“ROBERT MORSE, BOBBY & ME”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

……………….Looking back…………..It was 1961,  I was 13 years old, and in 7th grade when I went to see my very first Broadway show with my BFF, Robert Guy Tirman…..”Bobby”….The show was…..”How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying”…..It was also the first time I went into NYC by myself….just Bobby and me…..Bobby’s mother had to call my mother to assure her Bobby knew how to get us into and back from the city without any problems. My Mom reluctantly said yes……so off we went….two starry eyed kids ready for the big city. I think I had only been in NYC maybe once or twice before to see the tree and skate with cousins at Rockefeller Center, always with an adult…….I remember first we went for lunch at a very popular touristy restaurant named Toffenetti. It was huge and right in Time’s Square. It had an escalator to the bottom level where we ate spaghetti….The restaurant is long gone….I felt so grown up in my shirt and tie, and best suit,. Then off we went to see the matinee show….I remember we sat in the lower box at the right of the stage. I had never been inside of a Broadway Theater, and I was mesmerized by everything!!! Then the lights went off, and the orchestra started the overture, and the curtain went up……and there he was……the STAR of the show……ROBERT MORSE!!!!!!!! I instantly was captivated by him…..he was just incredible…….I loved everything about the show….the stylized 60s sets and the colorful costumes. The cast headed by Mr. Morse, also had Michele Lee, Charles Nelson Reilly, Rudy Valley and Virginia Martin among so many other incredible singers and dancers……Bobby was a “Broadway veteran” as he had already seen quite a few shows with his family…but this was my first, and the first of anything will always be special…..It remains to this day one of my favorite of all time shows. After the show ended we rushed to the stage door, and waited and waited for Robert Morse to come out! Finally he did and we had this photo taken. I don’t remember how this picture happened, because I don’t recall either of us having a camera with us…..Sorry for the blurry faded image which over 62 years has only gotten worse…..It was a day I will always remember….Robert Morse was so nice to us, and I thought he was IT…the greatest!…I was to become a life long fan!…Robert Morse won the Tony award for his performance as well as the show for best Musical. It actually won a slew of awards!….He went on to revise his role as Pierpont Finch in the movie version which you can stream!…..The last thing I saw Robert Morse in on Broadway, years later in 1983, was “TRU”. It was a one man show and he played Truman Capote. The play took place in his apartment after he had written the tell all book “Answered Prayers”. Chapters of the unfinished book were published with his permission. It was a tell all book of the secrets told to him by his socialite girl friends, who he lovingly called “his Swans”…… This betrayal destroyed all of these friendships, and it destroyed him. Morse as Truman was brilliant, and earned him another Tony award……..Later in years he joined the cast of “Mad Men” for which he won an Emmy award…..It’s hard for me to fathom that the energetic powerhouse was 90 YEARS old when he passed away in 2022!!!!……….For me he will lovingly always be remembered as the adorable imp in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”……..What was your first Broadway show?

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