| Interment Location | Visited | |
|---|---|---|
| Mission Hills, CA | April 5, 2023 |
There is little sense in me trying to top the Hollywood Reporter‘s description of Marty Allen, “the bubble-eyed comedian whose Brillo pad-like hair always looked as if it were trying to escape from his head[.]” The zany Allen and straight man Steve Rossi comprised the powerhouse comedy duo Allen & Rossi from 1957 to 1968. They frequently showcased their talent in nightclubs and on television, with upwards of 700 TV appearances during their eleven-year partnership. A member of the Las Vegas Hall of Fame, Allen is buried in Mission Hills, Los Angeles. His gravestone reads, “‘Hello Dere’ from Heaven,” in a nod to his signature greeting.
Allen & Rossi had a whopping 44 gigs on The Ed Sullivan Show. Notably, the comedy duo appeared on Ed Sullivan’s Sunday night program on February 16, 1964. That taping at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach also marked the second live U.S. television performance of the wildly-popular British band, The Beatles. “It was pandemonium,” said Rossi in 2014. “We could have easily bombed.” When the pair’s limousine arrived for rehearsal, throngs of zealous young women swarmed the vehicle in a case of mistaken identity. “They threw envelopes, love notes, and nude pictures in the window, thinking we were The Beatles,” said Rossi. “We needed a police escort to get inside,” added Allen. “The guys [The Beatles] had no idea who we were, but backstage they were very friendly and likable,” Allen, age 95, reminisced in 2017. “I remember walking over to joke with John [Lennon] and saying ‘A lot of people mistake me for you!’ He thought that was hysterical, me with my crazy hair, and almost collapsed from laughing.” Allen & Rossi overlapped with the Fab Four on Ed Sullivan again in summer 1965. “Everyone remembers those shows with The Beatles, and they were great, but we appeared on all the shows,” Allen said in a 2014 interview. “There wasn’t a talk show on TV that didn’t want Allen & Rossi.”
(Note: Numerous sources state that Allen & Rossi appeared on three or four of The Beatles’ four Ed Sullivan Show appearances. In actuality, the comedy duo was on just two of the episodes that The Beatles headlined. In later years, even the comedians’ recollections included factual errors and conflations.)
Allen is interred toward the middle of Eden Memorial Park, two rows in front of a tree which grows near the western edge of a cemetery road. Allen is in elite company at the Jewish cemetery — other twentieth-century comedy greats who rest within its perimeter are Lenny Bruce and Groucho Marx. Allen’s comedic partner, gentile Steve Rossi, is buried in Las Vegas.
Fast Facts
Born: March 23, 1922 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Spouses: Lorraine “Frenchy” Trydell (m. 1960-1976); Karon Kate Blackwell (m. 1984-2018)
Military Service: U.S. Army Air Corps — Sergeant
Died: February 12, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada
Cause of Death: Complications from Pneumonia
Age: 95
Interment: Eden Memorial Park, Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California
"It was like you wait all your life to find some kind of thing to add to your act and this was it. "Hello dere" became a very substantial part of our act. We started doing famous people in the news, and he [Steve Rossi] would ask me who was so and so, and I’d go, "Hello dere," and then he’d ask me the question. That’s how it all began and I just spelled it "Hello d-e-r-e." A kid once told me he wrote "d-e-r-e" and the teacher said he spelled it wrong. He said, "Oh no, I watch that comedian on TV, and that’s the way he says it."
- Marty Allen
to Melissa Parker of Smashing Interviews Magazine in 2012
Sources Consulted and Further Reading
Allen, Marty. Hello Dere!: An Illustrated Biography. Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace, 2014.
Clarke, Norm. “NORM Q&A: Allen & Rossi part of Beatles history.” Las Vegas Review-Journal. January 17, 2014. https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/norm-qa-allen-rossi-part-of-beatles-history/. (Note: this source incorrectly states that Allen & Rossi appeared with The Beatles on the February 9, 1964 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. Allen & Rossi also seem to conflate their appearances and convey incorrect details in this interview.)
Haring, Bruce. “Marty Allen Dies: Comedian Best Known For ‘Hello Dere’ Was 95.” Deadline. February 12, 2018. https://deadline.com/2018/02/marty-allen-dies-comedian-best-known-for-hello-dere-was-95-1202287080/.
IMDb. “Beatles ’65.” Accessed July 30, 2023. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0724741/?ref_=ttpl_ov.
IMDb. “Marty Allen (1922-2018).” Accessed May 12, 2024. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004702/.
IMDb. “Meet The Beatles.” Accessed July 30, 2023. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0724669/?ref_=tt_ep_pr.
IMDb. “Something New From The Beatles.” Accessed July 30, 2023. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0724672/?ref_=tt_ep_nx.
IMDb. “The Beatles’ Second Appearance.” Accessed July 30, 2023. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0724671/?ref_=tt_ep_nx.
Keepnews, Peter. “Marty Allen, Wild-Eyed Comedy Star, Is Dead at 95.” New York Times. February 13, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/obituaries/marty-allen-wild-eyed-comedy-star-is-dead-at-95.html.
Koseluk, Chris. “Marty Allen, Zany Comedian With a Crazy Hairdo, Dies at 95.” Hollywood Reporter. February 12, 2018. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/marty-allen-dead-zany-comedian-was-95-925520/.
Parker, Melissa. “Marty Allen Interview: ‘Hello Dere’ Comic is 90 and Still Getting Laughs.” Smashing Interviews Magazine. March 23, 2012. https://smashinginterviews.com/interviews/comedians/marty-allen-interview-hello-dere-comic-is-90-and-still-getting-laughs.
