.::DICEMBRE 2006::.

STEVE ROSSI

Approaching 75 with a Career in Full Gear

di LINDANN LO SCHIAVO

Italian Harlem is where he was born May 25, 1932 : Third Avenue and East 110th Street in Manhattan .  During the Depression, many left this ghetto; some were summoned by the draft, others got tangled in headlines, strung up by their names, and optimists followed the sun. 
This child headed to the West Coast with his father Giuseppe Tafarella, a native of Turin , and his mother, a New Yorker whose Sicilian parents emigrated from Messina .  His rich soprano won him a place in the Robert Mitchell Boy Choir at age 9. Touring, he learned to serenade God in seven languages including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. At 12 years old, he harmonized with Hollywood 's version of a priest - Bing Crosby - in "Going My Way" (1944); at 14, he sang in "The Jolson Story" (1946). What a debut: both pictures scored at the Academy Awards. 
Much as he loved being onscreen, he had a yearning for higher learning.  In 1949, Joseph Charles Tafarella entered Loyola University Marymount in Los Angeles on a scholarship, majoring in communication arts and theater. When he had the lead in "The Vagabond King" for the Civic Light Opera in Los Angeles in 1953, a blonde goddess in furs and jewels visited backstage. Mae West invited him to be in her new Las Vegas revue that would feature modern gladiators: Mr. Universe, Mr. America , Mr. World, and other musclemen. He wrote numbers for this crowd-pleasing show - "The Opposite Sex Now and Then," "In Dreams I Kiss Your Hand, Madame" - songs performed by a 15-piece orchestra as he fox-trotted with Mae. 
According to him, "Mae didn't put my name on the marquee at Ciro's because there was no room.  Then we went to the Sahara .  The night before we opened she called me up and said, 'I want to see you downstairs at the marquee.'  My entire name was across the whole marquee.  Her name was only seven letters.  She says, 'What name do you notice up there?' I said, 'To tell you the truth, I notice my name more than yours.' 'Why is that?'  asked Mae.  I said, 'Because I have 22 letters, and you only have seven.'  She concluded, 'From now on, your name is Steve Rossi.'"  For fourteen months, he was blazing through Vegas, his wagon hitched to a star.
Uncle Sam interrupted.  At Loyola, he had been in an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program; after graduation he was obligated to do two years of military service.  However, since the base commander was a Mae West fan, the movie queen got his orders put on hold so he could stay with her nightclub act for six more months. But even in uniform, he kept performing, doing a television show that would attract new recruits to the Air Force. 
Newly discharged, Steve went to grad school and earned a Master's degree in Greek and Latin.  "The line for Classics," he said, "was the shortest."  Smart and witty, he attracted the attention of California 's shock jock Don Sherwood [1925-1983], who included him in a popular program "San Francisco Tonight."  Making friends with many performers - such as singer Johnny Mathis and Nat King Cole - as he helped to put talent on TV, Steve met comedian Marty Allen.  They teamed up in 1957 and became America 's #1 comedy team, appearing on 700 TV shows including 44 appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and three of these occasions were with the Beatles in 1964.
In 1966, when Allen and Rossi signed with Paramount Pictures to make "The Last of the Secret Agents" (with Nancy Sinatra and Ed Sullivan), Steve walked into their dressing room and got a big thrill.  A plaque on the wall noted this had been Bing Crosby's quarters.  The duo kept their act going together - through three incarnations - for almost 30 years:
During the years with and without Marty Allen, Steve Rossi has worked with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Barbra Streisand, Jackie Mason, Trini Lopez, and many other notables, starred in movies, and guest-starred on TV and radio.  From 1985-1990, he was Howard Stern's manager.  He also produced 11 comedy albums and eight singing albums on such labels as RCA and Columbia .  His hit record "More," nominated for an Academy Award, sold two million copies. 
As he approaches his 75th birthday in May 2007, he is as busy as ever.  He's making another film with co-producer Michael Tessiero.   He does a live act weekly in top Las Vegas nightclubs. He's starring onstage at the Annenberg Theatre in "Senior Class -- A Musical Comedy of the Golden Years" in Palm Springs , California.  The plan is to bring the show to Broadway.  If that succeeds, the guys at Rao's and the folks from 110th Street will be in the first row.