Larry Storch

How far did Larry Storch, who died today six months before his 100th birthday, go back?

He hosted a show on the Du Mont network. Du Mont hasn’t been around for 65 years.

He appeared on the Fred Allen radio show. The show hasn’t been around since 1949.

He made a guest appearance on Duffy’s Tavern. That was in 1946.

In the ‘40s, Storch was a hit in nightclubs. He did imitations. It’s believed people started saying “Judy, Judy, Judy” when doing impressions of Cary Grant because Storch did it in his act (Grant never said the line).

His biggest TV break came in the early ‘50s when he replaced Jackie Gleason for a summer. But it didn’t lead to very much work in television, so he did films and clubs until 1965 rolled around and he was offered a co-starring role on F Troop. While the series aired, he found work voicing cartoon characters at Warner Bros. and then Filmation; Total TV got him to do his fine Frank Morgan impersonation as Mr. Whoopee on Tennessee Tuxedo before this.

But I think people pretty much know him as Corporal Agarn.

When the show aired, columnists wanted to talk to Forrest Tucker. He was the big name on the series. But we’ve found an interview with Storch that touches little on the show, but more on his life at the time. This is from December 28, 1965.

Actor Buys House, Gets $10,000 Off by Taking Cat
By VERNON SCOTT
HOLLYWOOD (UPI) -Larry Storch, the corporal with the low brow and lower boiling point on television's new "F Troop" series, saved $10,000 on his new home by agreeing to keep a cat that went with the place.
"It's true," Storch says.
"My wife and I fell in love with this big, rambling Ponderosa type house up in Nichols Canyon. It was very expensive, but the owner said he'd knock ten grand off the price if we let his cat live there.
"So we bought the place and we still have the cat. His name is Charlie, and pound for pound he lives better than I do."
Company For Cat
Charlie is visited now and again by his former master, an invasion which Storch accepts with a shrug. Charlie also has companion, a Siamese recently purchased by the Storches.
"The new cat's name is Pablo, and he and Charlie get along like brothers. But only after Charlie beat him up."
Larry and his wife, Norma Booth, an AAU swimming champion of the 1940s, have been married four years. But they were engaged for 15 years.
Storch explains: "We wanted to make sure it wasn't puppy love. She proposed to me one day, and I said, 'Okay, let's shake on it.'"
They have an adopted daughter, June, 11.
The Storch home has two bedrooms, two baths, two fire places, a steam room, sauna bath and swimming pool. It si ts high atop a peak in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Los Angeles and Hollywood.
One-Car Family
Larry is that rare television star who owns but a single automobile, a flashy sports model. He's up by 6:30 every morning for a cup of tea with Norma. She drives him to work at Warner Bros, for the ABC-TV series and picks him up in the evening.
A successful night club comedian before turning to television, Storch had made his headquarters in New York. He moved to Hollywood three years ago, buying the house (and Charlie) little more than year ago.
"My astrologer said all my vibrations were coming from the west," he says. "And he was right. I'm crazy about life in California. It's the most gracious way of living in the world. Everyone seems to get along better, especially when I think of the mad dogs in New York."
Storch is an introspective man who examines the success of "F Troop" with combined suspicion and relief. After trooping around the country for so many years he can hardly believe his good fortune.
Because Norma still keeps in shape swimming in their pool, Larry has taken up the sport and is anxious to try his skill at SCUBA diving.
Reclusive Comedian
Socially he is almost a recluse. He has hundreds of hi-fi records which he enjoys listening to by the hour. When nobody's listening he joins the recording by honking away on a saxophone which he plays badly.
The Storch family entertains informally when friends stop by for a swim and pot luck. Most of his friends are in show biz and include co-stars Forrest Tucker, Ken Berry and such long-time buddies as Jerry Lester and Buddy Hackett.
"I'm no gourmet," Storch says, "but I enjoy Norma's cooking. She's the most daring cook in the world. I bought her a book on Japanese dishes, and by golly she became an expert at it."
At home Storch can be found stumbling around in blue jeans, T-shirts and bare-footed.
"It's all part of living comfortably," he explains.



How often do actors follow up a success with a real bomb? Larry Storch was one.

He was hired as a co-star on a show that had smatterings of Bilko. Storch appeared opposite Billy De Wolfe in a mid-season replacement called The Queen and I, the ironic title of which could not have been lost on some in Hollywood, including De Wolfe. The story is from January 12, 1969. I don’t recall Pat Morita being on McHale’s Navy.

Sailing With Storch in a New Comedy
By CHARLES WITBECK
HOLLYWOOD — Life below deck comes to the tube in "The Queen and I," a new half-hour comedy Thursday nights on CBS at 7:30 p.m. beginning January 16, with purser Larry Storch, a con man with a thin veneer of class, conspiring against Billy De Wolfe's First Officer Nelson, representing the Establishment, law and order aboard a 25,000-ton cruise ship, the M.S. Queen.
Instead of playing cavalry corporal in the slapstick "F Troop," Larry Storch, remains in dark blue, shifting his base of operations to hustling on the high seas. He books bingo parties on the ship, catered dinners, anything to keep the old girl in business. In one script purser Duffy runs a no-cruise for a passenger who is never allowed on deck, an assignment requiring the aid of a crafty crew. Duffy and his men would even sell the liner if the price was right.
Keeping Duffy in line is the job of First Officer Oliver W. Nelson, the man who really believes he should be running the ship, a spit and polish carper who barks "Don't ever touch an officer" when the purser puts a hand on his shoulder. The role compares to Billy De Wolfe's previous job as a radio station manager on "Good Morning World," only De Wolfe now has the whole crew to boss. Originally, Billy was cast as the Captain, but shifted because the boss would have to be too polite.
"The Queen and I" pilot began filming in early fall under the Bing Crosby, label, created by Howard Leeds and handled by "Hogan's Heroes" head man, Ed Feldman, with the idea of a September '69 slot. Network buyers asked to see the pilot before it was completed. Star Storch fell ill during the filming so network all he had, which was enough to warrant a go-ahead for five episodes and a January starting time.
Feldman continues to run "Hogan's Heroes" and the ship comedy, besides directing the first few episodes, calling on "Hogan" writers like Arthur Julian and Lawrence Marks for broad, slapstick scripts. The only cruise Feldman ever took occurred in World War II on the government, but he can rely on Marks, who wrote a book called "Always Go First Class", and is noted for a yearly ocean voyage. Arthur Julian relates closely to star Larry Storch, writing some of the wildest "F Troop" shows, so time won't be lost in workers getting to know each other.
In the midst of filming show number one after the pilot, an episode examining the question of computers replacing members, director Feldman gave me a shipboard tour on Paramount's stage 16, through galleys, captain's quarters, the bridge and out onto realistic wooden decks surrounded by properly stained aged bulwarks. We stood before the wheel and the navigational gismos, looking out on a painted sky blue background, and Feldman said proudly, "We even rock a little on the show," It's imperceptible, hardly enough to make viewers squeamish."
Their Feldman went back to business filming purser Duffy in pajamas and a bright red bath robe, being served dinner by chef Barney (Pat Morita) and Becker (Carl Ballantine) holdovers from "McHale's Navy." Duffy was served a vintage wine amid plans to destroy First Officer Nelson, and he handled the stuff like a connoisseur.
"I don't want to come off too polished a character," Storch announced between takes.
Describing his character a minute later, Storch, on the lookout for divebombing stage bees, said the purser was real fira steak and ketchup man who learned French from the back of a wine bottle: "Duffy has this veneer picked up on cruises. He goes from champagne to beer, and he's glib, using corny lines to old women like 'Haven't I seen you in movies'."
"F Troop" fans shouldn't be disappointed in Storch's con man, and they'll hear all the Storch dialects and listen to his saxophone right off the bat. Even magician Carl Ballantine slips in card tricks to amuse passengers in a series that won't contain quite the slapstick of the Marx Brothers in their famous shipboard compartment scene, but Feldman promises plenty of broad comedy, and has the horses for the job.

That write-up is more than the series deserved. But Storch deserves recognition, as he could count his professional days back 80 years to the Rainbow Room in Asbury Park and Loew's State in New York. And, in a way, to the days just after the Civil War in a place called Fort Courage.