Friday, Dec. 21, 2001 | 9:28 a.m.
Joe Delaney's column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or [email protected]
Tony Orlando, hosting his onstage Christmas Party this weekend in The Orleans Showroom, has few peers when it comes to involving the entire audience in his performance ... Every show is really a high-energy party ... He has achieved most of those dreams of show-business success that he had as a child up on the roof of his parent's apartment house on the west side of Manhattan.
Orlando's recording career includes five No. 1 Billboard-chart singles; a hit television variety series that lasted four years, starring roles on Broadway, most recently in a revival of "Smokey Joe's Cafe"; winner of two American Music Awards and a People's Choice Award as Entertainer of the Year, plus similar awards in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
At age 16 he was making the rounds of New York City music publishers, along with Carole King, whose "Tapestry" album holds the record for number of consecutive weeks on the best-seller charts ... King wrote Orlando's first hit, "Halfway to Paradise." Along came the Beatles and the other Brits, and Orlando opted for a music-business desk job.
He became the youngest vice president ever at Columbia, now Sony, as general professional manager of that label's April/Blackwood music publishing arm ... While there he was responsible for signing James Taylor and Laura Nyro, among others ... While still with Columbia, he recorded two hits with Dawn, "Candida" and "Knock Three Times," for another label.
Record producer and good friend Hank Medress was responsible for this series of events which led to Orlando's departure from the publishing business ... While all this was going on, Orlando was also the record producer for Barry Manilow's first recording on the Bell label ... Next came "Tie A Yellow Ribbon," which led to a career as a headliner in various media,
The story goes that Orlando was on an all-star tour ... Bobby Vinton conducted the backup band ... Vinton had records on the charts and Orlando offered him "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" ... Vinton suggested Orlando record it himself and the rest is show business history.
A Christmas story
Here's a tale that has previously been told: New York City was typical for Dec. 24, any year, with rain, snow and sleet making one cold to the bone ... Fifth Avenue, between 34th and 57th streets, was solid with stolid, harried last-minute shoppers ... At that time, Steuben Glass had its showroom at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue ... We had gone inside to escape the cold when we spied a glass owl.
We have always collected owls, but after learning the price we decided it was too much for our means .. We opted to buy it anyway, only to learn it was the last one in stock and spoken for ...The sales person was a woman ... We later learned she was on the other side of 80, very wealthy, lived in upstate New York and worked at the store two weeks before Christmas every year.
The customer who wanted the owl had not put down a deposit but said he would return before the store closed ... Christmas Eve was on a Saturday that year ... Our sales person had taken the order ... Disappointed but much warmer, we thanked her and reluctantly headed out into the weather ... We opened our presents on Christmas morning, except for one small token item.
At 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve, there had been a delivery from Steuben's ... The package was put under the tree for Christmas morning ... It was the owl; no card, no message ... I felt a sudden warmth which was quickly dissipated when my first wife assured me she did not order it ... We had left our name, address and phone number at Steuben's, just in case.
The owl was actually a gift from the sales lady ... We learned Monday morning that she always left instructions that no one was to be given her name or address ... We looked for her the following Christmas only to learn that she had passed away that fall ... The owl is still with me, along with that memory of the true spirit of Christmas ... Enjoy your holiday ... See you next Thursday.
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