComedyFest going on our town. After the show we had the chance to go backstage and talk with the actress. I told her that I had met Harvey Korman years ago when he came to town to promote a shop on Robson Street that sold cartoon cels. He was a most gracious man and we spent an hour talking about show business. She agreed that Harvey was one of the most talented comic actors ever to grace a stage, a television show or movie.
On September 19 I interviewed Petula Clark at the River Rock Show Theatre, which is undergoing massive construction at the moment. My interview with Petula will be featured on my Wednesday morning Global TV appearance. We talked about her long and illustrious career in the entertainment business. Here is a star who was featured on British radio at age 9, had her own show at 11 and was featured in over 15 British movies before becoming a world-wide star. Petula had hits in the U.K. and Europe but only a few were ever heard on this side of the Atlantic.
It wasn’t until 1964 and a meeting with producer Tony Hatch that her career blossomed. Hits such as Downtown, I Know A Place, A Sign of the Times and Don’t Sleep In the Subway carried that famous voice around the globe. She also starred in two major American movies: Finian’s Rainbow opposite Fred Astaire, Canada’s own Don Francks (whom she saw recently in Toronto) and British singer Tommy Steele. She also starred in Mr. Chips with Peter O’Toole. The last time I saw Petula was in Branson, MO when she guest starred with Andy Williams in his beautiful Moon River Theatre.
Petula remembers playing Vancouver at the Pizzazz Room at the former International Plaza Hotel on Marine Drive at Capilano Road in North Vancouver in the late Seventies. Many famous artists performed there including Burton Cummings, Gerry Marsden and Tony Bennett. It was a small but intimate room and the stars would perform there for an entire week. She asked if it was still there and I said, sadly no. Another star studded week in the city.