Courtesy

Husband-and-wife team Karon Kate Blackwell and Marty Allen have been married for 25 years.

By Robin Leach · June 5, 2009 · 8:35 AM

*Check out this story with accompanying photos at VegasDeLuxe.com.*

At 87 years of age, legendary Las Vegas comedian Marty Allen has no intention of retiring, and in addition to a full 12-months-a-year work schedule, Marty still runs two miles every afternoon for 30 minutes on a treadmill!

“I feel like the Energizer Bunny -- I just keep going,” Marty told me. “Quite simply, I enjoy it. I can’t stop. People ask me where I get all the energy from to keep going, and I joke that I’m on the pill. They believe me and want to know where to buy it for themselves!”

Marty and wife Karon Kate Blackwell take a break next weekend from their year-round headline cruise ship schedule for two days of shows here in hometown Las Vegas at the South Point on June 12 and 13.

“I hadn’t thought of comedy when I started out. I always wanted to be a journalist. I thought I’d look good in a trench coat,” he said. “I guess when I eventually retire, I will go right back to the beginning and start writing short stories. For now, though, we’re full steam ahead with shows on the high seas and really happy entertaining people and making them laugh. Working with Karon is a triple-threat package of my comedy and her singing and playing piano. We’ve become today’s Burns and Allen!”

After his World War II service in 1947, Marty took college writing courses and worked in small clubs in the Pittsburgh area before taking a shot at stardom in Hollywood. After auditioning for a dance revue in a Dancing With the Stars type lineup, he was told that he had won the part.

“I thought I was on the road, but I became the rear end of the horse act, and Virginia Mayo was the front end. We appeared in a halftime show for the L.A. Dons before they became the Rams. They had a rodeo routine, and unfortunately Red Rider’s horse fell in love with us -- snorting, foaming at the mouth and rubbing against us. I thought it was all over with my first job in showbiz!” he laughed.

Thanks to Sarah Vaughan, however, Marty was recommended to singer Nat King Cole and wound up doing opening act comedy. His future partner Steve Rossi was the production show’s singer as the dancing girls did their routines. Nat suggested that the two team up, and they gave it their first shot in Chicago.

“Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin were hot at the time, so it looked as if teaming up for comedy and song would work. The audiences loved it,” Marty recalled. “Nat brought us back for his shows, and that landed us the infamous night on Ed Sullivan’s show in 1964 when The Beatles made their debut on American television.

“I was the goofy guy with the wild hair, and I told John Lennon that a lot of people mistook me for him. I was breaking the ice, and it took a while for him to start laughing nervously. The kids in the audience were screaming so loud, I ran into the audience saying I was Ringo’s mother and dancing with them in the aisles. We scored heavily that night, and we wound up working with Lena Horne and even Sinatra. Steve and I were together 15 years, and it was a very amicable split. He’s doing a show on Broadway right now! I went on to do Hollywood Squares and Password and became the darling of the daytime game show business on television.

“I had one really serious dramatic acting role working with Barbara Stanwyck in The Big Valley. She told me I should do more acting instead of the comedy. One night in Nat King Cole’s dressing room, people visited from England and praised him as ‘brilliant’ and his show ‘as the essence of artistry.’ They told him the comedian was funny but very strange looking. Without missing a beat, Nat told them that on a visit to Fiji, one of the chiefs had given me to him as a parting gift. I didn’t know how funny he was until then, and I just love great clean humor!

“Today, we’re still cruising the seven seas. I think this year alone we hit Spain, Alaska, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal. We are always out and seldom home in Vegas because we enjoy it so much. The ships are packed, and we’re the headliners on the Captain’s Formal Night playing to 2,000 people. It’s not a vacation for us but a great way to work. Our vacation is staying home here in Vegas!”

Karon and Marty have been married 25 years. Their wedding ceremony was at author Sidney Sheldon’s home in Beverly Hills, Calif. They’d met at Cirios restaurant there when she worked with Burl Ives. When Marty and Steve appeared at the Stratosphere here, Karon was the show’s singer -- and that clinched the romance!

Marty concluded: “We keep the act clean. Some of today’s comics and singers are getting away with murder. We can’t believe the language they use. But all the parents love us and the kids, too. We can keep going another 10 years like this. My friend Ernest Borgnine is 91 and still going strong. I feel great. I read, I write, and I stay on the treadmill. We’ve got a lot of miles in us yet!”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground. Read more of Robin's stories at VegasDeLuxe.com.

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