I just finished a new biography of one of the last people I ever thought would have someone write a biography on—Sammy Petrillo. I mean, sure, everyone has a story. Everyone you see every single day under any circumstances has a story of their own and deserves to have it told…but no one is writing a biography of most of them, are they?
There’s an old showbiz axiom that if you stick around long enough, you get rediscovered. It happened to Al Jolson, it happened to Buster Keaton, it happened to Marlon Brando…and now it’s happened to the late Sammy Petrillo, and he didn’t even need to stick around!
I first saw Sammy where most people roughly my age probably did, in a so-bad-it’s-good no-budget 1950s flick with the unlikely title of Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. In the film, Sammy plays Jerry Lewis. Not technically, mind you, but nonetheless, that’s who he’s playing. Another actor, Duke Mitchell, looks and sings like Dean Martin, at least, as someone says in the book, when he’s standing next to Sammy.
Sammy Petrillo looked and acted almost exactly like the early incarnation of Jerry Lewis as “the Kid.” It was a blessing and a curse. It’s what got him noticed, and it’s what kept him from ever becoming a major success. Over time, however, he did morph into a cult figure, remembered and yes, even admired, by those of us who also appreciate the achievements –such as they were—of the likes of Joe E. Ross, B.S. Pully, Rudy Ray Moore, and Ed Wood, Jr.
Still, I was genuinely surprised to hear that someone was going to tell Sammy’s story, and curious to hear what that story might be. Dave Abramson was that someone, and the resulting book is entitled Your Time is Now-The Sammy Petrillo Story. It’s surprisingly good.
Abramson is the perfect writer for this story as he actually knew Sammy! As he says, in fact, he’s been working on this book for 50 years! And here’s an important point. While the book remains overall Sammy’s story, this review is actually more about Dave Abramson.
Abramson impresses because he manages to take a person who, let’s face it, is really little more than a footnote in show business, and make his ultimately sad history not only interesting and very readable, but at times riveting. Even knowing that he never did achieve major stardom, you find yourself rooting for the underdog every step of the way.
Another welcome aspect of Abramson’s writing is that he doesn’t just set down fact after fact about our “hero,” he puts everything into historical perspective. We not only follow Sammy’s rises and falls but also, of necessity, Jerry Lewis’s, with asides featuring other famous and infamous names whose lives interacted with Petrillo’s or affected his times. Duke Mitchell (Sammy’s ersatz Dino), is, of course, discussed, but nowhere near as much as one might expect.
For more than 300 pages that range from the heights of show business success in the 1950s to the depths of dying burlesque in the ‘70s and the later retro-hipster TV of Beyond Vaudeville and The Uncle Floyd Show, the reader is given a pretty full picture of who (good and bad) and where Sammy was at all times. Abramson even manages to make his own writing style actually funny, without ever veering from his overall mission. Thus, what could well have been a depressing tale of an unsuccessful comedian, feels instead like the story of the little engine that ALMOST could. Sammy Petrillo kept chugging along right up to the closing curtain.
Oh, and did I mention the great Drew Friedman cover, or the nifty Foreword by Scott Alexander that tells about other celebrity doppelgangers? Oh, and I can’t forget the impressive production and packaging from Feral House. Nary a typo that I spotted even in the ARC I was reading! If you are one of the many of us who appreciate the fringes of show biz as much as the superstars, Your Time is Now is the ultimate fringe story. You will cherish this book. To quote Jerry Lewis, as quoted in the book, “I like it! I like it!”
Booksteve recommends.
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