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“There were times when people were exceedingly nice, and generous,” Smith says. His memories of working with the visiting stars are mostly warm and fuzzy. Smith went on to Broadway, and television, but he cut his thespian teeth in the St. But still, people dressed for a night at the theater. “With Country Dinner Playhouse, there was always that country atmosphere, even with the décor of the theater itself – lots of wood. “Both places were very professionally run,” he says. Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers, “Boeing Boeing,” 1978.

St pete little theatre professional#

“My mother would put on a gown and rhinestones, a mink stole and white opera gloves, and she’d be ready to go to the Showboat.”Īs part of a group of Tampa Bay performers who belonged to Actors’ Equity, the professional union, Ferraro was a go-to for supporting roles – behind the stars – and later on, when high-octane, star-less musicals became all the rage. If you didn’t have a jacket, there was a rack of all different sizes. Recalls actor/singer Jimmy Ferraro, who worked both venues for many years: “Men had to have a jacket. Not exactly A-listers, but enough “star power” to bring out the locals for “dinner and a show,” as the evenings were packaged. Davis, Robert Reed, Mike Connors, Chuck Connors … From television, the roster included Bob Denver, Broderick Crawford, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers, Bob Crane, Gary Burghoff, Bill Daily, Larry Linville, Don Adams, Ray Walston, Ann B. Throughout the ‘70s and well into the decade that followed, Wells made a half dozen appearances at both the Showboat and the Country Dinner Playhouse, making her something of a Tampa Bay MVP.įilm stars including Myrna Loy, Don Ameche, Mickey Rooney, Cyd Charisse, Dorothy Lamour, Van Johnson, Joseph Cotten, Maureen O’Sullivan, Cesar Romero, Pat O’Brien, Martha Raye, Dana Andrews and June Allyson worked the “beef and board” trade in St. Dawn Wells, who’d played Mary Ann on Gilligan’s Island, was the first “name” to grace Sherwood’s stage, starring in the sexy comedy The Owl and the Pussycat in 1969. I don’t care if it’s Richard Burton.”ĭawn Wells, “The Owl and the Pussycat,” 1969īurton, sadly, never trod the Showboat boards.

“If the food is bad,” he’d say, “the show is gonna be bad. Sherwood, the restaurateur, made a point of sampling each night’s buffet before the doors opened. Nevertheless, they made tremendous successes out of their ventures by hiring – and trusting – backstage people who knew what they were doing. Neither Sherwood nor business broker Al Tong, who took over management of the failing Country Dinner Playhouse in 1974, had any experience in theater, or show business. Tampa businessman Dow Sherwood, who owned the Village Inn pancake house franchise, designed his dinner theater to resemble a 19 th century Mississippi paddlewheel (not unlike the one in the musical Showboat). The Showboat, on Ulmerton Road, arrived in 1967, followed soon after by the Country Dinner Playhouse, in Gateway Mall. Petersburg had two prosperous dinner theaters that featured celebrity headliners.

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For less than $20, folks in middle America could chow down on a three-course buffet, then stay in their seats and enjoy a play – usually a lighthearted comedy – live onstage, with a one-time Hollywood or TV star in the lead role. But first, they do dinner theater.įrom the early ‘70s through the mid ‘80s, dinner theater was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the country.

St pete little theatre movie#

The old joke went like this: Movie stars never die, they just fade away.