Word: local
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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These lessons took root, and Johnny was soon up for a part in one of Helen's productions down at the local high school. He wanted a role as big as Brother Joey's, balked at taking second billing and toddled out of the show. He consoled himself with such pursuits as organizing backyard carnivals and starting a bowling alley in the basement with croquet balls and milk bottles (20¢ per game, soda pop a nickel extra). He did extravagant, free-form tap dances in front of the TV, imitating Cagney ("I loved him. He was so loving and sensitive...
...most gifted of the brood. At six, Johnny was off visiting Sister Ellen in a road company of Gypsy. "He'd mouth all Merman's songs from the records," she remembers, "and he could dance every part." When he was nine, he got his first part in a local workshop production of Who'll Save the Plowboy? A retrospective appreciation from Mom: "He had only two or three lines, but he said them so meaningfully...
Along with his tutorials in ethnic rhythms, Travolta had also enrolled for professional dancing lessons at a local school run by Fred Kelly (brother of Gene). Reinforced by the enthusiasm of Sam and Helen and looming academic catastrophe, Travolta left school and home at 16. "I decided I was good enough to compete with the professionals," he remembers. "So I went into New York City...
...Manchester, England, to Barbara (a former nightclub singer) and Hugh Gibb (leader of a 13-piece dance band on a ferryboat), the brothers started singing in public in 1955 due to technical difficulties. Barry, then nine, and the twins Robin and Maurice, three years younger, would show up at local Manchester movie palaces and come out between shows as the Rattlesnakes, dancing and moving their lips to pop records piped in from backstage. One day the record broke just as they were about to do a Tommy Steele ditty, and the Rattlesnakes were on their own. "We had a natural...
Shortly afterward the Gibbs moved to Australia, eventually settling in a resort town called Surfers Paradise, where the boys-now known as the BGs-played some local clubs. The brothers' persistence landed them a record contract in Sydney, where, says Barry, "we proceeded to have about 14 flops in a row." Adds Maurice: "For that you get a chocolate record-and it melts." Undismayed, they announced that they wanted to go to England and elbow into the pop explosion. Dad at first opposed the plan and threatened to have his sons' passports canceled, then abruptly changed course...