[78-L] fwd: Al Alberts obit

[Cary Ginell]

I interviewed Alberts on the phone when I annotated a box set on the Four Aces for a Reader's Digest box set in 1998. He took credit for getting a choreographer to work with the group on their stage act, claiming all of the groups that followed the Aces copied from them, a dubious claim at best.

Cary Ginell

> Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:52:26 -0500
> From: dlennick at sympatico.ca
> To: 78-L at 78online.com
> Subject: [78-L] fwd: Al Alberts obit
> 
> Anthony di Florio just passed this along.  dl
> 
> -----------
> 
> Al Alberts, singer and TV host, dies at 87
> 
> By Michael Klein and Sam Wood
> 
> INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
> 
> Al Alberts, 87, the singing star who changed careers to champion thousands of 
> youngsters on his TV show Al Alberts' Showcase, died this morning at his home 
> in central Florida.
> 
> As she had been since their marriage in 1953, his wife, Stella, was at his side.
> 
> Stella Alberts said her husband had been ill for several weeks with circulatory 
> problems in his legs but previously had been in good health. "All of a sudden, 
> God took him," she said. His son Chris, a director for the New Candlelight 
> Theatre in Wilmington, said the apparent cause of death was complications from 
> kidney failure.
> 
> Mr. Alberts rose to fame in the 1950s as one of The Four Aces, whose hits 
> included "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing," "Stranger in Paradise" and the Jule 
> Styne number "Three Coins in a Fountain."
> 
> But generations of Philadelphians knew him as "Uncle Al," a tuxedoed fatherly 
> figure with a white pompadour, blinding smile and infinite patience, as he gave 
> screen time to young singers, hoofers, and comedians on Saturdays.
> 
> The program started on Channel 48 in 1968 and two years later moved to Channel 
> 6. His show, which also toured local theaters, launched the careers of such 
> performers as Andrea McArdle, Sister Sledge, Teddy Pendergrass, and Jarrod Spector.
> 
> "It was like going to church - a staple of life in Philadelphia," said McArdle, 
> the first star of Annie on Broadway. She was 8 or 9 when she first appeared on 
> the Showcase.
> 
> Mr. Alberts' wife was "Aunt Stella" to the show's performers: 6-year-old "Teeny 
> Boppers," 7-to-14-year-old "Gold Nuggets" and 14-to-19-year-old "Show 
> Stoppers." All had dragged their mommies to the monthly audition at J&A 
> Caterers in South Philadelphia.
> 
> "To a wannabe thespian or entertainer, his show was our American Idol," McArdle 
> said. "I just remember getting a spot on his show was, at the time, as big as 
> getting Annie to me." To her, the Albertses were "extended family," and she 
> later joined Mr. Alberts in his frequent charity appearances.
> 
> "He knew where his success came from - it came from the people," said Gerry 
> Wilkinson, a historian with the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. "The people 
> loved him."
> 
> Steven Sacks, Mr. Alberts' longtime cameraman, said: "He had a way with 
> children. If they didn't get something right, he would ask them over and over 
> again."
> 
> W. Carter Merbreier, TV's Captain Noah, said Mr. Alberts "took great delight in 
> any of them bridging the gap from his show to national fame. He could have made 
> a business career out of squeezing them dry, but he didn't. He was behind them 
> the whole way."
> 
> Mr. Alberts told an interviewer in 1985: "I have never gotten to the point 
> during an audition where I said, 'OK, kid, that's enough.' I let them have 
> their three minutes in the sun."
> 
> Mr. Alberts' own career began before World War II as a piano player and singer 
> on The Horn & Hardart Children's Hour, a radio show.
> 
> He was born Al Albertini on Aug. 10, 1922. He was graduated from South 
> Philadelphia High. Shortly after the war, Mr. Alberts, his Navy buddy Dave 
> Mahoney, Sod Vaccaro and Lou Silvestri formed the Four Aces, who first 
> performed in a Prospect Park milk bar downstairs from a bookie joint.
> 
> Their first hit single was called "It's No Sin" and was aimed at Delaware 
> County college students before they left for summer vacation. Released on the 
> group's own label, it sold more than a million copies.
> 
> "All the boy bands [today] call upon that tight harmony," McArdle said.
> 
> In 1958, with rock and roll crashing in on the Aces' style, Mr. Alberts left 
> the Aces and toured as a solo act for 10 years. The group later lost the rights 
> to the Four Aces name in a federal court decision.
> 
> "If he did miss being a big star, he didn't show it," said Sacks, the 
> cameraman. "He loved being around Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. Every 
> once in a while, he did a nightclub act. That kept him fulfilled. . . . I think 
> he chose this the way he wanted. He could have been on the road 10 times more, 
> but that's not what he wanted."
> 
> The Albertses retired at the end of 1999 and moved to Florida shortly after. 
> Even after his retirement, Mr. Alberts had a way of bubbling into the regional 
> consciousness. Each year as Memorial Day approaches, Mr. Alberts' ditty "On the 
> Way to Cape May" draws hundreds of requests, said Ross Brittain, who hosts the 
> morning show on classic-hits WOGL (98.1): "It's the traditional summer song."
> 
> After Mr. Alberts left Channel 6, he also produced Harmony, a weekly big-band 
> radio show.
> 
> Besides his wife and son, Mr. Alberts is survived by son Al Jr. and a grandson.
> 
> Stella Alberts said a memorial would be held in Florida at a later date. She 
> said her husband's ashes would be scattered at sea.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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