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—PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO KNOWouset •By MARGARET STOVAll ■Oliver B. Prickctt blames it all. on ash cans behind' ’heaters.' ; ‘ ' j ’■'. 1 *: VStage struck little punks should .stay away from . them* he declares• with mock solemnity.-‘This* Is-the truth — it was getting yanked out-of an ash can.that started all: this!” . . * • * ■ ■ •OHie, whose deeply-lined expressive face-is now as . familiar to/television fans as to'movie and theater goers,, spoke, from behind the desk-he lakes over nexL week-as general manager of ‘the Pasadena Playhouse. It's ;a new; posl arid one that will give him more administrative say-so .than anyone \yho. has been connected with the. Playhouse since; Gilmer. Brown, it’s a job-Ollle looks forward to 'This .place; means so -.much he' explains. It - must keep bn'meahing’somethmg.'' , . .. . ; . ?Getting back to'the ash cans: His reason for rummaging'through them;'; he said; was to find the-used colored lightbuibs. “My ‘brother/ Charles,-and I .-had buill up. a . little kind qf'theater in cur barn..We fell the bulbs were a necessity for; the realistic;effect of our stage, as stageswere Inathb diys..... •. v . • , . ,* . - . . . ■• Only Twb Sources in Pasadena“The bul6s,\yere always falling out and getting broken so I was always having to go pufriplng off on my bike to find more. There-were just two sources—Clune’s Theater,.. w^ere/the Salvation Army, is' now, .and. the old Savoy, which is noiv the*Oaks, and where’ Gilmor Brown started his Savoy Players which later became the original Community Playhouse” § / ‘' : It was while OHie-was searching.through the ash cans at the-Savby that Glimar Brown discovered*1 him and gave, him the 'dual'role of delivering filers and play- . Jng a part Iri his current production of “Mrs. WJggs and the Cabbage;Patch.” Actor Oliver Prickctt was 12. years cId. is brpiheiy .the late Charles Prickett, became associated: with' Brown as a young^mnn and'took over the' box office' and;f)iisWss end of the Playhouse. Ollie says he attributes' milch of the FaSadena Playhouse’ success and growth'to hts brother. • ’ ’ : ’.. Rosb Bowl Speech Frightening ;* .Despite his warning lo little-boys, Ptlc-kOu .admits that , as far, as he is concerned there is hardly *a- better • way. to live .than with show business.; Looking'back, he says it was kind of a story bf local progression. He was In the first Pasadena High School class to'igraduate from ■-the .'Rose’iBowl-'ap'd 30,000-people came, and heird'hlm. 'make his'first speech. “I-.ppoke aa president of mylclass.I don’t remember anything about it except getting up and sitting'down. I was scared stiff.”-* * ’He added, “VVc never could understand why*'so many people turned out unless.they thought there might1 be a game between halves — or that was when' the graduation wopld,be.” .-He remembers Kliraheth'Kepple,. an early dramatics..teacher.at-junior.high, nowretlred, as a .won-. derfitl gal/’ .’nnd -Sam Hume,:nationally.’ known; in 'the theater, under whom-he learned at USC. He worked his. : own iway .through; college. Then there was Die theater at Santa . Barbara and Padua Hills and Ihe Pasadena Play-house and after a while motion pictures and the New York stage. ‘‘Yon just went on. It was a way of life. I don't ktow I hat I really ever thought of anything else.”Finds Answer in CreativityOllie went-into thei management end five years ago4 r« ••BACK IN: NEW JOB^OIiver Bi. Pricked/popular actor-• iurned-mdnager;..ransockt. Paiadcria Playhouse ash can doljsWoqilrale how-he .got; his. Uort- in shov/ business. f.v. . . ifMA** 9. '‘ ' ,1 Vwith the. Bilim ore, and Greek Theaters In - Los Angeles, Ironi which1 job he,comes back lo the Playhouse. He made the.swUch-frqin acting,:he says, J,in a momonfof truth— found no: particular1 spdr; to It anymore. An-old geezer WeVds sOmeTeasbfi 'to get up in the mormng.\There. Is a real-zing to the creativlty'of production*and a lot of'.satis-factlon in successful-management.'.' i'; • . • •The Tourriamcnl of Hoses,-in which .Ollie*is member of the Board of Directors,'lias long bccn-arprlnclpal civic interest’anrt his main diversion, he says; Is a*barren:ranch on the' Vcntura-Santa -Barbara County.-line. He; met^his wifel Peg,' in San la Barbara.(they. arq proud brand, new grandparents how)' and Ihey both like the breathing room of the back country. '. , . ’.•’ “'The ranch is an escape hatjh,1/.-he/says,--'an old house, an empty barn, and ground that cloesn’t’grow anything.; I -go .up and fill .up on peauuLbutter sandwiches.'1EIVSiIP;terdIi’orCCUjjcosi seel li T Pa’c pile Cal Cor yes par adolycarphcplkpipWc• I api nai cs-cd cis lav ' 1 1 cer ancbingcLare•5chr a i ba!chifor• pei phVchiphbutopi’frii' iIrectlsuCO.R«caTtp YSI• . su• ici $3
Newspaper Details
Pasadena Independent
Pasadena, California, US
Sat, Aug 31, 1963
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA, USA 10 May 2019
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