Max Showalter

Born: 02.06.1917 (Kansas, USA) - Died: 30.07.2000 (Middletown, Connecticut, USA). Max was a truly multi-talented artist. He was an accomplished pianist, composer, singer, dancer and painter as well as an actor on film, stage and on television. But it's said that his first and lasting true love was for music. As a stage performer, he played the role of Horace Vandergelder in "Hello, Dolly!" more than 3,000 times, opposite such luminaries as Carol Channing, Betty Grable, Ginger Rogers, and Betsy Palmer. Max was apparently discovered and championed by none-other than Oscar Hammerstein II when, between 1935 and 1938, Max was working at the Pasadena Playhouse (appearing in over 90 shows). He would make his Broadway debut in Oscar Hammerstein's "Knights of Song" (1938). During World War II, he travelled the world for two years acting in a variety of roles in Irving Berlin's "This is the Army." Max wrote the first musical ever televised, NBC's "Time For Love", a revue for Hermione Gingold's U.S. debut, as well as the revue "Joy Ride". In 1963, he and his friend Peter Walker (one of the original models for Marlboro cigarettes) wrote the score for "Go For The Gun", which made it's debut in Manchester, England at The Opera House. In 1984 he composed the music and Peter Walker wrote the lyrics to Michael Stewart's book for the musical "Harrigan 'n' Hart", which opened on Broadway in 1985. Max wrote songs for films, television, records and various stars of the day such as Lucille Ball, and his good friend Mary Martin. One song was recorded by Marlene Dietrich and Rosemary Clooney - "Dot's Nice - Donna Fight!". In 1956, Max (as Casey Adams) recorded an album of his own music, "Casey Adams Plays and Sings Max Showalter Songs" (Foremost Records FML-1004). He was one of the artists featured on "The Secret Garden", a 1988 CBS Special Products album containing performances of music from the musical of that title. As for films, Max was contracted to 20th Century Fox in the late1940's making his film debut in 1949 with "Always Leave Them Laughing," It was whilst at Fox that Darryl F. Zanuck re-named him 'Casey Adams', a name that Max was never really comfortable with, but Zanuck insisted because he thought that the name was "more bankable". It was under this name that Max made some of the most memorable films of his early career, arguably the best remembered being "Niagara" with Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten and his friend Jean Peters (wife of Howard Hughes). Max appears briefly as Harry Guild in "With a Song in My Heart" (1952) where his vaudeville partner, Don Ross, is played by David Wayne. In the movie, Showalter and Wayne perform a tune entitled "Hoe that Corn," which was written by Max. He and Edward Andrews both appeared in "Elmer Gantry" in 1960. Some 24 years later, they would appear together again as Molly Ringwald's grandfathers in the John Hughes teen classic, "Sixteen Candles" (1984). Max would also feature in the film noir "Vicki" and would also score that film's title song. In 1962, he reclaimed his 'real' name (as he refers to his birth moniker in some fan letters he replied to) and continued to perform as 'Max Showalter'. His credits list more than fifty films, including, What Price Glory" (1952), "Destination Gobi" (1953), "Bus Stop" (1956 - (again with Monroe), "The Naked and the Dead" (1958), "Elmer Gantry" (1960), "Return to Peyton Place" (1961), "Fate is the Hunter" (1964), "A Talent for Loving" (1969), "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1978), "Summer and Smoke", "How to Murder Your Wife", "10" and the afore mentioned "Sixteen Candles" (incidentally, his last screen appearance). Over his lifetime, he was in more than 1,000 television shows such as "Texaco Star Theatre" and "The Lucy Show" to co-starring with Mary Martin on "The Love Boat," "The Bob Newhart Show," "Kojak," "Perry Mason," "Bewitched," "Gunsmoke," and "The Andy Griffith Show." In 1957, he was cast in the role of the father, Ward Cleaver, in the original pilot for the television series, "Leave It to Beaver". As an accomplished painter, Max had six one-man shows. He preferred to paint miniatures in oil. Many have now been sold in auction. Max retired essentially from acting in 1984 and he moved to an 18th-century farmhouse in Chester, Connecticut. Max had acted in the movie "It Happened to Jane" in 1959 which was filmed in Chester and he had fallen in love with the town. Once there, he quickly involved himself in local activities including local musical theatre, such as the Ivoryton Playhouse, and went on to produce, direct, write (with Peter Walker), and narrate the Christmas musical "Touch of the Child" (1991). Originally conceived as a benefit performance, it was lauded by the likes of Mary Martin, Katharine Hepburn, Cole Porter, Ethel Merman, Irene Dunn, Ezra Stone and Richard Rodgers, all of whom believed this extraordinary musical should have a further life. Max created the Max Showalter Foundation, Inc. a nonprofit organisation developed for "the inspiration and education of young creators in the fields of theater, film, and music." After his retirement, Max worked tirelessly in the Chester area, raising funds for theatre, entertaining seniors and coaching young aspiring actors in the local high schools. The list goes on and on of his generous gifts of time, energy and inspiration. Towards the end of his life, Max wrote a book about his adored parents, Ira and Elma, called "The Gentle Time." assisted by his friends Peter Walker and David Hays. When Max passed away, he left his vast collection of letters, musical and entertainment memorabilia to the Goodspeed and in 2002, they set up "The Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre" in his memory. It was Max's dream that there be a center, preferably in Chester, that would be a museum and library, containing his vast collection of memorabilia and resources. Peter Walker has said that the idea for the foundation "is a public place, set up like Max's living room, with memorabilia and his dual pianos (one of which once belonged to Jerome Kern). For instance, there are more than 600 videocassettes of old TV shows with Ethel Martin and Mary Martin that have never been seen again on commercial television". Max was a man of many talents, but perhaps the greatest was his ability to make friends with his hearty laugh and his smile, positively touching many lives along the way. Seemingly, none more so than in the community where he spent his final days. Rest peacefully Max - you earned it.