Photo by Joan Marc us
Arts & Entertainment
What A Ride from page 45
all over the world. In an ironic reversal
of the Beatles' "British Invasion" that
overwhelmed American musical acts a
decade before, both Valli and the Four
Seasons achieved near-cult status in the
U.K. in the mid-1970s. They were swept
up in Scotland and northern England's
"Northern Soul" movement — where
obscure American R&B records with an
early-Motown sound were all the rage in
all-night underground dance clubs.
In early 1975, responding to the demand
of Northern Soul fans, Motown released the
Seasons' overlooked 1972 album cut "The
Night" as a U.K. single. When the hard-driv-
ing soul rocker reached No. 7 on the U.K.
charts, the stage for a raucous concert tour
of England was set. And when the worldwide
hit "Oh, What a Night" flew to the top of the
charts later that year, the deal was sealed.
Touring England as a revered act was
like being one of the Beatles in the movie
A Hard Day's Night. "We were the Beatles:'
Shapiro said. "We were bigger in England
than we were here. The bobbies were pull-
ing the fans off our Rolls Royce limou-
sines, and they had to guard us when we
came off stage. We couldn't believe it!"
How does a 23-year-old male react to
such adulation?
"Suffice it to say, I was the only single
guy in the band:' he said.
"Silver Star," the Four Seasons' next
song, without Valli on vocals, was a big
hit in England but a flop here, and their
next album, Helicon, largely without Valli's
voice, raised few eyebrows.
The group quit recording but toured
several years with Valli, performing early-
'60s songs like "Sherry" and "Walk Like a
Man" along with their own mid-'70s hits.
For a 1978 peek at Shapiro, Valli and the
band performing "Oh, What a Night" in
teal-colored leisure suits, see the online
YouTube video at: www.youtube.com/
watch?v=BPIQQBHPNtg.
In 1978, Valli again found himself at
No. 1 with Barry Gibb's movie theme song
"Grease (Is the Word)."Valli cut a follow-
up album, Frankie Valli Is the Word, con-
taining tracks co-written by Shapiro, Valli
and actor Kevin Tighe (later a paramedic
on TV's Emergency!).
Two years later, at age 27, Lee Shapiro,
"the Jewish kid" from New Jersey, left the
group and the road to settle down with
his wife in Fort Lee, N.J. — and embarked
on an even more creative and inventive
period of his life.
Life After Rock
For someone of Shapiro's
talent, opportunity had
to come knocking. And
each opportunity always
seemed to lead to some-
thing different and better.
Shapiro had devel-
Lee Shapiro
oped enormous musical
today
acumen in his years on
the road and shmoozed with prominent
entertainers. Once, when the Seasons were
beginning a Lake Tahoe run, he met the
prior act to play the venue, Barry Manilow.
Years later, Shapiro's wife convinced him to
write Manilow, seeking work. He was again at
the right place at the right time. Manilow was
looking for an orchestrator and arranger to
produce his Atlantic City revue, Copacabana.
The two worked closely for many months
and cemented their friendship. "Barry is
extremely talented, gifted and giving — an
absolute mentsh," said Shapiro.
Then, through an associate of Manilow's,
Shapiro got a job as musical director for
Holland America Tours and for 10 years
created music for their prerecorded shows
and did all their orchestrating. And he
Detroit's Jersey Boys: Steve Gouveia (Nick Massi), Joseph Leo Bwarie (Frankie
Valli), Josh Franklin (Bob Gaudio) and Matt Bailey (Tommy DeVito) portray the
original Four Seasons in Jersey Boys, opening Dec. 17 at the Fisher Theatre.
continued to write and produce music with
some of the songwriters he met through
Valli — penning songs for the likes of
Chaka Khan and Tony Orlando.
"From there, I went into the jingle
business, composing for commercials
for Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Office Max,
Marshalls and Tyco Toys:' said Shapiro.
"By working on the commercials for the
toy company, I got to know the people. I
had a partner at the time, and we figured
we should submit a toy.
"At the time, `Tickle Me Elmo' was the
rage Shapiro said. "But there had never
been a Sesame Street character who sang
rock 'n roll; that was our idea" His "Rock 'n'
Roll Elmo" debuted in 1999, to the delight
of some 4 million toddlers.
"The beautiful part of inventing is that it
works the same way as the record business','
he added. "Your product gets accepted, it
gets marketed and you get paid royalties. Or,
if nothing happens, you have a hobby." This
year, Fisher-Price toys is featuring Shapiro's
more animated "Rockin' Guitar Elmo."
For his latest invention, Shapiro teamed
up with a fellow former Four Season,
guitarist Don Ciccone. For all his musi-
cal ability, Shapiro never learned how to
play guitar. He and Ciccone came up with
an easy-to-play guitar in the $100 range
with an ingenious, simplified fingerboard,
enabling novices to strum chords immedi-
ately. In October, Shapiro went on cable TV
to demonstrate his "i-Play Guitar," which is
featured on the QVC.com Web site.
So, what new invention is in the hopper?
Shapiro and Ciccone have designed
a new concept in — believe it or not
— house wares and kitchen items, to be
debuted on QVC next March.
Huh?
"You can sell a whole lot more kitchen
utensils than CDs," Shapiro noted.
Looking back, ifs been a wild, magical
ride for Shapiro — fulfilling his childhood
fantasy from the Ed Sullivan Show and
touring England like his beloved Beatles.
In addition, his songs, musical revues, toys
and inventions have brought joy to so many.
"I always loved whatever path my career
took," Shapiro said. "I'm fortunate to say
that I've never had a lob.
"I owe everything to Frankie Valli. He
gave me my big break and opened up the
world to me."
And from Shapiro's Fort Lee, N.J.,
studio, who knows what this smart,
resourceful Jewish kid from New Jersey
will come up with next? Fl
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vial Nate Bloom
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Special to the Jewish News
Sibling Tale
Brothers, opening Friday, Dec. 4, is
an Americanized remake of a criti-
ims cally acclaimed 2004 Danish film of
same name that was co-written
Ai the
and directed by Susanne Bier, 49, a
%IP Danish Jew.
The original ver-
sion centered on
a Danish soldier
serving with NATO
in Afghanistan. In
the remake, Tobey
Maguire plays
Capt. Sam Cahill,
Jake
a straight-arrow
Gyllenhaal
46
December 3 • 2009
Marine who is married to Grace, his
high school sweetheart (Natalie
Portman, 28). Sam's brother, Tommy
(Jake Gyllenhaal, 28), is a charis-
matic "screw-up" and drifter.
Sam is reported missing in
Afghanistan and presumed dead. His
brother's loss matures Tommy; he
does his best to help Grace and her
children. Grace and Tommy are get-
ting close when, after a long period
in captivity, a very changed Sam
returns home.
Mare Winningham, 50, a Jew-
by-choice, plays Sam and Tommy's
mother. The screenplay is by David
Benioff, the husband of actress
Amanda Peet (now starring in the
mega-hit 2012).
Tube Notes
NBC has been strug-
gling in the ratings,
but one bright spot
is Community, a new
sitcom about a group
of students at a com-
munity college. Crit-
Alison Brie
ics liked it, and the
ratings have been strong. The network
just ordered a full season of shows.
Actress Alison Brie, 26, co-stars
as Annie, a sweet, goodie two-shoes
character. Brie previously had a
recurring role as Trudy Campbell on
AMC's Mad Men.
In a recent interview, Brie noted
that her mother is Jewish – so "I am
Jewish" – and that they both enjoyed
the retribution meted out to the Nazis
by Jewish commandos in the histori-
cal fantasy film Inglourious Basterds.
It's likely that this will be the last
season of the CBS crime drama
Numb3rs. Weak ratings have led the
network to reduce its quantity of
ordered shows. The series' producer
was grateful, however, that they were
given an early signal of the show's
demise. The creative team is now
writing scripts that can lead to a
finale that winds up all the story lines
if the show is, in fact, canceled.
Now in its sixth season, Numb3rs
centers on the three members of the
Jewish Eppes family, played by three
Jewish actors: Rob Morrow, David
Krumholtz and Judd Hirsch. II