Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

and he explained to Johnny's dad that he wanted Johnny to meet him the next afternoon at KPRC-TV and introduce him to Dick Gottleib, His dad agreed. His mother sighed. "I have always hoped that Johnny would become a minister; but he shall do what he must." Steady singer The next day, Johnny met Mr. Stockton, was introduced to Gottleib, and sang for him. "Come around tomorrow, and I'll let you sing on the show," Gottleib said. The next day, Johnny asked for and received permission to leave Jack Yates High School at 2:30 so he could make the 3:00 show at KPRC. He got to the station, did a song, and went home. Gottleib phoned him to say so many calls has come in complimenting Johnny that he wanted Johnny to return the next day and become a steady singer on the show, at $12 a song. The swiftness of the deal stunned the Nash family. It meant Johnny would be the only Negro entertainer on the show, earning $60 a week, more than his father got for his chauffeur job. Johnny, not believing his good luck could last, held on to the caddy job which brought him about $15 a week, and his week-end job carrying grocery bags to customers' cars at the Avalon Market. He gave his earnings to his mother, who banked them for him, and held on to his grocery job tips. At school, they cooperated by letting him leave gym class at 2:30 each day but warned him he would have to keep his marks up. On TV, as in all his jobs, he was a perfectionist. He knew he'd have to be extra good, and when something went wrong with the music or his singing, he would become so distressed he would threaten to quit singing forever. In time, he quit his caddy ing job and the grocery job, and in his second year on the TV program, he sang only twice a week so he could maintain his high marks at school. He continued to go to the Baptist Church, where he and his dad and sister sang in the choir. But his active week kept him away from kids his age, and he had few friends. He studied hard, was among the top five students at school, and was at his best in science and math. He talked about going to U.C.L.A. for a degree in science, but somehow he kept getting deeper and deeper into show business. He was always healthy, energetic and athletic, but couldn't find enough time for school sports. He could have made the first team in basketball at school, but he wouldn't give it the time. He was invited to try out for the second team, but refused. He wanted to be No. 1 or nothing. He did not care for baseball, and preferred hunting and riding to everything else, until he became fascinated by golf. He used to go to his grandmother's ranch and hunt for squirrels, rabbits and deer. He loved to get up on a horse and round up the cattle. Guardian angel As he became a TV personality around Houston, Mr. Stockton continued to be his 'guardian angel.' In fact, he began to look upon Johnny as a son. Amazingly enough — in a city where the races are still segregated— Johnny attracted white men who insisted on helping him. A helping hand always seemed to be extended to him by strangers. With the same unexpectedness that Mr. Stockton had helped Johnny, a man from the local Paramount Theater urged Johnny to audition for the new ABC-Paramount Records company. Johnny taped three songs, Hey There, Young at Heart and I Believe at the TV station, which then refused to charge him for the service. The man at the theater shipped the tapes to New York, and the tapes were so good that Johnny received a contract by mail. His dad took the contract to his white employer, who had his attorney okay it. Then Johnny and his father signed the papers and mailed them to New York. In August of 1956, the recording company asked Johnny to go to New York for his first recording session. It was then that the Nash family were faced with the realization that Johnny's career was changing sharply. Singing at church, on local TV and at local clubs seemed all right, but going to New York seemed such a drastic step. It meant becoming a recording artist, and traveling. It meant becoming a professional pop singer, whereas both his mom and dad had hoped he could become a religious singer. But his parents did not try to persuade Johnny to avoid a singing career. "If it is the Lord's will for Johnny to be a singer, then that is what he will be," his mother said. His father took a vacation, and accompanied Johnny to New York, where Johnny cut his first disk, a ballad, Teenager Sings the Blues. The next day, on August 19, he was sixteen years old. They returned to Houston, and Mr. Stockton decided Johnny ought to audition for the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts program, then searching Houston for potential contestants. More than thirty performers auditioned, and Johnny was one of three accepted. Three months later, he went to New York with Mr. Stockton to appear on Godfrey's Talent Scouts, and won. Part of the first prize was a week on Godfrey's morning show. At the end of the week, he was given his fee at CBS. It was a check for $700, and Johnny gazed at it, awed. "It's a lot of money!" he gasped. It was his first inkling of the big money ahead for him. Godfrey liked Johnny so much, he kept inviting him back on the morning show, and Johnny didn't go back to Houston. His mother quit her job as housekeeper and stayed in New York with Johnny for a year. Then she went back to Houston, knowing Johnny was mature enough to handle himself. Another guardian angel Godfrey's admiration for Johnny grew so much that he, too, became a 'father.' He decided Johnny ought to have a personal manager, and sent him to Peter Dean and Bob Altfeld, whom Johnny accepted as his management firm. Dean and Altfeld scurried around to find Johnny an apartment. After considerable difficulty, they found him an apartment near Columbia University. Then they persuaded Johnny to change schools, switching him to the School for Young Professionals, where Tuesday Weld, Sal Mineo and Carol Lynley were among the other students. Then they attacked Johnny's big problem: loneliness. They brought him into their homes, introduced him to new friends, took him to golf links and tennis courts, brought him to parties. A friendly mixer when working, Johnny becomes terribly shy when socializing. His quiet personality did not help him fight off the loneliness that engulfs a close-to-home boy living 1,500 miles from home. Despite his big readjustment, Johnny kept developing his talent. His records became top sellers on the ABC-Paramount label. On the Godfrey show, he became a steady. Godfrey himself described Johnny this way: "I don't really think good voices STOP CORNS BEFORE they can develop this sure, easy way... 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