Al Shea 1929-2009

[PelicanGuy 117]

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl082009tpsheadies.fb63552e.html

 

Al Shea, city's first TV entertainment critic, dies at 80

 

Dominic Massa / Eyewitness News

 

Al Shea, the longtime New Orleans entertainment reviewer, writer and broadcaster, whose work at WDSU-TV in the 1950s and 1960s made him one of the first on-air critics in America, died Thursday morning. He was 80.

 

Since 1986, Shea had made weekly appearances as the theatre critic on the WYES-TV Friday night arts and entertainment roundtable “Steppin’ Out.” A special half-hour tribute show is being planned in his honor, according to station management. It will air August 28 at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 12.

 

Shea’s work at WYES made him one of the longest-running television broadcasters in the city, capping a 50-year career that included reviews for the city’s first television station, WDSU, several radio stations (including WWL, WGSO, WTPS and WSMB, where he hosted a daily show in the 1990s), as well as articles and weekly commentary for Gambit, New Orleans Magazine, Guide newspapers and Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide.

 

Just this year, Shea was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Big Easy Entertainment Awards.

 

Longtime New Orleans journalist and recently retired Times-Picayune theater critic David Cuthbert, who is also a playwright and lyricist, called Shea a fair and knowledgeable critic, who championed original local theatre throughout his career though he didn’t hold back his criticisms either.

 

"He bent over backwards to be fair, but if he didn't like something, he didn't like it and he said so,” Cuthbert said. “And he wouldn't budge from his opinion. I used to love to see him come out of a play and roll his eyes heavenward or mock-stagger as if something had hit him.”

 

“But he always found something to like -- an actor, the set, the lights, the music. And he always gave one more 'clap' than he had to," Cuthbert said.

A native New Orleanian, Shea’s own acting career included early performances on 1940s radio soap operas on WWL Radio and programs with Jill Jackson and Terry Flettrich, with whom he would later work for many years on the landmark WDSU program “Midday.”

 

Early in his life, Shea also began acting in children’s performances at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, while also writing and appearing weekly on a WNOE radio program, “The Little Red School House.”

 

After a brief stint in the Navy and a move to New York City where he appeared in one off-off Broadway comedy, Shea returned to New Orleans and worked as a continuity writer at the now-defunct WTPS-AM.

 

He began his television career at WDSU in 1955, fittingly enough as an actor, appearing in productions staged for a weekly theatre program called “Tulane Closeup” while he was attending Tulane University. He had appeared on WDSU programs even before that, including a high school show called “Teen Timers.”

 

Shea parlayed his WDSU experience into a role as a floor director, commercial actor and even children’s show host, on two Channel 6 programs of the 1950s, “Tip Top Space Ship” and “Adventures in Fun” as Deputy Oops, where one of his props was a light bulb equipped with a foot pedal, which Shea would press as he talked to his imaginary co-star.

 

“At the time, we didn’t know anything else, so we weren’t afraid of the red light on the camera. You know, now you’re just kind of afraid of the red light, but then you had to just do it,” Shea recalled in a 2003 interview.

 

He contributed the voice and mannerisms for the sidekick to a New Orleans holiday icon, Mr. Bingle, appearing as “Pete the Penguin” on Bingle programs aired on WDSU each Christmas season.

 

Shea’s work as a deputy to former WDSU program director Jerry Romig gave him a hand in the creation and development of some of the station’s most popular and long-running programs, including Wayne Mack’s “The Great MacNutt,” (which Shea developed) along with “Second Cup” (for which he helped recruit popular hosts Bob and Jan Carr) and “Midday,” the show which catapulted host Terry Flettrich into New Orleans TV stardom.

 

"When Terry took over, I wrote special material. One year I edited 'Christmas Carol,' with Bob Carr as Bob Cratchit and Wayne Mack as Scrooge,” Shea recalled in a 1989 Times-Picayune interview. “I started doing reviews and stuff in '59 or '60. About the same time, Bob and Jan were doing 'Second Cup' from 9 to 9:30 and I wrote that.”

 

Shea’s first theatre review on “Midday” followed a conversation with Scoop Kennedy, the longtime New Orleans journalist who did theatre reviews for the program.

 

“Scoop did a review of a play at the Little Theatre, which I had seen. It was terrible, and he loved it,” Shea recalled in 2003. “So afterwards, I said ‘Scoop, how can you say that about that show?’ He said, ‘I’m not going to say anything terrible about the Little Theatre. Those are my people, Papa.’”

 

Seemingly taken aback by his young co-worker’s honesty, Kennedy asked Shea if he would be interested in doing theatre reviews, and before long Shea had developed a niche on the program, doing critical reviews and celebrity interviews from 1963 until 1973.

 

In addition to interviewing celebrities who traveled to New Orleans venues like the Blue Room and Beverly Dinner Theatre, Shea would make annual trips to Hollywood and Broadway for celebrity segments.

 

His scrapbook is filled with photos of many of those on-set interviews, with stars such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Burt Reynolds, Leslie Caron, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Van Johnson, Dick Van Dyke and countless others from Hollywood’s golden age. Memorable Blue Room interviews included Connie Stevens, the Andrews Sisters, Ethel Merman and Mel Torme, just to name a few.

 

But it was Shea’s role as a booster and sometimes critic of local theatrical performances for which he is best known. His reviews, which during his years on WDSU were among the few on-air critiques, helped encourage and recognize the best in local theater, developing the city’s reputation as a home for Broadway-caliber performances. For a local actor, four claps on his “Steppin’ Out” applause meter meant a seal of approval from a theatre veteran.

 

Shea’s own acting career featured performances at Le Petit, Gallery Circle and Tulane University, including a wide range of dramatic roles (“The Crucible” and “Mr. Roberts”), musicals (“Bye Bye Birdie”) and even children’s shows (“Puss in Boots”).

 

His career also included a stint as publicity director for the United Way, and a local advertising agency, as well as hosting a book review program for WGNO-TV.

 

Shea is survived by three children and four grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.

 

The family asks that contributions be made to the Al Shea Memorial Scholarship Fund through Tulane University. Contributions may be made through any Chase bank branch.

[newsguy22 59]

Sad news. I used to listen to him on WSMB and would occasionally see him on Steppin' Out on WYES. Seemed like a very nice gentleman.

 

On a related note (aging New Orleans presonalities), anyone catch WWL-TV's Hurricane Camille anniversary story with Nash Roberts. It's on the website. Good to see he's still around, and still coherent. Hope he sticks around for a long time to come. Sad that we don't see him on air anymore.