http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/arts/tel...ref=todayspaper


Sammy Petrillo, partnered with Duke Mitchell, did an act that copied Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and their main claim to fame is a 1952 movie called BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA, aka THE BOYS FROM BROOKLYN (the TV title it had when I saw it as a kid).

The Times gives him a pretty decent obit, and even mentions Jack Broder, who produced BELA LUGOSI MEETS... It's an interesting read. Petrillo has two things in common with me: he grew up in the Bronx and he went to the High School of Performing Arts. He was probably a classmate of Dom DeLuise and Suzanne Pleshette. Although it doesn't say whether he graduated.

I can remember, not that long ago in fact, when the Times would never even have acknowledged Petrillo's existence. Now he even gets a photo. I still rankle at the tiny error-filled obit they gave to Tex Avery 29 years ago.

Jack Broder had an interesting career. His name keeps coming up in the oddest of places. I wonder if anyone ever did a study of him or interviewed people who worked with him. I believe he figures in Ed Wood's history (I forget how) and he was an instrumental, if inadvertent, trigger to the formation of American International Pictures.

BROOKLYN GORILLA is a perfect example of a terrible movie that remains eminently watchable throughout for reasons I can't even begin to ascertain. I've seen it three times. I think part of its appeal is that it actually tries to be good, whereas many rotten movies are content to be rotten. What Sammy lacked in talent, he made up for in enthusiasm and chutzpah.

Tim Ryan, screenwriter of BROOKLYN GORILLA, wrote a lot of Bowery Boys movies, and one can imagine this script being easily rewritten as a Leo Gorcey/Huntz Hall vehicle. Probably would have been a better movie.