His career as a stagehand over the last three decades has afforded Donald Garrity a unique perspective on the behind-the-scenes tics and tremors of the biggest stars in show business. With a few exceptions, he reported, most treated even the most humble prop man with respect and graciousness.
Among his favorites:
– Sammy Davis Jr.-“I first met him at the College Inn at the old Sherman House in Chicago in the ’60s,” Garrity remembered. “He was always very kind, one of the guys. He’d throw parties all the time and invite both cast and crew and make everybody feel equal.”
– Carol Channing-“We had two or three dozen stagehands working on “Hello, Dolly!” and she made a point to know every one by name. She was always very natural, never the least bit pretentious,” Garrity said.
– The Osmond family-“They wanted to get into corporate work in the mid-’70s and flew me to the family compound in Utah, where I stayed in one of the guest houses, called `star homes.’ They spent three days in friendly conversations with me about the corporate market and made me feel very much at home. They were Mormons and took me out to a restaurant one night, and Mrs. Osmond ordered a Dr. Pepper. I figured right then that wasn’t the place to order a scotch and soda.”
– Barry Manilow-“I worked with him at Ravinia one summer, and he put on a great show and then had dinner with both my kids, who were about 10 years old at the time, afterwards. He was very generous.”
Garrity remembered Barbra Streisand as “very aloof, extremely shy. She seemed to lack confidence in live performing by the 1970s.” As for the Jackson 5, whom Garrity met at the old Mill Run Playhouse, “They were a very normal-looking family. Michael Jackson seemed to be just like an ordinary 10-year-old kid.”
Garrity became friendly with Liza Minnelli, flying to Hollywood to help with her shows. But Frank Sinatra never warmed up to him. “He was always cordial to us, but he didn’t really associate with the crew,” Garrity recalled.
The tragic death of Janis Joplin in 1970 didn’t exactly surprise Garrity. A few years earlier at Ravinia, “I watched her put a whole fifth of rye on the stage and drink it by herself just between the rehearsal and performance. But she was a fun, outrageous drunk who would walk up to strangers during rehearsals and kiss them out of the blue.”
Kris Kristofferson wasn’t nearly so kind. Once drunk for a mid-1970s performance at Ravinia, Kristofferson started complaining in mid-show about the sound. Garrity was running the sound and knew there was nothing wrong with either microphone or speakers-it was all in Kristofferson’s imagination. When the star became obscene and abusive, Garrity suddenly switched the sound off. “Ed Gordon, the head of Ravinia, told me later I did the right thing,” Garrity related.
As he has turned to corporate shows, Garrity hasn’t lost touch with the stars. One client, McDonald’s Corp., has enlisted such talent as Bill Cosby, Barbara Mandrell, Kenny Rogers and Dom DeLuise for shows staged by Production Associates.
