Of pugilists, autoharps, and The Big Sleep, Vol. II.

By David "Chet" Williamson Sneade

Silent film star Billy Sullivan was born in Worcester in 1891. Young Billy followed his uncle, the legendary fighter and entertainer John L. Sullivan, into showbiz. Billy got his start in what was known as "film shorts" in the 19-teens. 

Because of his rugged good looks and chiseled physique, Sullivan was showcased in boxing films and Westerns. In his storied career, he appeared in more than 50 feature films, 20 with Rayart Pictures. In 1917, he was cast as King Arthur in his first feature-length film called Over the Hill.

According to George Katchmer, "[Sullivan] was featured in a series of two-reelers for Universal in the mid-twenties and was also known for his boxing prowess, especially in the Leather Pushers." 

In a two-year period of 1924-'25, Sullivan appeared as the leading man in 10 Westerns including, The Double X, An Eyeful, Her Rodeo Hero, Race for a Ranch, The Red Rage, The Fighting Terror, The Loser Wins, Seeing Red, The Way of the West, and The Whip Hand. 

His better-known flicks include One Punch O'Day, Speedy Smith, and Daring Deeds. Sullivan also served as an assistant director for such productions as Broadway Billy. He died in Great Neck, Long Island, New York in 1946.

Musician/actress Zella Russell was born in Worcester in 1883. Her given name is Rosella O'Connor. Her early days of performing were spent playing the piano in a silent movie house in town and in Boston theaters such as the Palace and the Dreamland. 

She married theater manager Harry Morton and by 1917 she began spending summers making audiences of the "Poli circuit sit up and take notice," wrote Billboard magazine. 

Russell specialized in presenting popular songs with a classical spin that were said to be show-stopping performances. She then transitioned into the world of vaudeville, working in the Al Reeves "Big Burlesque Review." 

From there she worked on Broadway in such productions as The Sweetheart Shop (1920), Springtime of Youth (1922), and The Love Song (1925). She also starred in a musical comedy called Blossom Time, an operetta with music from the melodies of Franz Schubert and H. Berte, adapted and augmented by Sigmund Romberg. Russell's talent could also be seen in such films as Avenging Waters (1936) and Taming Waters (1936). Zella Russell died in Somerville, NY at the age of 69 in 1952.

Actor James Conaty was born in Worcester in 1895. He was one of America’s great -- but unrecognized -- Noir film character actors, having appeared in The Big Sleep, Laura, I Wake Up Screaming, Out of the Past, and The Killers. His first showing on the silver screen was in the 1929 film, Weary River, where he played a trial attorney. 

James Conaty

Conaty was a versatile actor who could be seen in everything from a hotel guest in Two in the Dark, to a nightclub patron in Special Investigator. You can find him in walk-ons as a party guest in It Happened in Hollywood to a dog show attendee in Hold That Kiss. He was a doctor in Stronger Than Desire, an American scientist in Romance of Radium, and a reporter in They’re Always Caught.

Although never a headlining star, Conaty was in many respects a ghost in plain sight. His acting chops allowed him to play roles with clean efficiency that made him a casting director’s perfect hire. Conaty also appeared in such classics as The Caine Mutiny, All the King’s Men, The Lost Weekend, The Fleet’s In, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, The Phantom of the Opera, Buck Rogers, and the Benny Goodman Story.

He died in Los Angeles in 1955. He was 60.

Music promoter Richard Goicz was born in Worcester on Christmas day in 1929. A graduate of St. Mary’s High School, he started producing nightclub acts while a student at the University of Miami. Returning to Worcester, Goicz presented shows at such local venues as Lake Park and East Park. According to his obituary, he put on talent and beauty shows at the Capitol Theater.

He is best known for producing dinner theater at the Monticello in Framingham. According to his obituary in the Worcester Telegram, “He brought in such famous singers and comedians as Carol Channing, Wayne Newton, Engelbert Humperdinck, Joan Rivers, and Frankie Valli.”

Tony Zano

In the local jazz world, Goicz was known as the producer of Tony Zano’s legendary album, The Gathering Place, which featured, among others, Charlie Mariano, Tommy Flannagan, Sal Salvador, Paul Chambers, and Charlie Persip. The work was a showcase of Zano’s writing and arranging talent. It was released in April of 1960 on Goicz’s own label, Balmore Records.

Goicz died in Worcester in 2014. He is buried at Notre Dame Cemetery. 

Actress Kathleen O’Malley was born in Worcester in 1924.  She was the daughter of Pat O’Malley, an actor whose career reached from vaudeville to silent film to TV. He was seen in some 400 films. A 13-month old Kathleen shared screen credits with her dad in a 1926 feature called, My Old Dutch. Two of her sisters – Eileen and Sheila – were also in show business.

Like her dad, Mary Kathleen O’Malley – as she was christened – also had a long and storied career. She appeared in films with Betty Davis, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, and Henry Fonda, Robert Mitcham, and Clint Eastwood, among others. The feature films include Cover Girl, Lady on a Train, Airport, and Dirty Harry.

Kathleen and Pat O'Malley

According to Wiki, she had “a fairly prominent role in John Ford's 1950 film, Wagon Master. She played the part of pretty Mormon girl Prudence Perkins. Her character Prudence creates an issue due to marrying young Mormon man Sandy, instead of Jackson. Prudence is also the cause of a fight between two men who are both pursuing her.”

O’Malley played countless roles from handmaiden to photographer, from librarian to chorus girl. A steady and dependable TV actress, she can be seen in episodes of “Barnaby Jones,” “Bonanza,” “Columbo,” “Gunsmoke,” “Leave it to Beaver,” “Maverick” and “Rawhide,” among many others. 

In 1998, she appeared in the short-lived TV crime drama, "Buddy Faro." It was to be her last on-screen credit. She died that same year.

Actor Jeff Burton was born in Worcester in 1924. His given name was John A. Jones. According to film critic Bruce Eder, Burton turned to acting in the early 1960s after spending more than a decade in the Army, including combat in the Korean War. He also worked in the parole department of the City of Los Angeles. He made his film screen debut in Great Getting’ Up In the Morning. It was considered a groundbreaking made-for-TV movie, lauded for its subject matter concerning a newly-integrated school.

In a career lasting a little more than a decade, Burton played only one notable film role, but “it was a memorable one,” says Eder, “as Dodge, one of the two astronauts marooned with Charlton Heston's Taylor in the movie Planet Of the Apes.”

Eder also noted that Burton, because of his commanding height and manner, was “often cast in authoritative and ‘operational’ roles, including police officers, military men, and federal agents, on programs including "Dragnet" and "The FBI.” Burton appeared in Git! (1965), Sweet Charity (1969), Coffy (1973), and Black Hooker (1974).

He died in Boston in 1988.

Singer-songwriter Roger Penney was born in Worcester in 1940. He is best known as a pioneer in psychedelic folk music largely because of the creation of the first electromechanical harpsichord and invention of the electric autoharp.

Penney’s performing career is celebrated by his partnering with his wife, the bassist Wendy (Becket) Penney. The duo started out as actors and worked with the Boston Theatre Company. In the mid-‘60s, the couple moved to New York City and began working the club circuit as musicians. Together they could be seen gigging as the Bermuda Triangle in clubs such as The Bitter End, Café Wha? and Folk City.

Wendy Penney

According to Wiki, “They were one of the very few American innovators to play in this style as it was primarily a British movement. Characterized as having strong roots in folk music, it has electric and often complex or unconventional arrangements, with liberal use of effects such as phasing, wah-wah or fuzz."

In 1969, they formed the group Euphoria and recorded for the MGM label and released the single “You Must Forget.” At its height, the band played Madison Square Garden opening for Van Morrison and the 1910 Fruit Gum Company, as well as at the Felt Forum for the Iron Butterfly and Sly and the Family Stone.

Wiki also says, “Roger Penney is regarded as the originator and developer of the psychedelic folk autoharp, as well as the first person to play the electric autoharp. … What is often mistaken for electric guitar is actually the sound of the autoharp. The result of his innovations is a spatially complex and dynamic quality.”

According to writer Rick Hartt, the couple has “re-centered themselves in Colorado, while continuing their artistic journey. They have become the darlings of the European and Japanese music scene with its interest in the folk-rock genre.”

Now in their late 70s, Roger and Wendy currently reside in Colorado.

Mitch Miller and Gloria Lambert

Leslie Ugams, Ena Hartman, and Lambert

Singer Gloria Lambert was born in Worcester in 1932. She was best known for her appearances on the television show, “Sing Along with Mitch.” From 1961-’63, she sang on 21 episodes. There are currently two video clips circulating the net of her singing “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” and “Sweet By and By.”

Her given name was Cleopatra Gloria Lambert. Her parents were Vangel Dhosi and Olga Lapery Lambert, who raised their daughter in the Albanian-American community of Worcester. Young Gloria sang in the choir of St. Mary’s Assumption, and was a graduate of Commerce High School.

Lambert also appeared on a score of talk and variety shows including the Johnny Carson Show, The Jimmy Dean Show and the Andy Williams Show. Her forte was singing popular songs of the day. The singer also appeared on Broadway in two editions of West Side Story (1957 and 1960) and Illya Darling. She has been described as a “petite, vibrant songstress and winsome, versatile actress who entertained millions.” She recorded a handful of singles including Hal David and Burt Bacharach’s Moon Man and Marty Robbin’s tune, “Each Time I Hear” (Don’t Worry). 

In 1982, Lambert married writer and teacher, Andrew Kesler. She died of cancer in 2013. A burial service was held for her in Hope Cemetery, Webster Street in Worcester.

Composer/conductor Ralph Lyford was born in Worcester in 1882. A graduate of New England Conservatory of Music at the age of 18, Lyford studied with George Whitefield Chadwick. He later traveled to Leipzig to further his training under the tutelage of Arthur Nikisch.

Lyford first distinguished himself on the international classical music scene by assisting the great Claude Debussy in preparation of his masterful composition Le martyre de Saint Sébastien. The five-act musical mystery was written in 1911 with text written by Gabriele D’Annunzio. It premiered at the Paris Théâtre du Châtelet.

Claude Debussy

According to Wiki, Lyford rose to prominence as “the managing director of the Cincinnati Opera and as a 20th-century advocate for opera to be written and performed in English.”

In his lifetime, Lyford also served as an assistant conductor with the San Carlo Opera Company; he was an associate conductor of the Opera Company of Boston and for a short time assisted Max Rabinoff in the opera department at New England Conservatory. For three seasons, Lyford was the conductor of New York City’s Aborn Opera Company.

In 1916, Lyford was hired to help organize the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music where he served as the head of that program. In 1920, he founded the Cincinnati Opera where he conducted more than 30 operas with than 200 performances.

Lyford was married to Ella Gillis, a ballet dancer.

He died in Cincinnati, Ohio 1927.

Boxer Johnny Rossi was born in Worcester in 1913.  He was once the middleweight champion of New England and at the height of his career, he was ranked No. 3 in the world. Rossi took up the fight game during the Depression and before hanging up his gloves he fought in 186 fights and lost 24. 

"He told me that he made $7.50 a fight for his first three bouts," Rossi's son, John Jr. told South Florida, Sun Sentinel. "They were all draws."

Rossi fought around the country in such notable venues as the Boston Garden, the Garden Pier (Atlantic City), Olympic Auditorium (Los Angeles), Dreamland Auditorium (San Francisco), Madison Square Garden (New York City), and Coney Island Velodrome (Brooklyn).

John Jr. said his father was not a "puncher," but known for his fancy footwork. His last fight was held at Mechanics Hall in 1943, where he defeated Waddell Washington. After boxing, Rossi worked at U.S. Steel in Worcester and later as a technician for the Ice Capades. Upon retirement, he moved to Florida. He died in the town of Dania in 1994. He is buried in Shrewsbury. 

This is a work in progress. Please send all suggestions, comments, and corrections to walnutharmonicas@gmail.com.    Thank you.