Mark Johnson brought this special show to our attention, and it was reported in the St. Louis Park Dispatch in August 1958. Here are the details, with Mark’s remembrances of the event.
Harold Field booked Minneapolis Tribune columnist Will Jones to emcee what was billed as the first “kiddie revue” to be staged since 1931 when Field staged the original series of shows at the State Theater. Field selected 11 children ages 10 to 14 from 160 applicants. The accompanist was the legendary Jeanne Arland Peterson.
Participants from St. Louis Park were:
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Saucy Patty Feld sang “Give Me a Little Kiss” to the bald-headed guys along the aisle.
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Dean Rosen was a dancer.
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Patty Tuttle was a cute blond acrobatic performer.
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Judith Light was a wisp of a girl that did a ballet number.
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Marlene Sigal, classical pianist
Other participants were:
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13-year-old ventriloquist Mark Johnson (Minneapolis) and his pal Rusty Hinges sang “Candy Man” and sparked up patter written by Will Jones.
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Sanford (Stan) Freese (Edina) played “Hold That Tiger” on the tuba. Mark says that Stan was already a virtuoso tuba player. Stan toured and performed with the U of M band, led by Frank Bencriscutto, overseas before he went to work for Disneyland as music director. Stan recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Orange County Music Association.
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Clifford Schultz (Janesville) was a singer with a golden soprano voice.
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Sharon Case and Michael Martin (Farmington) were dancers.
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Larry Bennett (West Concord) was a good-size kid who played Lady of Spain on the accordian.
Mark says: “The Trib article doesn’t mention Barbara Hasselberg, but I could have sworn she was in the show and did a Hawaiian Dance and an interpretive Arabian dance with veils. She went on to compete in the Miss America pageant as Miss Minnesota.
“The show probably ran Wednesday through Sunday afternoon, perhaps two shows on Saturday. The movie, “All Mine to Give” was a new release but was a real tear-jerker that didn’t help pull the audience numbers the performers deserved. Harold Field’s son, Martin also figured prominently in preparations for the show. Jeanne Arland Peterson the accompanist added a lot of sparkle.”
“Several performers, including Stan, Patty Feld, Barbara and Mark later joined a Teen Show that was booked by entertainment agent, Harry Habata, who called Mark the “Youthful Double-Talker.” We played many Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin county fairs and corporate events over the next few summers.”
Mark is also a violinist with a repertoire of over 500 songs. He and Rusty Hinges went on to entertain at Valleyfair and for corporate events, holiday parties and private banquets and Twin Cities health care facilities. Mark also has acted in productions at Dudley Riggs, Old Log Theater, Bloomington Civic Theater and Theater in the Round. Meanwhile, he’s written advertising and radio commercials and has done voice-overs. He taught ventriloquism to Branson’s Todd Oliver who’s appeared on Lettermen, Leno, Craig Ferguson and other shows with his talking dogs.