Ray Heatherton
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Ray Heatherton (June 1, 1909 – August 15, 1997) was a American singer, Broadway musical theatre performer, and a popular New York television personality in the early days of the medium.
[edit] Early career
Ray Heatherton was born in Orange, New Jersey (some sources give Jersey City) and first introduced to music when he joined a local boys' choir at his church. He sang with the choir until his family moved to Floral Park, New York.
During his high school years, he continued to find outlets for his singing talents. He performed with bands at various local functions and won a radio talent contest sponsored by the manufacturer of radio sets Atwater Kent. His first appearance on Broadway was in The Garrick Gaieties, which opened at Guild Theatre on June 4, 1930, four days after Ray's 21st birthday. Also in the cast were future comedy veterans Imogene Coca and Sterling Holloway. The show ran for 158 performances, closing on October 8.
Shortly afterwards, Ray's singing talents came to the attention of renowned "King of Jazz" bandleader-songwriter Paul Whiteman, who hired the young man to become a featured vocalist on his late 1920's] CBS musical radio program The Old Gold Hour. Heatherton continued to sing on the show, while also performing in the musical Midnight Frolics at Manhattan's New Amsterdam Theatre.
Following his father's death during the difficult years of the Depression, he was temporarily forced to leave the financially-uncertain world of show business to work for the New York Telephone Company. The allure, however, was too strong and Heatherton returned to radio, where he continued to perform on many musical variety series and also found opportunities to perform in nightclubs and theater. He had his own orchestra that recorded and performed at the Biltmore Hotel in NYC.
[edit] Broadway shows, recordings and pre-World War II television
Heatherton appeared in the musicals The Desert Song, Anniversary Waltz and Babes in Arms, where he became the first male vocalist to sing the hit tune "My Funny Valentine", long before Frank Sinatra's hit recording revived it in the 1960s. Also in the cast of Babes were The Nicholas Brothers, future stars Dan Dailey and Alfred Drake as well as former child star Mitzi Green with whom Ray performed the "Funny Valentine" number. The show opened at the Shubert Theatre on April 14, 1937, moved to the Majestic Theatre on October 25 and closed on December 18 after a good run of 289 performances.
In 1938 Heatherton recorded two children's records for the Decca label and in 1939 twice performed on the then-experimental medium of television, appearing on NBC's New York station W2XBS (now WNBC) in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance (as Frederic) and H.M.S. Pinafore (as Ralph Rackstraw).
[edit] Single film appearance and war service in the Marines
As World War II arrived, Ray's career in the entertainment field was interrupted by service in the U.S. Marine Corps. Before leaving, he was able to complete what would become his only film appearance, performing a song and a few lines of dialogue in low-budget studio PRC's musical Follies Girl, released on June 26, 1943.
[edit] Early television and The Merry Mailman
Returning from the service, he worked in radio and began his full-time television career as the host, performer, and interviewer of Heatherton House, a weekday-morning talk/variety series. Heatherton House was one of the first daytime programs on ABC's newly-opened New York flagship station WJZ (now WABC), Channel 7. The series was broadcast during the Spring of 1949 and was seen only locally. It went off the air after a few weeks.
Heatherton's next TV series, however, was a more successful endeavor. In October 1949, New York's independent station WOR-TV, Channel 9 signed on the air for the first time. The station was in need of a quality children's program, so executives at WOR contacted Heatherton and asked him to audition as the host of one of their first kids' TV series. He agreed, and the successful audition became the start of the long-running show that he created and shaped with radio and TV producer-director (and future major film producer) Sandy Howard. The show was based upon a character that Heatherton performed on one of his children's disks in 1938. The Merry Mailman debuted on WOR-TV Monday evening, October 16, 1950.
Every weekday afternoon and evening, as well as on Saturday afternoons, The Merry Mailman Ray Heatherton and his comedy assistants Milt Moss and "The Topsey-Turvey Auctioneer" Chic Darrow would entertain and inform their studio audiences and the kids at home with games, songs, stories, craftmaking, hobbies, comedy, puppet skits, magic tricks, interviews with guest performers and personalities, and informational segments. As with virtually all children's shows of the 1950s 60s, the format was structured so that the live segments were interspersed with cartoons-- in this case, primarily the theatrical Terrytoons and the first made-for-TV animated series Crusader Rabbit. At the same time, Heatherton hosted other radio and TV series, including a radio edition of The Merry Mailman which was heard on The Mutual Radio Network Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1953 to 1955.
[edit] Career setback and continued work
In late 1955, Ray Heatherton fell victim to one of the excesses of the Cold War era. Along with the guilty, a number of innocent performers were accused of Communist affiliations and lost their careers. Unfounded public accusations of that nature were aimed at Heatherton by an individual from Upstate New York, resulting in the loss of sponsors and bad publicity for the station. WOR executives accepted Heatherton's word that the allegations were false and tried to keep The Merry Mailman on the air as a station-sustained program. It was not enough, however, and The Merry Mailman broadcast its final show on Friday, March 22, 1956.
Heatherton was able to clear his name of the defamation and went on to host two more programs for WOR-TV: The Ray Heatherton Theater, a combination live-action and film musical anthology series for teens; and The Cartoon Parade. Both programs were seen during the remainder of WOR's 1956 season. Heatherton also served as the sea captain host-performer on the weekend evening edition of The Popeye Show on another New York independent station, WPIX-TV, Channel 11 from Saturday and Sunday, September 8 and 9, 1956 to Sunday, April 13, 1958.
Between 1958 and 1961, he went into a new career as the head of public relations for Franklin National and European American Banks, The Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO) was a member of Board of Directors, and The Garden City Hotel{mid 1980's to early 1990's}
[edit] The 1960s and the return of The Merry Mailman
Heatherton returned to television and radio work three more times during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. On Monday, September 23, 1961 The Merry Mailman was once again a part of the lives of children in the New York City broadcast area. WPIX, Channel 11 broadcast The Merry Mailman's Funhouse weekday afternoons during the noon-12:45 period when many schoolchildren came home for lunch. However, the series fell prey to creative problems from station management and The Merry Mailman's Funhouse went off the air on Friday, May 31, 1963.
[edit] Family, later work, illness, and death
Ray Heatherton married Davenie Ross Watson in 1941 and their 46-year marriage lasted until her death in 1987. Their two children, Dick and Davenie Johanna (Joey), both made their careers in show business—Dick as a performer/director/consultant and Joey as an actress, singer and dancer, who became a major television star in the 1960s. Ray's son Dick Heatherton was a D.J. on NYC radio station WCBS-FM from the mid 1970's to the late 1980's. He did the drive time show. Later on he produced Ray's "New Day Dawning" tv show.
In July 1975, Ray and Joey had a brief moment of network glory with their own TV variety hour, Joey and Dad. Times had changed and variety shows, as well as Joey's once-hot career fell victim to changing tastes, while Ray was seen on TV at the time as the commercial spokesman for Tropicana Orange Juice. However, for four weeks, July 6 – 27, they were the stars of the Sunday 7:30-8:30 p.m. summer replacement for Cher's variety hour. Comedy performers Pat Paulsen, Henny Youngman and Bob Einstein were supporting regulars and, by summer-show standards, the program received relatively good notices and ratings. In a nostalgic moment on the first show, Ray put on his old Merry Mailman uniform and performed his familiar "I am the Merry Mailman" theme song.
During the late 1960's, Heatherton returned to radio as the host/performer and interviewer of a nationally-syndicated talk/variety program Ray Heatherton's Breakfast Club. His last regular TV series was another talk/variety show, this time aimed at "mature" adults and senior citizens, A New Day's Dawning. This final series was seen locally in New York on New York City Board of Education's TV station WNYE, Channel 25 and in national syndication between 1983 and 1985. On Thursday night, October 11, 1984, Ray Heatherton appeared for the last time on WOR-TV, Channel 9 during the station's evening-long celebration of its 35th anniversary on the air. Four years later he made his final TV appearance on a very similar program, WPIX-TV, Channel 11's day-long celebration and retrospective of its 40 years on the air "WPIX at 40" on Thursday night, September 29, 1988. Following this last appearance, Ray Heatherton began showing signs of Alzheimer's disease.
In 1993, he was admitted to The Actor's Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. Despite the debilitating effects of the disease he was still able to entertain at some local functions near the Home. Ray Heatherton died two months after his 88th birthday.
