Columnist Joe Delaney: Dangerfield’s career mirrors that of Churchill

Joe Delaney

Friday, Aug. 24, 2001 | 9:47 a.m.

Joe Delaney's column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@lasvegassun.com

Rodney Dangerfield is the Winston Churchill of standup comedy ... Churchill got little or no respect the first 50 years of his life; there was a succession of failures ... In fact he was 66 in 1940, Great Britain's prime minister, when he rose to the occasion and became one of the greatest statesmen of the past century ... Churchill died in 1965 at the age of 90.

Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen on Nov. 22, 1921 ... His early career as a comedian was less than spectacular ... He hung around Hanson's Drug Store in mid-town Manhattan with a group of hopefuls that included Lenny Bruce, Will Jordan and Joe Ancis ... Cohen had taken the name Jack Roy, one his father had used, working small-time clubs ... Things got worse.

For a period of 10 years, Cohen/Roy sold siding with Ancis ... Ancis was a very funny man with a skewed comic mind and a distinctive sound ... He wanted to be a comedian but his abilities never worked onstage ... Bruce became hot, using Jordan's ideas, freely given, and Ancis' sound and delivery.

Jordan is best known as an impressionist; his was the definitive Ed Sullivan carbon ... Other comics doing Sullivan were actually imitating Jordan's Sullivan ... Not yet Rodney Dangerfield, Roy decided to try his hand at comedy, worked the comedy clubs and contributed and sometimes sold jokes to other comics ...Taking the name Rodney Dangerfield was a master stroke.

Look what the name changes did for Arnold George Dorsey (Engelbert Humperdinck); Thomas Woodward (Tom Jones); and David Kotkin (David Copperfield) ... One more thing, a comedic hook, was needed for Dangerfield ... Georgie Starr, a comic and a good friend, created a bit where as a gangster, Dangerfield explained his activities by saying, "I don't get no respect."

That line fit Dangerfield's onstage persona perfectly ... His updated Henny Youngman-style delivery, the self-putdowns, that look of frustration, the suit and tie (now enshrined in the Smithsonian Museum), catapulted Dangerfield to stardom in films, on television and night clubs ... He hits the big 8-0 in November but the fire inside still burns just as bright.

Churchill and Dangerfield: Their careers are similar ... Dangerfield may not go down in history as one of the great comedians of this century -- or the past century, either -- but he has contributed his share of laughter to the world, along with helping fellow comedians and taking care of Ancis when his siding salesman partner fell on hard times.

Dangerfield is holding forth in the MGM Grand Hollywood theatre through Sept. 5 ... If you've never seen him in person, add him to your "must" list.

Weekend wrap-up

Olivia Newton-John, a talented, beautiful, courageous performer, is at the LV Hilton this weekend ... Her first Las Vegas appearance was as an opening act for the late Charlie Rich at the Hilton ... Don Rickles' contract was up for renewal at the Riviera ... Riviera president Ed Torres asked the late Joe Scandore, Rickles' manager, to check out Olivia Newton-John.

Torres could have had Newton-John for $30,000 per week at that time ... Scandore, thinking of Peter, Paul and Mary, turned Torres down, saying he didn't want any trios opening for Rickles ... He thought the act was Olivia, Newton and John ... Torres did book her later that year, but for top money ... Rickles moved back to the Sahara soon after.

Actors Repertory Theatre's season starts tonight at 8 o'clock with the Broadway musical "Annie" (Summerlin Library Theatre) ... Marv Koral's All-Stars featuring Carl Fontana play at the Jazzed Cafe next Wednesday ... See you next Thursday.