Saturday, April 13, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENNY!

3 comments:

Chic Silber said...


I believe that it was one of the

Cristianis that gave Kenny Dodd

the nickname "Tweety"

Roger Smith said...

One of the classic whiteface clowns of our time. Many happy returns, Kenny.

Lane Taburt said...

Kenny recently told me that he got the nickname after accompanying the Cristianis to a movie theater at Syossett, Long Island, on a Sunday off (the exact date being August 10, 1957). The next day Belmonte came into the men's dressing tent on the Cristiani show and remarked, "You look like Tweety," the character in the cartoon shown with "La Strada." (And anyone who knows Kenny is aware of his encyclopedic memory.) Though Dodd never used it in the ring, the nickname stuck. This is one of many jackpots Kenny has shared as I've pieced together a story on his career for a future issue of "Bandwagon," the Circus Historical Society mag. Happy birthday, Mr. Dodd.