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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 27, 1962)
bUMUAtr. iiAr 2. I nii MEDFORD MAIL. TRIBUNE. MEDFOREL OREGON n-Showman Living in Drew Area By VIOLA ROGERS Mail Tribunt Correspondent Drew Avery Grccnman'i richly varied life has led him from farm boy to Metropoli tan Opera to custodian of the local school. One may wonder why any one would leave a highly suc cessful stage career, the bright lights of New York, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, and other large cities, and the highly remunerative salary of the stage for a secluded home in the mountains. But the Greenmans fell in love, first with Oregon and then with a particular piece of Oregon. For 10 years they had been looking for a place to call home when they reached retirement age. And having traveled from one end of the United States to the other, they knew all of the states. In the summer of 1954, they came to Grants Pass, got sev eral listings from a real estate agent, and started out to find the place they would finally call home. Looked At Several Places After looking at several places in the area and being disappointed in them,, they got lost. As the day waned they became more tired and cross. Finally they were on Highway 42 between Canyon ville and Trail. They were going to look at a place just over the divide. But just beyond Drew they spied a small, primitive "For Sale" sign. The place was off the highway, the house was little more than a shed, and no one was home. They found the owner at a neighbors, talked with her a few minutes, and drove' on to Shady Cove where they stayed over night. At five o'clock next morning they got Mrs. Silva out of bed and bought their future home. Yield lo Oregon They had planned to re main in show business several years, devoting their summers to fixing up their home at Drew, But the place grew on them until finally after three Vt' j - " , Oeti Cm) l ,5rT a ) f CHOOSE MOUNTAIN HOME Avery Grccnman (Jack Mann on the stage) and his wife have a mountain home in Drew, for which he gave up a successful stage career. Grccnman appeared in such Broadway productions as "High Kickers" with George Jesse 1, "One Touch of Venus" and Mike Todd's "Peep Show." summers they yielded to Ore gon's beauty. Greenman left the stage, and Drew became their permanent home. But he wasn t ready to re tire. There were still too many things that needed doing, and as with most people, everything had its price. Sn for a while Green- man worked at a plywood mill near Tiller. Two years ago . he got the job as custo dian of the Tiller Elementary school. Greenman did not have a theatrical background; he was the only actor in his family. When he was young, he had a friend who made jokes at parties, on streetcars, or wherever they might be. Avery acted as his straight man. Read Ad in Paper Then iie day in 1920 Greenman saw an ad in the Cleveland paper which read "wanted two comedians." This was a rare ad and the only one like it Greenman had ever seen. The boys an swered the ad, got the job, and went to work for a man who knew no more about show business than either of them. They opened in Lodi, Ohio. Shortly before opening time, Avery went to a store next door to the theater to buy a collar button. When the clerk asked if he wasn't new in town. Greenman feel import ant, replied, "Yes, I'm with the show," only to learn that the clerk didn't even know that there was a show in town. So on opening night, they played to a few relatives of the cast. Greenman was like a first time loser in Las Vegas. He was money nut of pocket but he had acquired a taste for show business. So he rented a hall in Cleveland, got the cast together including a four piece orchestra, and sold tickets to a show and dance. The venture was a success. And Avery became a produ cer even though he didn't know what a prop was. Gets Booking Agent He talked a friend, who was a cement finisher, into being booking agent for the company. At Ashtabula, Ohio, where the theater manager had to have a stage built be fore they could perform, they played to a full house. At that time Greenman wasn't paying the cast wages. He just doled out enough for each one's board and room and stuffed the rest of the bills in his pocket. Until they played Mead villc, Pa the theater man ager there had never heard of having the orchestra on stage. And Avery, says he wouldn't be surprised that it was a E 1st PEWHM of Glogue Valley NURSING HOME 3693 So. Pacific Hwy. Ph. 535-1546 FK1DAY JUN Medford's Brand New Facility just completed. Built Accord ing to the Latest State Specifications . . . One Floor No Steps 2 and 3-bed Wards, each with separate bathroom facilities. Air conditioned. Television and Game room. Registered Nurses. ' Non-Sectarian. For both Men and Women Special Diets. YOUR INSPECTION CORDIALLY INVITED SUPPLIED BY THESE ROGUE VALLEY FIRMS: Complete Insurance Coverage by ANHORN-FABER INSURANCE CO. 411 Pine Central Point 664-2413 Dairy Products by JORGENSEN'S DAIRY Medford, Oregon Drugs and Prescriptions by GIER PHARMACY Phoenix, Ore. 535-1661 Complete Equipment & Supplies E. M. SUPPLY CO. 013 S.W. Arthur, Portland Wholesale to Conv. Homes, Hosp. & Inst. Utilities Supplied by GAL-PACIFIC UTILITIES Serving the Northwest Restaurant & Institutional Supplies VALLEY WHOLESALE CO. Wholesale Grocers i first. Up until then the place for the orchestra was in the ,pit. It wJti also at Meadville I that he changed the subject when asked what reaps he needed because he didn't , know a prop from a theater ticket. The honking agent was doing a noble joB and Greenmans pockets were bulging with greenbacks. But he was young and all that money frightened him. He thought he had better get the cast back home to Cleveland while his luck still held. Chance at Circuit Later, while working in Cleveland, Greenman got a chance to go to work on the Gus Sun circuit in tableau shows, the forerunner of the vaudeville circuits. Then he met Bert Lewis, a black-face comedian who had retired from show business to open a theatrical agency, and signed on with him. Lewis had so few clients that whenever he got a call for an actor, he sent Green man. It was under Lewis' tutelage that he gained his greatest knowledge of the act ing profession. He spent four : years in Akron, Ohio, with Lewis. It was in the summer of 1A35 when Greenman was playing in a musical show at the Hollywood Playhouse that he met Sydna Black, his fu ture wife. Later when he went cast, Sydna went with him as his wife. They hadn't been back East long when Sydna de cided her husband should have a show of his own. So she sent a scout to Denver to see if he could get them a theater. The first Greenman heard of this was when he picked up a telegram In their hotel lobby that read, "Have thea ter, when will you arrive?" He went blasting up to their room to see what his wife had been up to. The outcome was that he put a show together, went to Denver where they were well received and then on to Seattle. Wash., where they j played for a year and a half. Later he was hnnkpri in I such cities as Vancouver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chi cago, New York, other eastern cities. A couple years had passed : in New York when Nick Holde learned George Jcssel was looking for a comedian for his show "High Kickers." Holde told Jcssel, "The man you are looking for is in ( Newark, New Jersey." j Grccnman got the part as feature comedian writing his i own material. The only thing ; Jessel didn't like about Avery was his name which he changed to Jack Mann, which was Grcenman's stage name from then on. It was while working in , High Kickers Jack auditioned for Paramount Studios, but he 1 later gave that up to stay with Jcssel. Jack went on to do "One : Touch of Venus," Mike Todd's "Peep Show," and to be on the Ed Sullivan TV show. .In Metropolitan Opera I While doing Peep Show, ! Jack was asked if he'd like a ; part in a Metropolitan Opera,' and they were prevailed upon to sec it and if he liked the part it was open for him. They sat through the first two acts thinking they were way out of Jack's range. And then the third act and the drunken sailor. "That's for me." Jack almost shouted. He played the part for six years, giving it up for a bit of Oregon. Mrs. Greenman, who gave j up a stage career to marry Avery, comes from a family of show people. Her mother's sister, stage name Stella Gil more, was on stage in New York. And her father, Sid Black, was billed as "Champion Bicycle Rider of the World. " It was W. C. Fields, a friend of. Sid Black, who got Sydna Black into show business. In 193.'f Sydna played with Fanny Brice in a Billy Rose show. She also appeared in "Showboat." and was under contract with Paramount Studios when Jack met her. Although the Greenmans home in Drew is thousands of miles from the New York stase they are not entirely away from show business. Two years ago he went to Las Vegas for iwo months at the Dunes hotel. They do scenes for community affairs at Tiller, they appeared in Kom nuinity Kapers at Myrtle Creek, and occasionally do a bit at night spots. Shrubs Reported Taken from Hospital Ktiilit Juniper shrubs have bron stolen from Hntiue Val ley hnspiial property. Med ford city police reported. Tin shrubs, valued about MS. were planted in ft line a Ions Murphy rd. They were taken .sometime between 3 .W p m Wednes day and 7 ;w a m Friday, pohrr said. O (5 CLOUD UEDKUDAT -- MENORIAL DAT o mt PARKING Sunday Monday and Tuesday SPECIALS BUY LOCAL PRODUCTS 'Better Because They Are Fresher' ICE CREAM SNIDER'S 2 GALLON LIMIT 2 PLEASE Frozen Pinners (Buy 3. Send in proof of purchase and get a 50c .refund on ICE CREAM purchase) NALLEY'S FRADELIS ALL VARIETIES 69 49c miUWMI mCMI ICP4UCKI4XU . JQ WHOLE CQ BUTT CE TW HAMS.. VU HALF.... Ull THESE ARE TENDER HAMS FROM YOUNG PORKERS-(NOT BIG FAT OVERSIZED HAMS) HAMS SHANK HALF .... FRANKS NEBERGALLS LARGE POUND FRYERS COFFEE PES Soran's Grade A Southern Oregon Whole Bodied Fresher by far Not shipped in from other states 45' 33 BOYDS .49 BRADLEY FROZEN APPLE-BOYSENBERRY-PEACH POTATO CHIPS OLIVES BLUE BELL JUMBO 79c CARTON MADERA 211 CAN Salad Tomatoes ONIONS FIRM RED CALIFORNIA POUND WHITE SWEET ONES CHARCOAL BROILET BRAND CHARCOAL JIGGS REAL HARDWOOD Pound Bag Pound Box TV DINNERS SWANSON MARGARDN EACH MAZOLA CORN OIL POUND OLIVES WYANDOTTE SELICT PITTED OR LARGE RIPE NU SOFT FABRIC OFTUER .49' QUART look lot the Bly ad Wbite AWARD MARGARINl package wtlh "Ssecial 3c C" on label! See Award ad j Men. Mail Tribune G O O
